LIVING IN MIDLOTHIAN PANEL MEMBER - MID06771

The Community Planning Partnership is a way of working together to best use all available resources to improve people’s lives. Our CPP's aim is to involve people in the decisions on public services that affect them and have a commitment from organisations to work together for better public services.

It is important for us to gather the views and opinions of those in our communities to ensure services cover what you need, rather than what we think you need. We would like to improve our understanding of what is currently working well and what can be improved.

We are looking for local people with lived experience in Midlothian to review policies and actions to help identify potential issues to service implementation to ensure improved outcomes for all. Supported by the Community Planning Manager and Development Officer, you will read documents on policies, processes, and actions to determine what is working well and any improvements that could be implemented. At the end of the assessment, you will report back to Thematic Leads your findings.

The Community Planning Partnership works with various groups to gather views and opinions to inform plans and policies, including:

• Midlothian People’s Equality Group
• Youth Platform
• Youth Hackathon
• MTrap influencing roads and paths
• Citizen Panel
• Human Right Panel
• Women’s Aid Group
• Forward Mid
• Midlothian Older People's Assembly
• Midlothian Sure Start
• Local Community Pantries

As a partnership, we want to develop our lived experience model and are looking to expand on this by creating a lived experience panel that will explore certain aspects of our community planning groups, which includes safety, health, employment, and climate. Lived experience voices bring invaluable insight, perspective, and expertise to the decision-making process, leading to more equitable, effective, and responsible policies and actions that better serve the needs of all individuals and communities.

Requirements:

• Ability to make objective and impartial assessments
• An interest in community activity in Midlothian
• Able to think innovatively and creatively
• Able to ask difficult questions

There will be 7 thematic groups to review, so if you have lived experience in one of these specific areas, please let us know on your application:

• Health
• Safety
• Getting it right for every child
• Economy
• Employment
• Poverty
• Climate

Resources Required:

• Must have access to a computer with an internet connection and sufficient storage to download documents.
• Must be able to access and use Zoom/Teams software (will also be covered during the training).

The panel will be made up of people with lived experience of living in Midlothian, using and accessing specific services. You will scrutinise, challenge, and report back how our thematic groups' current policies and actions are working to ensure we are progressing in the right direction. Panel members will meet with decision makers and report findings to help us understand if suggested changes or services are needed and how they would impact wider communities.

These panel principles will support the development of our lived experience panel:

• Participation - people should be involved in decisions that affect their rights
• Accountability
• Non-Discrimination
• Empowerment
• Legitimacy

During your application, we will ask you about your experience living in Midlothian and which of our topics you are interested in. We are looking to gather the views and opinions of those in our communities that we do not normally hear from.

Responsibilities:

Meetings will primarily take place online; however, on occasion, they could be held in Dalkeith either at Midlothian House or Fairfield House. We will arrange the dates and times to suit those who apply; however, some weekday availability would be required. We estimate that the time you would spend on this might add up to approximately 10 hours across the year. Some of this would be during the day, although some of the reading could be done at home.

Training Details:

• 1 hour’s training prior to the panel's first meeting

Flexibility and Commitment:

• Able to meet 4 times per year (meetings will last approximately 2 hours and time will be compensated)
• Able to come to the Community Planning Conference September 2025

If you are good at thinking innovatively, creatively, and able to ask difficult questions, this panel is for you! You will gain a better understanding of various parts of the community and help influence how we do things in Midlothian. You will help to identify potential issues to service implementation to ensure improved outcomes for all. The panel would meet approximately 4 times per year, training will be provided, and you will be reimbursed for your time.

Our Community Planning Conference will be held in September 2025, which will provide you an opportunity to network with decision makers and other community members.

While having the following skills would be helpful, they are not essential as we will provide training and support:

• Ability to make objective and impartial assessments
• An interest in community activity in Midlothian
• Able to think innovatively and creatively
• Able to ask difficult questions

If you would like to apply to be on this panel, please submit your application document to Rebekah Sullivan via the email address below: rebekah.sullivan@midlothian.gov.uk