Participation Requests

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 introduces Participation Requests. Participation Requests aim to extend and improve community participation in improving outcomes for communities.

The Scottish Government have published guidance on the process.

To make a Participation Request, complete our request form and email it to communityplanning@aberdeencity.gov.uk.

Participation Request Form (docx)

By making a participation request, a community body (or group of people in a community) can ask to start a discussion with organisations in charge of public services, such as hospitals, schools and transport, about how to improve these services. The organisations that participation requests can be made to are called ‘public service authorities’ and include local authorities and health boards as well as a list of other organisations.

Not quite. The important bit is that the organisation which receives the request must agree to the request or give a good reason why not.

If the request is granted, the public service authority invites the community group into an ‘outcome improvement process’.

This is a formal discussion process between the public service authority, the community group and other relevant people or organisations.

What it will look like, and how long it will take, will depend on the nature of the request. It is likely to involve meetings and written documents, and those involved will have the chance to share and listen to different ideas and perspectives on the issue.

The outcome improvement process should lead to an improvement in the way the service is delivered. This may or may not be based on the ideas of the community body, and the final decision on what to do is still made by the public service authority.

However, by considering the views of everyone involved a better decision should be made. The community body will also get to see more clearly how the decision is reached.