In September 2026, Scottish Borders Council apologised after the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), the independent body that investigates complaints about public services in Scotland, found its 2025 nursery consultation unreasonable. A consultation can fail through weak planning, communication and record-keeping, whatever the decision. Other public bodies can learn from what went wrong.
What did the Ombudsman find about Scottish Borders Council’s consultation?
In 2025 the Council reviewed its early learning and childcare provision as nursery enrolments fell. It first proposed mothballing seven nurseries, then agreed not to do so at that stage. It consulted parents and carers in May and June 2025 on alternative arrangements for five settings, and its Executive Committee approved new models of provision in June.
A complaint followed. On 23 September 2026 the Council published an apology accepting the Ombudsman’s finding that the consultation process was unreasonable. It acknowledged four shortcomings: insufficient clarity about the consultation’s purpose and scope, opportunities to engage that were not clearly communicated at the outset, inconsistent records of consultation activity, and an inappropriate response to concerns raised about legal matters.
Those shortcomings concern how the consultation was run, not which option the Council chose. The case arose under Scottish procedures, but the practical lessons apply across the UK.
Why do the purpose and scope of a consultation need to be clear?
A consultation should tell participants why the organisation is consulting, what decision is being made, which parts of the proposal remain open to change and how responses will inform the outcome. Without that, people cannot judge whether their views can make a difference, and cannot respond intelligently to a proposal they may not fully understand.
Clarity matters most when proposals have already moved. Scottish Borders had considered mothballing seven nurseries before consulting on alternatives for five, and its committee papers record discussion of the difference between mothballing and statutory consultation under the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.
Whether the consultation papers explained what remained open is a question for the Ombudsman’s report. The general point is that when proposals evolve, the explanation must evolve with them.
Communication is a separate task from publication. A document on a website does not tell affected families how, when or where to respond, particularly in small and dispersed communities.
The Cabinet Office Consultation Principles, guidance for UK government departments and a useful benchmark for other bodies, expect consultations to be clear about their objectives, accessible and targeted at those affected. Planning should therefore include a communications plan that identifies who is affected and tells them plainly how to take part.
What makes a consultation record reliable?
The Council acknowledged that records of consultation activity were not consistently maintained. An organisation that cannot show what it did cannot show that it consulted properly. A reliable record covers who was invited, which activities took place, what feedback and concerns were raised, how that material reached decision makers and how it was weighed. That is what shows responses were conscientiously considered.
Questionnaires and a final report capture only part of that picture. Meetings, stakeholder conversations and written submissions are consultation too, and each needs a recording arrangement agreed at the planning stage rather than reconstructed afterwards. The same applies to concerns about the process. A concern about legal matters is evidence about the consultation’s quality, so it must be logged, escalated and answered.
What should an organisation do after an apology?
An apology acknowledges failure. It does not show that the causes have been fixed. The Scottish Borders Council has committed to implementing the Ombudsman’s recommendations, improving how it records consultation activity and reinforcing its Community Engagement Strategy and Toolkit.
The test is whether those commitments change practice, which means reviewing the consultation concerned, establishing whether the shortcomings are isolated or reflect wider weaknesses, revising guidance, briefing staff and checking that later consultations follow it.
Complaints teams and consultation teams also need a route between them. A complaint about how a consultation was run is not the same as disagreement with the decision, and treating it as such throws away the evidence it contains. Handled well, complaints give an early view of process failures that independent scrutiny would otherwise find later.
Consultation quality is decided before the decision is made: in what participants were told they could influence, how easily they could take part, and whether anyone can prove what happened. Organisations that can answer those three questions have little to fear from an Ombudsman. Those that cannot will find an apology is the start of the work, not the end of it.
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