Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
LBH & YouGov: a tale of two Consultations (methods, actually)
IT may interest readers to know about the quality of consultation that Councillors can receive.
From time to time, all Haringey Councillors (and probably all London's Councillors) are invited to participate in polls organised by YouGov.
The latest one is about a new airport in the south east of England, but the subject doesn't matter for the purposes of this post.
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I have to report that, IMO, the structure of the YouGov questionnaire was a model of precision and professionalism. The questions were clear, unambiguous and well-thought-out. Subsequent questions intelligently responded to previous answers. There were few questions about the respondent and even then, the answers are anonymous. One has the impression that YouGov really do want to find out what Councillors actually think! – rather than making a show of a consultation, or attempting mostly to gather data about the respondent.
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How different this is from so many of our local council's alleged attempts to solicit the public's views. Too often the questions are illogical, illiterate or tendentious.
Only the most recent example of a poor consultation, was the one checked out recently by the UK Supreme Court. Surely the unlawful consultation about Council Tax Benefit reduction is not the only unfair consultation run by this Council?
Council questions sometimes appear to be aimed at 10-year olds. Some consultations take the classic form: How Many Limbs Would You Like to Lose: choose from the following four options.
Even if our Council learns no lessons from the UK Supreme Court Decision, I hope they might could look at and learn from the sheer quality of YouGov questionnaires. What's good enough for Councillors ought to be good enough for the public!
Clive Carter
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
Tags for Forum Posts: Consultations, YouGov
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Well as you have said, they do this because they have an agenda. A shame it was not one they campaigned upon but there you go *bedroom tax!*.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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I do hope that the Supreme Court judgement causes all Councils, not just our own, to think again before dressing up spin, agendas and party-political-marketing, as objective truth-seeking missions to engage with the public.
Another Consultation that ended in the High Court was the one I'm most familiar with: in 2007 against the Charity Commission (re the sale of Alexandra Palace) where costs were awarded against the Trustees (Haringey Council).
The Council exerted pressure on the Commission to run an ultra-limited Public Consultation over the sale, that was also Found to be unlawful. (the Lease was concealed from the public – I managed to extract it from a foot-dragging Council, via the Information Commissioner, after one year).
The judge said at the beginning of the Hearing, that "I have read the evidence with mounting alarm and even some incredulity".
We can believe it!
Judge Sir Jeremy Sullivan (sketch, top right) also said that alarm bells should have been ringing.
It is a pity that too often at Haringey, Public Consultations are political instruments, similar to Haringey People magazine.
By contrast, the YouGov poll I and other councillors took was simply clean, straight forward and well-designed. It can be done. It's not hard. It just requires will and good judgement.
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