Originally published 20 December 2004. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
If public and stakeholder consultations are to be really effective, then politicians must believe in them and be comfortable with the process. But there is evidence that too little has been done to sit down with elected representatives and agree where and when consultation is appropriate and where and when it is not.
The truth is that there is tension between representative democracy and consultative democracy. Elected Councillors will rightly be concerned if, having stood for election, the momentum to fulfil election promises is delayed by a protracted consultation period. They might feel further aggrieved if the consultation appears to be designed to water down their programmes or to undermine their aspirations. No wonder some council leaders are ambivalent about consulting their constituents.
At a national level, or in the devolved assemblies, there are similar concerns. The increasing trend for government departments to launch high-profile consultations in a blaze of publicity can appear to reduce Parliament to the role of bystander, as ministers conduct a debate on the issues with the country at large rather than among those who have been elected.
Squaring this circle is becoming an important priority. Unless politicians have confidence in their role as spokespersons for their constituencies (or maybe with the PR list system, for their parties), they will treat such exercises with less than 100% support. This means that civil servants and the chief executives of public bodies should pay particular attention to the role of elected representatives.
Fortunately there are excellent ways of doing this. For instance, there might be a rule that no consultation particularly affecting a ward should proceed without prior discussion with its Councillor; likewise, for an MP vis-à-vis a Parliamentary constituency. For more generic consultations, those who are elected should play a part in the all-important pre-consultation phase, where the scope of the exercise is being debated and the key questions are being formulated.
After the consultation output has been assessed, Councillors should be the first to see the draft results, and have the opportunity to comment before the definitive assessment is sent to decision-makers. Once or twice a year, a full presentation of consolidated consultation outputs and outcomes should be presented to a full Council. What works for some Councils may not be suitable for all. But every organisation with elected representatives should think seriously about the role of such people in relation to consultations.
Trigger points
- Review the relationship between elected representatives and consultation processes.
- Focus on the role they play in authorisation, budgeting, programme design or evaluation.
- Plan a regular consultation briefing for Councillors etc. Invite outside experts to add an independent element if possible.
- Offer Councillors briefings or training sessions on exploiting consultation to improve Council performance.
This is the 15th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement