The nation holds its breath, awaiting the worst. But, in truth, we know what’s coming, for politicians have spared us few details in a very visible softening-up process that seems to have taken several weeks.

And the main messages are that the deficit is huge; it’s all the fault of the previous Government; and that public services/public servants will inevitably be hard hit. We have predictably had a ritual tearing up of pre-Election commitments to roads, hospitals, search and rescue helicopters and the rollout of the Future Jobs fund. Nothing is sacred – not even pillars of the landscape that have survived centuries; the Stonehenge Visitor Centre’s also been scrapped!

But seriously, public bodies of all kinds know they face an immense challenge – achieving as much as before but with significantly fewer resources. Optimistic talk of protecting the front-line is a great aspiration but probably unrealistic without re-configuring services – sometimes in dramatic ways. And guess what? This will be virtually impossible without consultation and engagement processes and skills.

There are two different kinds of processes here

Readers of these Topics know well that Operational and Technical skills are needed to work with service users and service deliverers if genuine service re-design is to succeed. Running Focus Groups is a great way to understand the experience of patients, tenants, passengers or victims of crime, but there are countless other methods that can be useful, and the trick is to know what’s suitable for each situation. Remember that there are many other stakeholders involved, including existing players in the delivery chain, or potential new partners or volunteers.

Thousands of local government officers, NHS staff or Police officers have some of these skills but may be more accustomed to using them in benign economic times where time is available and money can be found to meet new requirements unearthed by talking to people. They must resist the temptation to turn their backs on years of dialogue by concluding that change has to be implemented too rapidly to afford the luxury of consultation. In fact, it’s needed more than ever.

It is this realisation that has persuaded George Osborne and the Treasury to announce an unprecedented nationwide consultation about the deficit reduction. This is really about deploying Strategic engagement skills – something all organisations must undertake if they are to bring key stakeholders with them. Implementing serious change is never easy, but it becomes well nigh impossible if other parts of the public realm, the corporate sector, and the increasingly-vital Third Sector fail to co-operate. Hence the need to engage them in dialogue.

But we’re a sceptical nation. Media reaction to this consultation was suspicious to say the least. Lord Lawson called it just Public Relations, and other commentators poured cold water on both the Government’s motives and plans. On Sunday, Will Hutton wrote:

The trouble is that the terms of the consultation preclude any genuine consultation; the assumption is that spending is bad, the state needs to be smaller, nothing is more important than a triple A credit rating, and the British way of life has to change.

At the Institute, we prefer to avoid taking sides in any political argument, but we feel able to comment on the process of consultation. And we’ve looked at what the Treasury proposes. It faces three major problems. In headline terms they are What? How? and When?

• What? How can the agenda be organised so that the debate focuses on those matters where the Government still has an open mind?
  • How? Whose voices should be heard? Will the proposed reliance on listening to experts be enough?
  • When? August is not the best choice, but even if the timetable is extended, how can this be timed at a moment before the Government’s plans are already in motion?

None of these problems are insurmountable and, in the Briefing Paper we’ve prepared, (see below) we have some suggestions as to how the Government can get it right.

But exactly the same issues arise at local levels … or indeed with any significant engagement. It is why the macro, quasi-political skills of engaging with large-scale Departments of State, professional bodies, think tanks or businesses need to be deployed alongside the routine, day-to-day methods of organising consultation exercises. In both cases, whatever the headcount that is ultimately available, those who are employed by public bodies need to be very good at all these roles.

Trigger points

• Much of the above will be discussed at Implications of a New Government – what next for Public Engagement?
• Advance notice: …. A Consultation Institute Roundtable: Exploring the Big Society.

This is the 164^th 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