Originally published 8 February 2011. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
Eyebrows were raised in Northern Ireland recently when the Minister for Education extended the closing date of a significant consultation on her strategy for early years services for children.
So, why not? Perhaps we could do with some flexibility, especially when public dialogue takes off late in a consultation period, or where consultees reasonably need more time to gather and present their views.
But it does raise interesting questions about that critical period at the end of a formal consultation. Is there a point at which organisations which have just submitted their response, need a period of quiet to study the contributions of other consultees? Some would describe it a period of ‘purdah’ rather like the self-imposed restraint on political initiatives in the time leading up to an election, though that’s not the best term to use in our multicultural society.
So, in theory, we wait for the consultation to be launched, we participate in events, answer the questionnaires, make our submissions and then sit back in the hope that decision-makers will be impressed by our arguments. We may receive an acknowledgement, and in the ideal world, after a period of time, the consultor will publish a summary of the contributions. Sadly, however, we can wait a very long time for the outcome itself.
During this delay, campaigners cannot be expected to sit tight and hope for the best. Closing dates are becoming increasingly ineffective, and though it would be nice to have an end-point by which time the arguments have been widely heard, the growing sophistication of public engagement means that consultations are just one phase in a longer-term process.
Take the analogy of what’s happened to news and current affairs. The advent of rolling 24-hour news means that there is now an appetite – and a market - for even minor incremental developments in any story that captures public imagination. So if the issue is (to be topical) the prospective closure of a library, post office, or health centre, or even the withdrawal of benefits or services, journalists aren’t likely to walk away from the story just because a closing date for consultation has passed.
The financial mayhem affecting public bodies of all kinds has an impact at both ends of the consultation process. Councils and Health Trusts are announcing major proposals long before they have worked out the details. By the time formal consultations are launched, it is difficult for the consultor to have an open mind; consultees also find themselves taking entrenched positions. So whilst the consultation provides a disciplined process to hear all relevant voices, it merely becomes one stage in a more long-winded process. When this stage comes to an end, the arguments continue and protagonists will maintain and sometimes intensify their campaigns.
This has implications for those who organise consultations. They may no longer be able to ignore arguments because the deadline has passed. Indeed, there is the danger of surrendering the initiative, or letting one side or another of the argument go by default. The benefit of effective media management undertaken during a consultation can be lost if the period afterwards can only produce a ‘No comment’.
Maybe it is part of a Big Society to create conditions whereby stakeholder voices don’t have to wait for a formal consultation before engaging in dialogue? Perhaps we should encourage representative bodies, community groups and even commercial interests to be more transparent about their agendas and viewpoints at all times and express them openly through a set of more responsive machinery?
If this is the case, we could move away from tick-in-the-box consultations and apply the rigours of best practice standards to those formal occasions where they are appropriate and where there is greatest benefit in having an orderly exercise that ensures a high degree of integrity in the listening process. And, for everything else, let us stimulate more flexible dialogues, free from unnecessary artificial time constraints. Trigger points
- How rigidly do you adhere to consultation closing dates?
- Are you finding social media intensifies and prolongs debate regardless of timetables? See our course on Using Social Media
- Are you promoting Big Society ideas such as more extensive dialogues? See our forthcoming sessions on Localism & the Big Society
- Do your Media Relations team appreciate the need for good coverage in the period after a consultation? See our Media Course
This is the 179th 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