Originally published 8 February 2011. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
Mr Justice Calvert-Smith may not exactly be a household name, but this old Etonian, ex-Director of Public Prosecutions, may well be cheered to the rafters for a couple of judgments delivered in the High Court last week.
Those doing the cheering will be charities and community organisations delighted to see that a decision to slash the London Councils Grant Scheme was declared unlawful at judicial review. The Judge held that the consultation process was flawed and that London Councils had failed to meet their statutory equality duties. He quashed all the funding cut decisions for the 200+ projects and he said that the process must be re-run, fully in accordance with their equality duties.
Underlying all this is a key principle of the Consultation Charter – Disclosure. How can we have an informed debate without all the relevant facts on the table? And should difficult decisions on public services be taken without proper regard to their practical implications?
In the London Councils case, the failure was to undertake a proper Equalities impact assessment, something that is needed before significant changes in policy. Derided by some as an unnecessary bureaucratic paper-chase, these exercises perform the indispensible task of doing the necessary homework without which you cannot sensibly have an informed discussion. In the case of cuts, how can we seriously hold an informed dialogue without knowing what the implications of a decision are believed to be, and whether any particular group is likely to be disproportionately affected?
Realistically, the current climate is – and the speed of budget reduction decisions are, hardly conducive to the extended timescales and convoluted processes that can sometimes characterise these exercises. The same can be said of consultation. It is simply not true that all of them need 12 weeks. Some need longer, and some can be done in two weeks flat if the relevant stakeholders can be accessed and brought into meaningful dialogue. There are advantages to a standard timescale, as it helps set expectations all around. But it is not the be-all and end-all.
What we cannot do is to opt out of the process – or rather, of the thought-process. There is no necessity for dedicated Equality Officers with specialist knowledge. All that is needed is a culture of thinking-through the foreseeable consequences of policy decisions. Service providers know much of this instinctively – and front-line public servants probably better than anyone.
If there is a weakness, it is our reliance on research and policy staff to prepare consultation papers on service changes. We might do better to pick the brains of those who deliver public services on a day-to-day basis. As brilliantly shown in Channel 4’s recent series – Undercover Boss, senior Managers often find time spent alongside front-line staff to be amazingly revealing. In one episode, the Chief Executive of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets accompanied his staff incognito; no doubt he learnt a lot. And he might have an insight into the likely impact of change.
Consultation is 2011 requires an honesty and transparency that has not always been visible in recent years. Anything less and the public – fuelled by an aggressive media – will respond and take its revenge. No matter how drastic the proposals, their impact must be fully examined. For those who have never seen what a proper Impact Assessment looks like, go to the DEFRA website and find the country’s most talked-about consultation right now – on the future of our forests, and start reading the Impact Assessments
Whatever we may think about the merits of the Government’s policy, one must concede that there has been a reasonable attempt to work through the implications. They will no doubt support an intense debate – with much argument as to whether the impacts are properly assessed or not. But at least the attempt has been made, and unlike the London Councils case, there can be few complaints that the facts are being hidden from the people.
Trigger points
- Can you be sure that policy change consultations are supported by adequate Impact Assessments?
- Are these made fully available to those who participate in consultations?
- The Institute is about to announce a new training course on Effective Public engagement at the Front-line – featuring the Undercover Boss programme. This is initially available for in-house delivery.
This is the 180th 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