“Effective Consultation”
A response from the Moore Adamson Craig Partnership to the Cabinet Office consultation paper on how the Government carries out consultations
5. Consulting for the right reasons at the right time and avoiding over- consultation
The question of the timing of consultations (question 5) is a crucial one. Knowing when to begin the consultation can be difficult. We have found that highest response rates, and the most useful responses, are elicited when the consultation is seen by those being consulted as directly relevant to them and their experience and where it is clearly focussed. But it is also important to involve users and the public at an early stage in strategic discussions which often by their very nature are more vague and broad-brush. It can be difficult to engage with people at this stage where the direct relevance to them may not be immediately obvious but without input at this early stage, organisations can find themselves developing strategies which have not been tested in any way with users. Thus, later consultation can find itself floundering over key issues of principle or understanding.
We recently worked with a primary care trust which was consulting about the use and future development of their premises but also hoped to use the process to validate decisions they had already made about how they intended to deliver services in the future. The resulting consultation contained both very general points about the range of PCT services as well as specific points about particular practices. It was so broad-ranging and contained so many variables that it was very hard for people to know what they were being asked or how to answer the questions.
On balance we feel it would have been better to have consulted on the broad principles first and find out how people perceived current services and what they wanted from services in the future. This could then have been followed by more focused consultation with individual users who are likely to be directly affected by specific changes, such as the closure of practices or the relocation/redesign of particular services. Such an approach to consultation results in an ongoing dialogue rather than a series of separate consultation exercises. So-called consultation fatigue (question nine) can be avoided if it those being consulted understand what stage of the policy development process the organisation is at and if those consulting can demonstrate that they have taken on board the broad views expressed earlier.
These decisions have the potential to be divisive since they expose the difference between what we might call the professionals and the amateurs. The professionals are those bodies with paid staff for whom responding to consultations is part of the job description. Their staff maintain a familiarity with the issues under discussion and maintain a capability to respond formally and informally to the twists and turns of policy – whether that of central government or other statutory authorities. The voluntary sector and individual members of the public are not so positioned. They feel ambushed by the unexpected and harried by the extra demands on their time. This leads us to the next point where we argue for consultation as a continuing conversation.
6. Consultation as a two-way conversation
Successful dialogue of this sort depends very much on the consulting organisation sustaining its relationship with key stakeholders and enabling a productive two-way relationship to develop. This requires effort from the organisation in terms of practical arrangements such as making sure contact databases are kept up-to-date, providing updates, newsletters etc. There needs to be an open exchange of information and ideas so that those who are being consulted can develop a proper understanding of the factors which influence decision-making whether these are practical, financial or political. It also means the organisation has to be open to approaches from stakeholder bodies who wish to raise issues of concern to them and be involved in setting the agenda for some of the conversations from their own perspective, focusing on the issues that are important to the users, not just on those that are important to the service provider.
Continued: “Effective Consultation” Page 4