Yuletide quiz to test you and your town’s knowledge on what your council tax is spent on

Residents across Shropshire are invited to take part in a quiz to test their knowledge around the types of services their council tax pays for.

The Christmas quiz forms part of Shropshire Council’s Big Conversation, which aims to better understand which services people value most and where the council should prioritise its budget.

Responses to the last Big Conversation survey suggested that people didn’t fully understand what the council does, the types of services it provides or what council tax pays for.

With this in mind, this year’s Big Conversation topic is ‘What people get for their council tax’, and the simple quiz is a way to inform people what services the council provides, as well as providing information on how to access them.

People can also indicate which market town area they live in, or nearby, and the market town area with the highest score will be announced in the New Year.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Deputy Leader, and Cabinet member for corporate support, said:

“Our Christmas quiz is a lighthearted way of highlighting a very important point: council services touch the lives of everyone in the county.

“The quiz will provide us with a view of how much people understand the role of their council. It will help us inform whether there are opportunities to target awareness-raising about the council and our services. With local government finance facing its most significant change for decades, it is more important than ever that we continue to engage with all our residents.

“If you want to represent your town, village or hamlet and pit your wits against the rest of Shropshire’s local communities, then come and take our Christmas quiz!”

To take part in the quiz go to https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BigQuizSC. Closing date for submissions is Monday 15 January 2018.

Shropshire’s Big Conversation is an engagement exercise to help inform future decisions about how those services important to local people can continue to grow and flourish, against the backdrop of changes to local government finance.  Since its launch in 2015, the Big Conversation has received a total of 4,112 responses from the public and local organisations.

To find out more about Shropshire’s Big Conversation visit http://shropshire.gov.uk/big-conversation/ or email bigconversation@shropshire.gov.uk.