Improving access to district council surveys and consultations

Last night on 23^rd January I proposed my first motion at North Herts Council and I’m very pleased to say it was carried with universal support (36-0).

It is about doing more to ensure that that all our residents in Knebworth and across the district have a fair chance to participate in surveys and consultations, even if they are not able to use digital means to respond.

In the longer term, it also asks the Council to do more on digital skills to help people get online who want to.

I look forward to working with council officers, councillors and residents of Knebworth in continuing to address this issue.

Digital exclusion is an issue for our community

A person is digitally excluded if they are unable to use information technology in the ways that are needed to participate fully in modern life.

A House of Lords committee report in January 2024 on Digital Exclusion in the UK identified issues with affordability, connectivity, skills, motivation and digital-only public services.

There is evidence to show older people are disproportionately affected by digital exclusion. Age UK has found that around 20% of people aged 65 or over do not use the internet and 46% cannot complete all the fundamental tasks to safely use it.

Across our district, we have a higher than average elderly population than across England, and it has been shown that older people are disproportionately affected by digital exclusion. North Hertfordshire has a population with 19.7% aged 65 or over, higher than the England average of 18.6% (ONS 2022 data).

But this is an issue that can affect other groups too, such as low income groups or those with health conditions or disabilities. The Centre for Social Justice has estimated that 30% of digitally excluded people in the UK are of working age. Other groups that are disproportionately affected by the problem include people with low incomes and those with mental and/or physical health conditions.

The council already helps non-digital residents, but can do more

Since becoming a councillor in May 2024 I’ve been surprised on the doorsteps at the number of times residents are either unaware of our consultations or do not know how to feed back their views.

Often I’ve found that this is because we are shifting to a digital-first or digital-only approach, but not everyone can or wants to participate in a digital world actively enough.

So it’s sometimes very hard for all the people we are trying to reach to either know about or participate in consultations and surveys.

This is despite the best intentions and efforts across many parts of the North Herts council to address this, including the hard work of those officers and councillors to engage with the public on these matters through various forums and channels. For example the Outlook magazine districted by the district council already includes news of surveys and consultations.

However I believe that we can still do more to be consistent and clear on expectations about non-digital channels for consultations and surveys, plus do more longer term to help our residents access education to help improve their digital skills to access and respond on these digitally.

This motion helps non-digital residents participate and build skills

It achieves two things. Firstly being clear up front on explaining on how residents will be engaged in consultations and surveys the council runs on matters that impact them, irrespective of whether they are digitally active or not. This can include both digital and non-digital / in-person means, and the choices are dependent on the nature of the consultation.

Secondly, doing more on skills and literacy to help our community come with us on the journey to be digital first wherever possible, helping more people to respond to consultations and surveys in a digital-first manner.

The two proposed actions in this motion are:

1. Reports brought to Council that propose public consultation must explicitly explain the appropriate mix of digital and non-digital access provision for both communicating the consultation and obtaining feedback, based on the results of the equalities assessment and using the Community Consultation Strategy;
2. The Executive Member for Community & Partnership is required to develop a digital skills and literacy plan to help residents participate in consultations and surveys, as part of the mid-term review of the Digital Strategy 2024-27, and report back to Cabinet and Overview & Scrutiny within a year with recommendations on possibilities and further actions.

The proposed motion that was agreed is available on the North Herts website here via this link.