Cambridgeshire County Council appoint FDS for their budget consultation exercise for the third year running.

Following two very successful programmes over the last two years, FDS was again commissioned this year to provide the forum which forms the basis of the 2007 budget consultation.

This year the council decided to fix the council tax increase at 5% but due to inflationary pressure and under funding, some council services still have to be cut.

FDS were appointed to facilitate the consultation exercise, gaining residents’ informed opinion on where such cuts might or should be made.

Bob Pearson, Director of Communications at CCC comments:‘With increasing pressure on council run services it’s important that we gain a clear understanding of local residents’ views, once they are in possession of the facts, before we make important decisions that will affect them. FDS provided very high quality feedback ahead of the 2004/5 and 2005/06 budgets and we are glad to be using their expertise again this year.’

2006/7 research includes:

Deliberative opinion workshop - in this half day session, 50 representative local residents are given a presentation, take part in breakout groups and have the opportunity to question ‘expert witnesses’, including council leaders. Participants’ views and preferences are monitored to understand how they change as they become better informed.

Telephone research- poll of 750 randomly sampled residents.

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