An Inspector Calls: Citizen-Led Service Inspection by West Lothian Council

Objectives

The project aims to achieve three primary outcomes:

• better designed services that meet customer needs and preferences;
• community inclusion;
• and a greater level of co-production between the council and the people living in West Lothian. 

The initiative was launched because the Chief Executive championed it as a way to strengthen customer focus throughout the organisation and as a practical mechanism to involve customers in review and redesign of services.

West Lothian Council has a strong sense of the community in which it operates and has developed multiple and varied forms of consultation and engagement over the years. It has also been striving to find new ways to engage citizens in the process of delivering and improving services.   Since 2005, West Lothian Council has collected survey data (as part of a standardised approach across all services) on customer satisfaction levels with council services, in particular related to the quality, choice and accessibility of service provision.  This type of data has been valuable as a useful indicator of the local council’s ability to meet the basic needs of customers. However, its use was limited because it restricted customer involvement to commenting on and providing feedback on services received.  The council wanted a more involved form of engagement, where the customers actually directed improvement activity. 

In 2011 the council reviewed the corporate approach to community engagement as part of the development of a new Improvement Strategy, and as part of its overall strategy to be a progressive and inclusive council.  This identified the customer-led inspection (CLI) process as a new engagement method, involving customers in challenging and reviewing services.

The aim was to complete two citizen-led inspections in the summer of 2011 that would:

1. give citizens a voice in the shaping and prioritisation of services;
2. inspire confidence in the community that West Lothian Council operates openly and transparently and is accountable for the services delivered and the use of resources;
3. manage the organisation’s reputation in the local community by engaging directly with citizens and involving them in improving services;
4. establish a two-way dialogue that will assist the building of a stronger, mutually beneficial working relationship between the council and the community forming a model that could be replicated across all service areas;
5. ensure priorities and decisions are driven by customer needs through a forum for the decision makers to hear alternative viewpoints.

Rebecca Kelly wrote
this case study for
Governance International
on 17 June 2012