Public Involvement Board

The Public Involvement Board shares knowledge and resources across public sector agencies with the aim of having a fuller understanding of the needs and opinions of West Berkshire residents and service users and to do this in a more efficient and resourceful manner.

The Public Involvement Board involves key officers involved in consultation and research from the Fire service, Police, PCT, Sovereign Housing, BACYP and West Berkshire Council, including community planning. It held its first meeting in August 2009 in response to the new duty for public organisations to inform, consult and involve local people in decisions that might affect them (Local Democracy Act 2009).

As public organisations and agencies in West Berkshire, we capture a range of information about local communities through many different forum and methods. We recognise however that there is a need to ensure that we are effectively sharing, joining up and re-using the breadth of information we gather about different communities in the district.

By working in partnership together we aspire to demonstrate that this is enabling efficiencies to be made by working more closely – sharing what we know, avoiding duplication of effort, sharing resources and working towards co-ordination of exercises and joint commissioning where appropriate.

The Public Involvement Board aims to fulfill the following key objectives:

1. Develop a knowledge bank of information and evidence across agencies around public involvement and engagement activity.

2. Share expertise, resources and learning amongst partner agencies on research, consultation and engagement activity, particularly in relation to traditionally under-represented communities.

3. Co-ordinate public involvement activity, reducing duplication and increasing the effectiveness of public engagement and consultation.

4. Develop a collective/coherent approach to communication on ways the public can become more involved in local decisions as well as communicating and feeding back from consultation findings

5. Ensure that information from consultation and research is presented effectively and that it is integrated into the policy making and service planning processes of key agencies.