Is a disillusioned public more or less likely to embrace public consultation? Week-by-week, the political hysteria-level rises, and it is a common assumption by the commentariat that trust in politicians and the political process is at an all-time low. Does this mean that attempts to engage and consult on important issues will become more difficult? […]
Consultation at a time of disappearing trust Read More »
This is a list of organisations that have had to appear in the High Court to defend their public consultations just this year so far. Win or lose, they have incurred considerable costs and delays. On occasions they have been embarrassed by bad publicity and some have had their decisions quashed. This is the tip
Judicial Review – can it happen to anyone? Read More »
Every profession spawns a unique vocabulary, often supplemented by acronyms and initialisations bewildering to an outsider. Attend a meeting of Health Professionals and you will be bombarded by a complex internal language, perfectly comprehensible to those working in that field and mind-bending if you do not. This led us to open the chapter on Health
Mind your language… Read More »
Ten years ago today, the Institute opened the doors of its new, purpose-built Centre of Excellence at Biggleswade The Consultation Institute had been run from a very traditional office in Sandy for six years when it decided to redevelop the ground floor of Baystrait House, Biggleswade and open it as a ‘Centre of Excellence’.  Since
Happy Birthday, Biggleswade Read More »
Walter Bagehot – still the most quoted authority on the British constitution – summed up the monarch’s role with the words ‘the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn’. No doubt the Queen will have been 100% diplomatic this week, and she would have faced a confident, determined Government with
Memo to Boris …if in doubt, consult Read More »
Against a background of Heathrow’s third Runway proposal, climate change activists flexing their muscles and an intensifying debate about the future of the aviation industry, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) website will probably host a range of local and regional consultations about the modernising of airspaces around the UK’s busier Airports. (To declare an interest,
There are a range of circumstances where a consultation takes place but then it becomes necessary to repeat the task. A County Council consults on a reconfiguration of services and is subsequently challenged in the High Court. It loses and must then consider whether to repeat the exercise. An NHS Trust which has spent years attempting
Consultation – Is it OK to start all over again? Read More »
How seriously are we considering the VERY big issues? Three years ago – with the Referendum aftershocks still resounding, we speculated whether the BREXIT planning period would usher in a period of fundamental re-thinking about all those issues that might be affected by the decision to leave the UK. We wondered whether we would see
Finally…food for thought! Read More »
In a number of organisations, the days of turning up to a meeting to be greeted with a consultation document complete with options, a questionnaire and timetable (ambitious as it might be), are gone. The public expect a level of involvement early on and this can be a problem for some public bodies. When involvement
Are you getting the right people in the room? Read More »
Ministry refusal to disclose rejected by the Information Commissioner. Another story from the category marked ‘Surely this cannot have happened?’ On 8th May 2018, just three weeks before the Grenfell Towers Inquiry settled on its ‘list of issues to be investigated’ someone (we don’t know who) submitted an FOI request which has just been the
‘Vexatious’ bid to see consultee responses on Fire Safety Read More »
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