Originally published 6 November 2007. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
If you work in the general field of public participation, chances are that your organisation has issued some form of Guidelines to help you do your job. They may not be called Guidelines, and may take the style of a Framework, a Policy document or even a Code of Practice, but they all share the characteristic that they have been helpfully drafted by someone who wants to set parameters for the way certain tasks are undertaken.
In some professions – like town planning, such Guidelines become elevated into tablets of stone; in others they are just regarded as ornamental adornments to the municipal mood-music.
Guideline authors often face a dilemma, and have to consider whether their job is to act as a prop for those who need help just to stand up, or a chain to restrain the over-confident from straying too far. Striking a balance between these two approaches is difficult, with the risk that one pleases neither group. No matter whether you are a Government agency, a County Council, a Police force or a NHS Trust; if you put pen to paper to advise your staff how to undertake public engagement, this is a tightrope you have to negotiate.
Right now, this kind of debate is taking place in two Whitehall departments. The Cabinet Office has reviewed the Code of Practice for Written Consultation, and is now seeking our views on various ways to amend the existing rules. Not unreasonably, it sees the existing Code as being one-size-fits-all, and one of its options is to replace the Code with a looser, more flexible framework. This goes with the grain of current thinking towards less, not more regulation, but many will see it as a retreat from best practice standards.
Simultaneously, the department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) is having to work out how best to draft the promised Guidelines to support the Bill currently going through Parliament. Those experienced in public participation who have looked at the ideas in Ruth Kelly’s Strong & Prosperous Communities realise that many of them are capable of being interpreted in lots of different ways. So surely Guidelines are essential?
The CLG’s current stance, however, is to avoid being prescriptive. After years of telling Councils what to do, it now wants to stand back a little, empower them to get on with it, and avoid being seen as the great big bully of previous years. Time therefore for few, if any, Guidelines?
At root, this is an argument about change, and the ways to achieve it. If the impetus for change comes from the bottom up, there is less need for top-down prescriptions. If, on the other hand, those in high places wish to exert leadership, well-structured guidance is one of the ways they can implement policy changes.
But notice that it is only one of the ways. If behaviour could be changed just by publishing Guidance, or toolkits, few politicians would be wringing their hands in frustration. In truth, turning the bureaucratic supertankers of modern public administrations requires far more. It needs attention to the detailed processes and incentives that dictate the way people work; it also needs training and mentoring of those affected to help them operate differently.
Provided you don’t expect them to achieve change on their own, Guidelines are remarkably important. Their prime role is to signal the required direction of travel. So, if CLG really wants to achieve a step-function change in the quality of citizen engagement, its Guidelines must come clean and say so. Similarly, if the Cabinet Office wants to re-affirm best practice, it also must say so.
Good Guidelines provide clear signals
Trigger points
- Join the debate on the Cabinet Office consultation. The Consultation Institute is running the first open-to-all Forum on the subject in London
- Look carefully at the changes required to implement the Local Government White Paper – start preparing now for the guidance your staff will need.
- Examine existing Guidelines from your own organisation – do they provide clear signals?
This is the 88th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement