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The retreat from ‘due process’ – Is there a worldwide phenomenon driving us away from the rigours of traditional decision-making?

Due process is not a term we use much in the UK. We certainly observe it but we do not use the expression as frequently as our friends in the United States, where it is found in two key Amendments to the US Constitution. There it is mainly about judicial processes and the need to

The retreat from ‘due process’ – Is there a worldwide phenomenon driving us away from the rigours of traditional decision-making? Read More »

Counting to Ten – Is consultation at its most valuable when providing a breathing space

The hurly-burly of politics is often, in reality, a somewhat remote process. Journalists eager to break tomorrow’s story rather than probe and assess yesterday’s can whip up a synthetic excitement in what they admit is the ‘Westminster Village’. And the rest of us just get on with our lives. Just occasionally, however, democracies throw up astonishingly fast-moving dramas. They are

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Bus Services Bill – Briefing

Background The Bus Services Bill was introduced into Parliament last month.  Despite generating considerably more public transport journeys than any other mode, governments rarely pay too much attention to buses.  This is the first significant piece of new legislation on buses since John Prescott’s Transport Act sixteen years ago and is thus deserving of our

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Should we ask the question? – The most important question is whether or not to ask in the first place?

We have always regarded a referendum as a form of a consultation – and last week’s excitement illustrated many of the pitfalls familiar to public engagement practitioners. The in/out question has many critics – unsurprisingly mostly from the losing side. But experts have known for years that asking people a binary question is crude, and that is why they are often described

Should we ask the question? – The most important question is whether or not to ask in the first place? Read More »

Consultation with ‘Appointed Voices’ – Phasing out ‘Parent Governors’ might signal the end of a particular form of consultation.

Commentators had predicted for a while that the Government was intent on further reducing – if not eliminating – the role of local authorities in running schools. So it was no great surprise when the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan announced their wholesale conversion into academies. What was unexpected, though, was dropping the requirement for Parent

Consultation with ‘Appointed Voices’ – Phasing out ‘Parent Governors’ might signal the end of a particular form of consultation. Read More »

Majority Vote – A Referendum is only one form of decision-making and there are other good ideas around!

A Referendum is only one form of decision-making and there are other good ideas around! Ever since the Institute began, the first thing taught to members and supporters is the mantra Consultation is not a Vote. Indeed, it was the theme of the first ever Tuesday Topic. But, of course, there are times when major decisions

Majority Vote – A Referendum is only one form of decision-making and there are other good ideas around! Read More »

Knowing what’s true … – The EU referendum highlights robust arguments about the ‘facts’ of the situation – implications for consultation professionals.

A few years ago, IPSOS-MORI started publishing comparisons between various statistics of social or political significance and people’s perceptions of the same numbers; they repeated the exercise in many countries. In Britain, as in other countries, there are substantial differences, and the research – called The Perils of Perception is frequently cited by those who

Knowing what’s true … – The EU referendum highlights robust arguments about the ‘facts’ of the situation – implications for consultation professionals. Read More »

Publish – or be damned! – Two disturbing cases of reticence to publish – so time to stand up for a key principle.

Two weeks ago, the BBC carried the news that the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales had decided that it could not reveal the data emerging from the consultation it has conducted on the subject of sexual ethics. To add spice to the Today programme’s story, it was revealed that the Church in Germany

Publish – or be damned! – Two disturbing cases of reticence to publish – so time to stand up for a key principle. Read More »

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