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Herefordshire Voice citizens' panel
What is Herefordshire Voice?
Herefordshire Voice is the citizens' panel for Herefordshire. It is a group of approximately 1,100 local residents who have agreed to participate regularly in consultations on a variety of topics. In order to give a reliable cross-section of local views, the panel aims to reflect the gender, age and ethnic makeup of Herefordshire as a whole, with panellists from all over the county. Herefordshire Voice is maintained to provide a basis for survey research and is generally cheaper, more convenient and more reliable than surveys sent to a random selection of residents. Herefordshire Voice is run for the Herefordshire Partnership by Herefordshire Council Research Team.
How can I get involved?
Every year or so we conduct a recruitment drive to keep the panel topped up with new members. We also welcome new members at any other time. If you are interested in joining, please let us know by emailing researchteam@herefordshire.gov.uk or calling 01432 260 495. To join, you must be aged 18 or over and live in Herefordshire.
When new members join the panel, we collect a range of demographic data (things like age and gender) which is held securely on Council computers. This information is essential to help us fully understand the survey results - for example, older people often have different views to younger people. Only people from the Research Team ever see this data - it is not passed to other departments or organisations, or used for any other purpose. When someone leaves the panel, all details about the panellist are removed from our database.
How does the panel work?
Consultation with the whole panel normally takes place up to three times a year, and is generally by postal survey, though occasionally part of the panel may be invited to take part in a focus group. A focus group is when a small group of people are brought together to discuss a specific issue or topic.
Sometimes a survey is commissioned by a single Council department or partner organisation; sometimes surveys are shared by a number of departments or organisations. While the survey topics are determined by what Council departments and partners want to know, we try our best to have a good range of topics to make the questionnaires interesting for panellists. For example, we don't use Herefordshire Voice for tracking changes over time, as asking the same question over and over again is likely to put a lot of people off.
What can the panel be used for?
The purpose of Herefordshire Voice is to help local public services better understand the needs of the community. For example:
- to show how much people know about the services available and how to access them
- to ensure services are designed to meet public needs and priorities
- to monitor satisfaction and identify causes of dissatisfaction
- to identify who uses services and reasons for non-use
- to gauge public reaction to a specific project.
Reports
The results of the surveys carried out are analysed by the Research Team, and a report is produced. The reports are published on this website and are also available in Herefordshire libraries. Newsletters are sent to panellists with each new survey, and usually contain a summary of the previous survey, and where possible, details of positive actions which have come about as a result of recent surveys. The newsletters are also published online.
Leaving the panel
When people have been members of a citizens' panel for a number of years, we sometimes find that regularly answering questions about Council services means they know more about them than a typical non-member. This means they may no longer be truly representative of an average Herefordshire resident, so periodically we will remove from the database those who have been panellists the longest. This is normally those who have been panellists for about five years. Panellists can also ask to leave Herefordshire Voice at any time, by emailing researchteam@herefordshire.gov.uk or calling 01432 260 495.