I’ve just had a look at the Northern Ireland Executive’s public consultation website, and see that there were 306 consultations in 2017 (a fivefold increase since 2013) and by our count, as of today (27 February) there are already 32 active consultations – and that’s not even including a long list of additional “open consultations” in the remaining pages, to which contributions are still being sought. At first glance, this might be interpreted as a positive thing – our public sector is asking the NI public for input, and that (hopefully) means they’re using engagement to inform important decisions.
Well… yes and no.
Yes, it’s great that our government officials seem motivated to ask for input on all kinds of topics – from Scoping a new forestry plan for Sperrin forests and Woodland, to Promoting Organ Donation in Northern Ireland, to name but two. However, the trend of “consultation fatigue” is real, and this sheer volume of public consultations makes my head spin. Where is the “engaged” public to start?
There are some other challenges to effective and meaningful engagement that we’ve noticed with this recent consultation flurry. Take the Albert Street Public Realm Consultation, as an example.
The consultation webpage simply had four paragraphs of text, a link to 14 PDF papers, and reference to one public event. A hard copy, downloadable feedback form (containing a series of leading questions) was available but had to be either posted and/or scanned and emailed to the consultor. Even the really enthused stakeholders would struggle to read through and digest the complex papers, and then respond clearly in the hard copy feedback form. In our 50-year combined history of engagement work, and the view of professional associations, such as the Consultation Institute, which fosters and oversees engagement best practice, would suggest a more accessible approach is necessary.
Unfortunately, this lackadaisical approach to consultation is not uncommon. In 2016 and 2017, we, TCI Engagement, asked 41 NI public bodies for a copy of their Consultation Project Plan. We requested details of their choice of dialogue methods, stakeholder identification, options appraisal, promotional budget, assessment of responses and other related plans (to name a few). Just over half (24) provided us with some sort of information; 17 did not respond at all. Out of the 24 who did respond, six refused the request for information and the remaining 18 offered a face to face meeting or simply acknowledged the email being received. The quality of responses of those who actually did respond varied greatly, with a number suggesting that they were not really sure why they are consulting, it’s something they have to do (i.e. it’s an EU Directive that they have to implement anyway), it’s more of an information and awareness-raising exercise, and they don’t know who will decide, or to whom they will report.
We think it’s great that our Government is doing ‘something’ and don’t want to discourage the Northern Ireland government from engaging the public, however, a recent NICVA and TCI event on improving public influence on planning issues, shows us that people are not feeling empowered to participate in consultation processes and that the public are calling out for greater standards for Community Consultation, by which to judge the ‘sham’ or ‘tokenistic’ ones.
Principles or standards, such as the ones created by the Consultation Institute may appear to be abstract ideals or standards based on judgements, but our experience tells us that putting these best practice principles into practice will increase the public’s trust in the consultation process leading to productive and positive outcomes for all.
Engagement pointers;
- Do you have consultation standards in use in your organisation?
- Does the thought of preparing for a public consultation scare/excite you?
- Is this something you’ve never done before and are wondering where and how to begin?
Blog from Victoria Oliveira, tCI Engagement Co-founder and Director, and tCI Associate
