Focus Groups
Most of the consultation methods used by North Hertfordshire District Council involve large groups of people. Consultation exercises such as the District Wide Survey and the Best Value Performance Indicator General Survey involve over 1000 people and are really useful for getting a large response on a specific issue. To get more detailed information and to ask more probing questions the council carries out focus groups. These are used to gain an understanding of why people hold certain views or concerns.
Key Features
- Small group discussions of between 8 and 12 people.
- People are usually chosen at random to sit on focus groups, rather than those who are specific users of a service. Selection for the focus groups often comes from the Citizens Panel.
- Focus groups can be used as a starting point for consultation or can be used to test results/findings of consultation exercises.
Focus Groups 2007
Focus groups were used by the council to look at issues around Customer Care after the 2006 District Wide Survey 
showed a decrease in satisfaction with elements of customer contact with the council. As part of the 2006 District Wide Survey Action Plan a series of focus groups were set up to look at the perceived drop in satisfaction with elements of customer contact and also to review the council's Putting People First Standards. In total three focus groups were run, one catering for older people, one for those with disabilities and finally one for Black Minority Ethnic residents. These focus groups were recurited using the council's Consultation Database and through the council's links with the North Herts Minority Ethnic Forum and the North Herts Disability Forum. Unlike previous years, the focus groups were facilitated using internal expertise rather than external consultants at a substantial cost saving. The results from these focus groups will be tested in a postal questionnaire which will be carried out during November/December 2007.
Older Persons Focus Group 2007 Written Report (77Kb) 
Disabled Persons Focus Group 2007 Written Report (83Kb)
Black Minority Ethnic Residents Focus Group 2007 Written Report (82Kb)
