Your Voice Wrexham – Finalist for Engagement Gold as a Public Sector Board!

As a finalist at the GO Awards for Wales held last October in Cardiff, Wrexham’s collaborative stance in engaging with communities as a PSB ticks all the collaborative boxes.

Wrexham is one of the first Public Sector Bodies to be active and effective in engaging with their communities across all public service areas.

Wrexham PSB is being tasked to produce, consult on, agree and publish a partnership “wellbeing assessment” for Wrexham by March 2017. From this the PSB then has to write, consult on, agree and publish a long term well-being plan for Wrexham by March 2018.

Your Voice Wrexham (www.YourVoiceWrexham.net) is a total commitment by PSB partners across Wrexham to work collaboratively in the engagement of service users and the collection of evidence and fresh insight in support of decision-making.

The platform established at www.yourvoicewrexham.net contains a unique environment where partners of the Local Service Board and providers of public services across Wrexham can work collaboratively on projects of shared and mutual interest.

Your Voice Wrexham is supported by organisations that are totally committed to working together in the best interests of people who live and work across Wrexham.

Partners involved in this collaborative initiative include: Betsi Cadwaladar University Health Board; Public Health Wales; Wrexham County Borough Council; North Wales Fire & Rescue Service; North Wales Police; Community Rehabilitation Company; Glyndwr University; Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham (AVOW); Coleg Cambria; Welsh Government; National Resources Wales.

The public facing pages at www.yourvoicewrexham.net contain details of all activities run by the partners and give service users the opportunity to engage, have their say, get involved and make a difference to the services delivered across Wrexham.

In just a few months,, over 60 projects have been completed using the site, with more than 9,000 responses received from members of the public.

Partners are now able to share evidence and good practice on a regular basis through the project bank and engagements can now be used to inform decisions beyond that which they were initially intended for. (e.g. The findings of Wrexham Council's 'What is Important to You?' consultation - carried out to inform the Council Plan, are also being used to inform the PSB's joint 'Wellbeing Assessment' for Wrexham).

Since establishing Your Voice Wrexham, public involvement has increased year on year. In 2015, the number of responses received to the Council’s budget consultation was 1,717. Two years earlier, in 2013 (prior to using the platform), it was 631. This approach to collaborative working has been shared with the Local Government Partnerships team at the Welsh Government.

Engagements and activities created on the platform can now be shared with other organisations and PSB's via 'shared projects' and with the permission of the organisation championing the project details can be 'copied, cloned and re-used', resulting in significant savings in both time and resources.

For further details contact

David Powell, Wrexham County Borough Council
david.powell@wrexham.gov.uk
Tel:01978 292176

Jonathan Bostock, People Matters Network
Jonathan.bostock@peoplemattersnetwork.com
Tel:07432 637322