Consultations and Engagement Activities

About Consultations

Lots of organisations that influence our lives gather feedback from people before they make big decisions. Sometimes they are required to do this by law.

Consultation Surveys are a common way that organisations gather people’s views. Consultation surveys are a set of questions about a topic of interest. There is usually some information on the topic given before the questions are asked, and sometimes there is an additional document, or set of documents, that you can read before you answer the questions.

Sometimes consultations include engagement events too. These are public events where people can come to talk in-person about the topic and their views. You are welcome to attend these – just make sure you talk to a parent or carer about attending to make sure you are safe.

Your Voice Bucks

Buckinghamshire Council always has consultation surveys open to be answered.
These surveys are hosted on a website called Your Voice Bucks.

Go to the Your Voice Bucks website

Young people over the age of 13 are welcome to answer any survey on Your Voice Bucks. Young people aged 12 and under should answer the questions with a parent or carer. This is due to laws on collecting and processing people’s data.

You can explore the Your Voice Bucks website to find topics of interest to you.

The introductory information for each survey may mention engagement events too.

Other Consultation Surveys

Your Voice Bucks is Buckinghamshire Council’s consultation survey website, but lots of other organisations run consultation surveys too.

Tips for answering Consultation Surveys

Take your time

You will have plenty of time to answer the survey, so don’t feel you have to rush. If you add your email address, you can even save your answers and come back to them on another day. (If you do this, just make sure you return to the survey and submit it before the survey’s closing date.)

If you don’t understand something, ask

If a question doesn’t make sense or you don’t understand the information, ask somebody.
Each survey includes a contact email address at the top of the page. You can email them to ask a question. If you are struggling, feel free to contact us at YouthVoiceBucks@Buckinghamshire.gov.uk, and we will make sure you get the help you need.
You could also ask for help from a parent, carer, or a teacher.
It is the job of the person who made the survey to make the questions as accessible as possible. It’s not your fault if you don’t understand something.

Write things in the text boxes

If you feel passionately about something, write about it in the text boxes provided. You can explain why you chose a certain option, give an example of why the topic is important to you, or even give feedback on the survey questions.

Search for activities near you

The Your Voice Bucks website has an option to search for consultation and engagement activities near you. Just click “Find Activities” at the top of the page, and type your postcode or area name into the box.

Hearing back

You can usually provide your email address when you fill in a consultation survey so that you can be emailed an update on the outcome of the consultation.

Please be mindful that it often takes a long time for survey responses to be fully analysed, for decisions to be made, and for a survey outcome to be sent out, so you might not hear back for a while. It is also important to remember that surveys are often answered by lots of people, so the outcome may not reflect the views you provide.

If you have any trouble hearing back or understanding a consultation outcome, please feel free to get in touch with Youth Voice Bucks.

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