Participation and Representation

The story so far...

The direction of travel for much of the government's current policy is towards devolving decision making to local people. This has culminated in the recent
Communities in control - Real people, real power, white paper.

LIOs and the third sector have a vital role to play in giving a voice to under-represented groups and in representing community interest.


Policy Background

Find out more about the policy and legislative landscape

What support for the third sector is available from NAVCA?

Links to information and tools

Principles of representation: A framework for effective third sector representation in local strategic partnerships was published in November 2007 by CLG, to establish draft principles by which the sector will organise itself to be effectively represented on Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and local public life in general.

The Local Wellbeing Project, a joint initiative led by the Young Foundation, IDeA and Richard Layard from the LSE have published a new report. Entitled 'Neighbourliness+Empowerment=Wellbeing' the report shows how neighbourhood and community empowerment can improve wellbeing.

Knowing your communities toolkit Audit Commission

People and participation: How to put citizens at the heart of decision-making
- a tool developed by Involve

The Community Power Pack has been created by CLG and Involve, to help local groups organise and facilitate discussion around the Empowerment White Paper.

Further information is available from IDeA about participatory budgeting.