With hundreds of Government consultations every year – and thousands run by local authorities, the NHS and other public bodies, who can tell if any one of them is fair?

The Institute has fifteen years of experience and has worked with hundreds of organisations to improve the quality of such public engagement exercises.

And what it knows is that there is no magic formula that can detect the effectiveness of a public consultation. One standard is the test for legality, but it can take campaigners £50,000, and six months of working with lawyers to challenge an exercise in the Courts. By then decisions may have been taken, and the outcome of the Court case may be totally uncertain.

Far better to ensure that the exercise is carried out properly in the first place. At any one time, the Institute’s experts are working with major consultor organisations to ensure that their consultations will meet demanding best practice standards. This is our Quality Assurance Scheme. Alternatively we may be running Consultee Rights Workshops to help stakeholders understand how best to respond to consultations.

So much depends on the politics. We understand that too. Rhion Jones and Elizabeth Gammell have just published The Politics of Consultation by far the most authoritative exploration of the subject. We also assist those planning significant policy changes requiring consultation by holding an Anticipating the Politics Workshop.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of our homepage to receive weekly consultation updates.

If you are interested in any of the above – or any of the other services the Institute can offer, please contact Karen Fourie on 01767 318350.