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A week is a long time …… – Are we about to see the end of the 12-week rule?

Last Friday was the closing date for the consultation held on “Effective consultation” – or how the Government itself, and its agencies should manage their consultations.

The debate has covered many important aspects. Should the current Code of Practice be replaced by something more flexible? What kind of monitoring should take place? Should all consultations have published Impact Assessments? Should there be less emphasis on the traditional documentary methods? And should there be a change to the 12-week standard period for which consultation exercises are held open?

There is something of a fixation on the “12 week” rule in Whitehall. It has become the only criterion in the current Code of Practice which is monitored and measured – and even on this, the last Annual Report’s claim of 99.6% compliance is highly suspect. It would have been far more meaningful to measure some of the other criteria in the current Code – such as how often feedback is properly published and how often “the consultation process influenced the policy” (Criterion 4). Somehow, I don’t think the most optimistic Permanent Secretary would expect 99% compliance with these!

 

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