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Participatory Budgeting: a national strategy
Giving more people a say in local spending
September 2008
Introduction

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a method for enabling citizens to decide how specific pots of
public funding should be spent. It was first used in Porto Alegre in Brazil around 20 years ago
and has now spread around the globe. PB is seen as one of \u201cthe practical ways to open up
local government, to make public services more responsive to the people they serve, and to
create more opportunities for people to give something back to their neighbourhood\u201d. It is
also part of the greater movement towards \u2018participative democracy\u2019 and transferring power,
influence and control towards people and their communities.

The Government wants to see PB being used in every local authority area by 2012 and sees
new statutory duties such as the \u2018Duty to Involve\u2019 as giving significant momentum to aid this.
How does it work?

PB is essentially about allocating a pot of money (or public budget) to the community and
facilitating them through a process in which they discuss, vote, and finally prioritise how the
money should be best spent.

Why Increase the use of participatory budgeting?

PB is very much a local activity and therefore tailors local situations and circumstances. The
benefits of PB seem to be far reaching and include bringing diverse people together and
improving people\u2019s understanding of the complexities of budget setting. The process can also
improve the way local people, elected councilors, and council officers work together.

PB has already been in various ways throughout England:
\u2022
Specific grant pots: Neighbourhood Renewal Funding and New Deal for Communities
programmes where money is managed within existing neighbourhood management
structures.
\u2022
Local area committees using funds for specific service delivery as a way to trail PB on
core local authority activities.
Key elements of the national strategy
There are four key elements to the Participatory Budgeting national strategy:
\u2022
Promoting awareness
\u2022
Creating opportunities
\u2022
Providing guidance and support
\u2022
Learning from evaluation and research
Promoting awareness
The PB Unit, an independent project within Church Action on Poverty are being supported to
undertake a number of activities to deliver the strategy:
\u2022
Nationally: Communities and Local Government (CLG) and other national stakeholders
have a number of high profile events lined up to celebrate successful projects and learning
from the pilot areas.
\u2022
Regionally: The Regional Empowerment Partnership (REP) as well as the Regional

Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP) have an important role in promoting good practice within and between regions. Events and regional learning sets are planned for all regions.

\u2022
Locally: Practical advice will be provided to local authorities and community groups (using
the PB Unit\u2019s toolkit and regional learning sets).
\u2022
Networks: the PB Unit is working with a number of networks throughout the country to
further promote and facilitate the process. The Unit is also very keen to hear from other
organisations or individuals who are interested in promoting PB in their areas.
Creating opportunities
The PB Unit and central government wish to encourage the use of PB in the following ways:
\u2022
Via community governance partnership models where Parish or Town Councils for
example have worked with local groups to produce a collective vision or action plan.
\u2022
Local authorities working with local communities and businesses to prioritise the spending
of the \u2018Working Neighbourhoods Fund\u2019.
\u2022

As part of various established neighbourhood management systems focusing on
community needs and linking local services with policing, health, and the involvement of
young people.

\u2022
Councils using their powers to allocate discretionary budgets to Councillors, with PB being
a proportion of these.
Providing guidance and support
The PB Unit has developed a number of publications and resources in order to ensure
consistent advice. In particular, their recent publication\u201cParticipatory Budgeting: Values,
Principles and Standards\u201d promotes core standards such as accessibility, transparency,
inclusiveness and ensuring proper deliberation. There is also a toolkit available for local
authorities and community groups providing structure and further contacts.
Regulation and performance assessment

From April 1, 2009 the statutory Duty to Involve will apply to all best value local authorities, requiring them to provide information, consult and involve local people, particularly the most excluded. PB has been highlighted as a useful mechanism for local authorities to consider and the Unit plan to both promote PB to assist with the duty. The Unit is also working closely with inspectorates to make sure that the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) evaluates the level and quality of public engagement in the improvement of local public services.

Another way in which PB can be proposed (and as mentioned earlier) is through the new
powers for Councillors \u2018call to action\u2019. Communities may use \u2018calls for action\u2019 or petitioning to
encourage PB (as part of the Empowerment White Paper\u2019s plans to introduce a duty for
councils to respond to petitions).

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