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Most people won’t read the Government’s White Paper Open Public Services. And if they did, they might struggle to understand what it says! Maybe it’s because the Coalition has followed the previous administration’s habit of peppering the text of such documents with references to any and every current initiative that could just about be regarded […]

Experienced organisers of consultations are familiar with many caricatured groups of people. The phrase Usual Suspects is often used to describe those who can be relied upon to appear in all weathers and offer their views with enthusiasm on even the most boring subject. Many a consultor has forgiven them their foibles just because their

There are at least two interpretations to what’s going on in national politics right now. One version sees a Government having to trim its ambitions and reach all sorts of accommodations in order to keep a fragile Coalition together. Compromises and re-thinks are characterised as U-turns in the popular press and Ministerial exits are solemnly

The term ‘domain’ originally meant a piece of land – a territory. Today we use it in a very different sense. Not only do many of us have a ‘domain name’ but educationalists and others speak of different ‘knowledge domains’ to categorise various spheres of expertise and know-how.

If the Localism Bill is taken at face-value, then local Councils are going to be busy organising a lot of Referendums. It represents a radically different approach to the last Government; yet both administrations have been pursuing a similar goal – greater citizen involvement. So, what’s different? Labour legislated (but never implemented) a ‘duty to

Re-organisations have a bad name. It is easy to rail against them, and to criticise them for achieving few of their stated objectives. One of the most oft-quoted management sayings is attributed to Petronius (apparently wrongly) and sounds very real to many people:- We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning

It only came into force in April 2009; no-one can say for definite whether it has made any difference. Yet there is quite an argument as to whether Mr Pickles’ announcement to scrap the ‘duty to inform, consult and involve’ will or will not damage the cause of public engagement. The case for abolition

For a process that essentially exists to minimise the risk of mistakes by public bodies or large organisations, the practice of consultation is itself prone to many errors. There are times when it might be better not even to contemplate consultation!

The huge variety of consultations makes it difficult to prescribe hard and fast rules for all aspects of the process, and there is always a debate as to whether or not options are required. See previous topics (including No 119 – Is that OK then?) At this time of financial cutbacks, however, many public bodies