Joanne Fry is a senior local government officer with more than 10 years experience working in large public sector organisations including the European public administration in Brussels. She writes on public services for The Guardian
She holds a master’s degree in public policy and public administration as well as professional qualifications in project, programme and risk management.
Most of Joanne’s work has focused on managing and improving the performance of local public services to increase efficiency and deliver value for money. She currently works for Islington Council managing a team of performance analysts in housing and adult social care. So we thought she was ideally suited to approach for a professional’s view of The Politics of Consultation.
This is what she wrote:-
“Having undertaken several highly informative courses with the Consultation Institute when I was the Consultation and Engagement lead for a County council, I was very keen to update my knowledge and understand recent developments in the field. I have been lucky enough to meet Rhion and Elizabeth during the courses, covering everything from Law to Best Practice, and have found them to be not only genuine experts who believe passionately in what they do but also extremely engaging speakers.
I was pleased to find that the book certainly reflects these aspects, making it eminently readable even for those with no prior knowledge or experience. However I would expect it to be of particular interest to consultation professionals, especially in the public sector; given recent political developments (ie Brexit), this particular feature of our democratic system has been thrust to the forefront of our daily agenda and has served to raise public expectations even higher in terms of having a say in decisions which will affect their lives. Like it or not, the profile of Consultation has never been higher, neither have the political stakes, as outlined so clearly in this book.
I would say this is required reading for anyone involved in delivering public services today.”
To buy The Politics of Consultation, click here.
