Section One: Introduction This month, the Prime Minister launched a White Paper called Open Public Services1 It comes in a tradition of Whitehall attempts to describe an over-arching framework for the mind-boggling array of public services. Reading it from cover to cover is an arduous task, as was the case with its predecessors, for […]
Public engagement aspects of the Open Public Services White Paper Read More »
Introduction 1.1    The Consultation Institute‟s Briefing Paper 21 outlined the issues for the Coalition Government to consider in conducting its forthcoming consultation regarding the overall spending review. Many of the same issues will need to be considered at a local level when local authorities and their partners have to face the implications of their own reduced
Local Public Services Budget Consultation – Getting it right at a time of cuts Read More »
Introduction 1.1    The Coalition’s Programme for Government1  is quite explicit. Item 7 of the section headed Deficit Reduction states: We will hold a full Spending Review reporting this Autumn, following a fully consultative process involving all tiers of government and the private sector (our underline) 1.2    It would be unfair to suggest
The Spending Review Consultation – How the Government can get it right Read More »
Once the General Election result became clear (ie three days later!) we asked some of our most well-known Associates for their immediate reactions. In particular we asked them to consider what the implications might be for public engagement and consultation. These comments were prepared before the comprehensive agreement between Coalition partners, and before Monday’s announcement
Coalition Perceptions – The initial impressions of Institute Associates Read More »
The first week of the General Election witnessed something of a Dutch auction as to who could be most credible about ‘efficiency savings’. One side says it’s easy – only 1% of Government spending; the other side talks of sums being made on the back of an envelope! Mandarins at the Ministries will however be
All those who are interested in civic affairs are engaged in a guessing game right now – trying to anticipate the kind of landscape we will all face after the General Election. Few of us have ever experienced a campaign with so many uncertainties, and policy-makers have to consider three or four different scenarios for
Promises … Promises – Political uncertainty means a greater need for consultation Read More »
Listening to the media, we may be forgiven for being a little confused as to who won, and who lost the High Court case about the proposed Third Runway for Heathrow. According to the BBC, “Lord Justice Carnwath ruled the public consultation about expansion was invalid, because it was based on out-of-date figures”. Yet a
Like a sticky label that resists all attempts to be removed from a piece of luggage, we cling to some terms or phrases long after they have ceased being useful. ‘Hard-to-Reach’ is one such label. What’s wrong with it is the implication that it is somehow a group’s own ‘fault’ that it cannot be reached.
Hard (for us) … to reach – The real truth about this often misused phrase Read More »
Few public consultations are likely to arouse as much interest as that published by the Government Equalities Office on 15th March, and which seeks to enable gay and transsexual people to become married. Already however, opponents are calling this a ‘sham consultation’. A typical criticism comes from Colin Hart of the Coalition for Marriage who
The Equal civil marriage consultation – is it a sham? Read More »
‘Nothing but the truth’ is the title of a discussion paper published by the Audit Commission just before Christmas. In it, it reveals its anxieties about the quality of information provided to the public and exposes some of what goes wrong both locally and nationally. This matters to consultation professionals for three reasons
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