A helpful hesitation - What lessons do we draw from delays to consultation?

We have recently seen a spate of postponements. Consultations which were poised and ready to be announced are suddenly stopped in their tracks. Documents are sent back for further consideration; website pages are hurriedly amended, and the odd village hall booking has to be re-scheduled.

Let us reflect on that brief moment in time - the eve of a consultation launch. It is a particularly significant point; a time when an organisation, or an individual has to decide whether or not its plans are ready to be placed before the public. Maybe it’s a little like a brand-conscious company on the eve of a product launch, hoping that customer reaction will be favourable.

There is good reason to hesitate. Maybe the Apple Corporation should have paused for thought last month before launching iOS 6 with an inadequate maps application. In competitive markets, reputations are hard-won and easily lost, so the best companies are meticulous in their quality assurance processes and take great care when new products are announced.

Clearly not all organisations undertaking public consultations are ‘betting the farm’ on the outcome. Reputation matters to Governments – or, at least the opinion polls do. Councils are concerned, and from November, we will have Police and Crime Commissioners who will wish to retain our goodwill. The NHS is interested too. The Lansley re-organisation in England places local GPs in the firing line; dissatisfied patients won’t have bureaucratic PCTs to take the flak; local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Health & Wellbeing Boards will have to defend their decisions.

So, hesitation may be appropriate. Why?

1. To reflect on the pre-consultation process. If it’s been done properly, the consultation is merely the formal culmination of a period of engagement with stakeholders, during which the problems and opportunities should have been thrashed out, and options developed to the point where they can be put to citizens for a mature and sensible public debate. If senior managers or civil servants have any doubt that this homework has not been done properly, has been rushed through without enough care, or if key stakeholders have not been sufficiently involved, then maybe WAIT.

2. To correct inaccuracies Few things infuriate and inflame as much as consultors allowing mistakes to creep into a consultation document. A recent Court case (The Royal Brompton Hospital v NHS) turned in part on the significance of alleged errors in what was published at the consultation. Initially, the Judge said that they seriously misled consultees and ruled against the NHS. But the Court of Appeal reversed the decision, arguing that the consultation process itself was the opportunity to correct any mistakes. That’s an ongoing debate – but everyone agrees that consultation documents with factual inaccuracies make consultor organisations look foolish and incompetent ... and provides ammunition to opponents and critics. With tools like Freedom of Information requests to hand, be sure everything is 100% ... or WAIT.

3. To be sure the consultation itself will be good enough Too many organisations see the publication of the document as an end in itself rather than the agenda for a proper, informed dialogue. A worthwhile consultation works backwards from a vision of who is it exactly whose views can be helpful in assisting an organisation to take a decision, adopt a specific policy or plan a programme of action. Without a clear idea of who the target audience might be, it is almost impossible to devise a satisfactory project plan and, with shorter consultation timescales now likely, (per the new Cabinet Office Principles) there may not be scope to arrange things once the exercise is launched. For reasons of legal compliance, or just to be sure of observing best practice, prepare properly ... or WAIT.

There’s a fourth reason too. What is taken to the public says a lot about your organisation. In days of tough cost-cutting, the message you give through the proposals you bring to the table can range from genuine care to total indifference ... with many points in between. Giving a consultation paper to your friendly marketing/PR department with a request to camouflage unpopular proposals with a benevolent slice of spin doesn’t work. In 2012, the informed public expect realism tinged with a serious attempt to find creative solutions and ways to ameliorate the worst impacts of austerity.

Delaying a consultation – to ensure it strikes the right note, or to double-check that your organisation has prepared well enough for the exercise – is time well spent. It is far better to wait than to plough on and face even longer delays if legal challenges or political pressures force a re-think later on.

When seen in this light, public consultation becomes an important safeguard in our democracy. It acts as a safety-valve to submit important plans and proposals to the scrutiny of the public. Wise politicians, civil servants and managers respect this process, understand it value, and are rightly hesitant before committing their reputations to the arena of argument.

Trigger Points

• Is there an adequate process in your organisation for a meaningful period of reflection before proceeding with a consultation?
• The Cabinet Office Consultation Principles
• The Royal Brompton case features in our Law of Consultation training course (Next one tomorrow in London! More dates on our website) and also in our Seminar on Legal Challenges to Consultation (Next one, 28th November in Birmingham)
• To ensure your consultation meets best practice standards, why not consider the Institute’s Compliance Assessment Scheme – where you can benefit from a respected independent view to support your public and stakeholder engagement? Contact Martin Roach (01767 318 350) for details

This is the 222nd 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