Approaching public bodies

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Before making a participation request 

Before making a participation request, it’s worth thinking about how best to approach doing this, and even whether a participation request is the best route for you to take. This guide gives some helpful tips and hints for you to consider based on our experience advising groups at Scottish Community Development Centre.  

Pause for thought 

Once you know what participation requests are and how you could use one to get a public service improved, it may be tempting to fire one off to the relevant public body as soon as possible. 

There’s nothing stopping you from doing this, but there are a couple of things you may want to consider first: 

  • Are there other ways to influence public services which might be more suitable?  

  • Is it worth speaking to the public body first? 

  • Are there other people or organisations that might offer advice or support? 

We say a bit more about these points below.

 

Other approaches 

Participation requests are one way to try and influence public services, and it goes without saying that there are plenty of other ways. The options available to you, and how effective they are, will depend on what service you’re trying to change and other factors such as who is responsible for the service and how willing they are to listen to you. It isn’t possible to list every available option for every situation, but here are some of the most well-known approaches to influencing public services: 

  • Voting in elections   

  • More participative forms of democracy, such as citizens juries, citizens panels, citizens assemblies and participatory budgeting 

  • Consultations 

  • Opportunities to participate in formal planning structures, including community planning partnerships, health and social care partnerships, children’s service plans, community justice outcome improvement plans and community learning and development plans. 

  • Other formal groups or forums, such as NHS patient involvement groups 

  • Taking on, or helping with, the running of public services 

  • Campaigns, petitions and protesting 

  • Using the media 

Some of these may well be more effective than others, and some, such as taking on the running of services (sometimes referred to as procurement), will be more difficult and involve a lot of hard work.  

You could use different approaches at the same time, e.g., organising a campaign to influence a political party’s manifesto before an election. See more on different ways to influence decisions and public services on Communities Channel Scotland.

It’s also important to point out that participation requests can help strengthen involvement in the more formal processes listed above, including planning structures, forums and methods of participative democracy. 

While Participation Requests can help get discussions going or jumpstart dialogue that has stalled, it’s worth noting that it is not a complaints process.  Most Public Service Authorities have an internal complaints system and should provide information about this on their website, or through their main contact number. The Scottish Public Service Ombudsman also handles complaints about public services.  They have produced a short video to help people understand how the process works. 

It’s good to talk 

Public bodies are required to provide information on how you can make a participation request to them. In most cases, you can find this information online, and the public body will often provide contact details as part of this information. Some may even ask you to get in touch with them before making one. 

As stated above, there is no requirement for you to speak to the public body before making a participation request. However, there could be some advantages to getting in touch with a public body before making a participation request to them.  

Even if your group is 100% sure a participation request is the right route, there are some things that are worth thinking about before filling in the form: 

  • Speaking to the public body first could help to create a good working relationship with them by showing you want to work collaboratively. 

  • You will be able to identify any support needs early on, including support for making the participation request as good as it can be. 

  • Through having an initial conversation, you and the public body may be able to come up with a way forward without you having to make a formal participation request. 

  • Another reason for speaking to the public body is that they will be able to confirm they are the right body to make your participation request to, which could save you from wasting time. 

Get your support in place! 

The Scottish Government’s guidance for participation requests says that public bodies should make sure support is available to community bodies who want to make use of participation requests. It lists the following types of support as examples: 

  • Administrative or practical support – e.g. photocopying, printing, access to  
    internet/wi-fi, venues, equipment.  

  • Support for equal participation – e.g. translated materials, interpreters,  
    childcare, accessible venues, transport.  

  • Connecting and linking – e.g. signposting to relevant organisations and  
    sources of support.  

  • Organisational support – e.g. assistance for groups to organise in  
    appropriate ways for their purposes.  

  • Community development support – e.g. assistance with understanding the  
    scope and possible purposes of participation requests, engaging with their  
    wider community, and planning their involvement in the participation request  
    and outcome improvement processes. 

As mentioned already, speaking to the public body before submitting a participation request can be a chance to discuss support needs. You may find that support is provided by a different part of the public body than the department responsible for the service you want improved. Appropriate support may also be offered by entirely different organisations. Some suggestions include 

  • Community learning and development (CLD) or community engagement staff, often located in local authorities. 

  • Third sector interfaces - find your local TSI here.

  • National support organisations, such as Scottish Community Development Centre (who developed this resource). 

  • Other community organisations who have made participation requests may also be able to offer a bit of advice based on direct experience! You can find out which other groups have made requests on public bodies’ participation request webpages (if they have one) and also using the PR Portal on the Social Studios PR Toolbox.

Getting the right support can help you in terms of confidence, skills and resources. It can also increase your chances of setting things up for a meaningful process in which different perspectives lead to a better result, plan or decision. 

Some tips for how to go about it 

We’ve given all the reasons why you should pause, reflect and talk to others. But what about some practical advice for how to go about approaching the public body? 

Here are some bits of advice we’ve given previously in our work supporting groups across Scotland to make participation requests. 

  • To start with, it is good to think about whether you might want to make an initial approach tentatively saying you are interested in making a PR and hope to discuss this further.  

  • Whether you speak to them first or go straight in with a PR, it might help to frame things as being about collaborative working towards a shared outcome – if the public body values approaches such as co-production and asset-based approaches then a participation request can potentially be a way into these ways of working.  

  • If there are already processes in place to plan for and improve the service, it might be helpful to state that you want to formalise an existing process in order to strengthen partnership working and be able to have a record of how your perspectives have been considered. 

Links to more information

  • Our are you ready? resource takes you through other things you might want to consider before making a participation request.

  • If you’re ready to make one, see our guide to filling in the form.