The well-respected IRP has just published its response to the October 2018 Referral form Dorset County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee. It contains strong criticism of the Council for having acquiesced in the controversial plans to make changes to the services provided by the NHS in Bournemouth and Poole, and subsequently changed its mind and referred […]
IRP throws down the gauntlet to unhappy Scrutiny Committees Read More »
We were rather amused when late on Tuesday night a tweet came across our feed showing the consultation that the left-wing Labour organisation Momentum undertook amongst its members to decide who they should throw their (not inconsiderable) support behind in the ongoing Labour Party leadership contest. Momentum is a body that has consistently promised both
The People’s Democracy- Momentum’s Labour Leadership Ballot Read More »
Rhion Jones comments: This is a highly technical but important case where the inadequacies of stakeholder consultation jeopardised a public policy that matters to millions of people. In this article, Stephen Hill, our new Legal and Parliamentary Officer considers the details and rightly highlights the need for consultors to take extreme care when relying on
Flawed Consultation Gives Energy Companies Victory over Regulator Read More »
McHattie v South Ayrshire Council, [2020] CSOH 4 This is in many ways a straightforward, open-and-shut case prompting the question of why on earth did the Council waste public money on defending itself. On the other hand, it’s a great wake-up call for public bodies in Scotland (see below) The petitioner represented a 32-year old
A Council consultation failure with lessons for all Scotland Read More »
Starting a project and launching straight into a consultation without considering the likely positive and negative impact(s) of the project looks something like this… Risky. Impact assessments may not be the most exciting part of the process; however, they are an essential ingredient to successful and effective policy making. Let’s consider a recent case which
Forecasting the impacts… Read More »
Is the Rotherham case an outlier or an outrage? Last May, Mrs Justice Jefford heard what, in part, she admitted was a ‘finely balanced’ issue. The claimant was a 27-year old autistic woman with significant needs, who had attended the Oaks Day Centre in Rotherham since the age of 19. This was a judicial review
Consultation lawful despite misrepresentation of consultee views Read More »
Is The Economist right to be optimistic about technology? Every so often, The Economist publishes one of its weighty editorials, designed for maximum influence, and chose the imminent start of the ‘Twenties’ decade to discuss Pessimism v progress. Summarising crudely, its argument goes as follows:- There’s a lot of techno-pessimism. “The new technologies that dominated the last decade seem to
A decade of debate? Read More »
“For goodness sake, just get Xmas done!” “We’re fed up. For months, we’ve heard little else.” “No ifs; no but’s. Let’s stick to the agreed date.” “December 25th it is. If it can’t be done by then, our leader will die in a ditch rather than extend it by a single date.” “And as for
Last week, it was perfectly reasonable to argue that the scale and nature of consultations might not be much different whoever won the General Election. But few people foresaw the extent of Boris Johnson’s victory. Does the size of his majority change anything? It might. His programme was criticised for being too vague, but there
Boris Wins Big – so will he consult? Read More »
Might the election result oblige us to re-think one of the more fundamental tenets of public engagement and consultation? It is very early days, of course, but consider what has just happened. The referendum held in 2016 – for all its faults – was a gigantic consultation exercise. We asked the people a Yes/No question with experts
The revenge of the thwarted winners Read More »
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