Time out for Twelve weeks? - Is the ‘Twelve-week rule’ past its sell-by date?

Ask any group of public engagement and consultation professionals about standards and the chances are that the one rule they will identify as being applicable will be the years-old convention that consultations should extend for a minimum of twelve weeks.

They may struggle to tell us precisely how this rule originated or to provide a logical rationale for such a period – other than it sounding a long enough time to have a thorough dialogue. It has served us quite well, and like many standards, its strongest attributes are that it is well-known and extremely simple. Indeed at one time, it was the only standard measured by Government to monitor compliance with its own Code of Practice. This Institute became unpopular for pointing out that the quality and integrity of a consultation were actually more important than its duration!

But times are changing. Here are five reasons why the rule may be less applicable

1. Decision-making timescales have been severely constrained. Remember that the end-to-end consultation timetable is at least six months, with the 12 week period only referring to the dialogue phase – the bit in the middle. Policymakers now rarely have the luxury of such a timetable 2. Therefore, unless a consultation can be undertaken quickly, some short-timescale issues may not be consulted on at all; to consult on slow-burn issues but not on those requiring a quicker resolution is almost like consulting on trivial matters but not on those that are serious. 3. Consultations themselves are changing. Service reconfigurations in particular involve more dynamic dialogues – where consultors and consultees need to work together to amend or even re-design existing services through painstaking co-production-style discussions. This is a far cry from a model whereby proposals are issued then we sit back and wait for stakeholders to respond. 4. Dialogue methods are changing. The twelve week rule dates from the time when the main method was to issue a comprehensive tome of proposals, and wait for consultees to send back equally voluminous documents. Today, we rightly rely more on participative techniques that do not need to provide such elapsed time to organise 5. New technology is transformational in public consultation. The use of social media, for example enables very rapid responses and reduces the need for extended consultation periods

If only for a while, maybe we need to experiment with a more flexible approach. A time-out for twelve weeks maybe?

Apart from inertia, there are several reasons why we all hesitate before abandoning such a totemic standard. For one thing, a sceptical public could interpret a shorter period as meaning that consultors are less willing to listen. One can imagine allegations that public bodies have already made up their minds, and want to reduce the inconvenience of a longish period of consultation. There are arguments that the general public need that amount of time to react and respond; if complex proposals are under consideration, they may need time to undertake secondary consultation. Then we have debates about the technology. Using new technology may speed up the process, but not everyone has access to this; the digital divide is still an issue.

But what replaces the 12 week rule? Inevitably, alternative practices will be less uniform and more complicated. One way is to have a fast-track option (four weeks perhaps) to be used only under defined circumstances with digitally-enabled stakeholders who know it is coming. Another is to allow consultors to determine the period that best suits the issue and announce it accordingly. Many regular respondents would find this confusing and unacceptable, but the Government is already behaving increasingly in this way, preferring to ignore its own Code whenever it is inconvenient.

A short consultation runs the risk of failing to satisfy other key standards. The Institute’s Consultation Charter sets demanding requirements for Accessibility and Visibility; a longer timescale makes it easier to satisfy these standards. So if a public body now needs to make significant changes to services affecting local people, the true test of best practice needs to be the quality of the overall process and not just how long it takes.

Trigger points

• Should you be considering alternatives to the Twelve week rule?
• How central to your public engagement is the observance of standards – not just the duration of consultations?
• Themes in this Topic will be considered at the new Public Engagement 2012 training course, to be led by Davy Jones. Bookings now being taken for the first course on November 23rd 2011.

This is the 198th 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