Code of Practice on Consultation

1 CodeofPracticeonConsultation3 FOREWORDFOREWORDThisGovernm en t is co mmi ttedto eff ect ive co nsu lt atio n; co nsu lt atio nwh ich is tar ge ted at, an d easil y accessib le to, th ose wit h a cle arint er est in the policyin qu est ion. Effe ctiveco nsu ltat ion bring s to lig htvaluablein formatio n wh ich the Go ver nmen t can use to desi gnef fect ive solu tio ns. Put simply, effectiveco nsu ltat ion al low s theGovernme nt to make informeddecisions on mat ters of policy, toimp ro ve the de liveryof pub lic service s, an d to imp rove theaccountabilityof pub lic bo Go ver nm en t has had a Codeof Pr act ice on Con su ltat ion since200 0 se tting ou t how co nsultation exe rcises ar e best ru n an d whatpeo ple can expect fro m the Government whe n it has decide d to runa formal co nsultation d version of the Code is itselfth e resu lt of li sten in g to th ose whoregularly resp ond toGovernme nt co s Code sh ould help impr ove the tran sp arency,responsiveness andaccessibilityof con sultations, and help in red ucin g th e burden of eng ag ing in Governmentpolicydevelop men par t of th e Government s co mmitment to ef fe ctiveco nsul tati on.

2 We wil l continueto monitorhowwe consult and we app reciatefe ed back on how we can impr ove .Jo hn HuttonBERRSoSJuly200 8 CODEOFPRACTICEONCONSULTATION4Cr it erion Whento consultFo rma l cons ultationshoul d take plac e at a stage when there is scope to influencethe pol ic y it erion Durat ionofconsultationexer cisesConsu ltat ions shouldnorm all y las t for at le ast 12 week s with considerationgivento lo ng er timescaleswher e feasi ble and se it erion Clarit y ofscopeandimpactConsu ltat ion documents shoul d be cle ar about th e consultationprocess,what isbe ing pr opos ed, the scope to influ en ce and th e ex pectedcosts and benefitsofthe it erion Accessibi lit y ofconsultat ionexer cisesConsu ltat ion exercisesshoul d be des igned to be accessibleto, and clearly targetedat , th os e peoplethe exer cise is inte nd ed to it erion Theburden ofconsultat io nKee pi ng the bur den of consul tat io n to a minimumis essent ial if consultationsareto be effec tive and if co nsul tees bu y-in to the processis to be obtai it erion ResponsivenessofconsultationexercisesCon su ltat ion responsesshouldbe ana lysed carefullyand clear feedbackshouldbe provi ded to part icipantsfoll owing th e it erion CapacitytoconsultOf fici al s runni ng consul tat ions sh ou ld seek guidan ce in how to run an effectivecon sul tati on exerci se and shar e wha t they have learnedfrom the ese cri teria shouldbe repr oducedin co nsu ltationdo TERIA5 INTRODUCTIONO ngoi ngdialoguebetweenGovernmentandstakeholde rsis an di al ogue will, at times, needtobecome moreformalandmore developinga newpoli cyorconsidering a changetoexistingpolicies.

3 Processesorpr actices, it willoftenbedesirabl e tocarryouta for mal,time-bound,public,writtenconsu lt at ionex erci kind ofexercisesh ouldbeopen toanyonetorespond butshouldbedesignedtoseek views fromthosewhowouldbeaf fe ctedby , orthosewhohavea part icularinterestin,the mal co nsultation exercisescanexposetoscrutiny theGovernment spreliminarypolicyanaly sisand thepolicyorimple mentationoptions OFTHECODEThisCode setsout the approachthe Go ve rn men t wi ll take wh en it has decidedto run a formal,wr it ten, pub lic con sup erse des an d replaces pr evi ous versions of the Cod e does not havelegalforceand can not pre vail ove r statutory or mandatoryrequ ir Cod e se ts out th e Government s gen eral poli cy on fo rmal,pu blic, writ ten con sult ationexer cise s. A list of the UK departments2an d age nci es ad op ti ng the Co de is available on theBe tt er Reg ulat ion Executive s we bsit pu bl ic se ct or org an isations ar e fre e to makeuse ofth is Cod e fo r the ir consultati on purp ose s, bu t it does not ap ply to co nsult ationexe rcisesrun byth em unle ss the y expl ici tl y s retainthei r exi stingdiscretion not to co ndu ct fo rmalco nsu ltat ion exercises underthete rms of th e Code.

4 At times,a formal,writt en, publ ic co nsu lt atio n wi ll not be the mo st eff ectiveor pr opo rtion ate wayof see kinginputfro m in te re st ed part ie s, . when engagingwithstakeho lder s ve ry earl y in pol icy develop me nt (p re ce din g for mal co nsul tation)or whenthe scopeof an exe rciseis ve ry narrowand the le ve l of in tere st hig hly sp ecialised. In suchcasesan exerciseund er th is Code wo uld no t be appropriate. The re is, mo reo ve r, a var ie ty of otherways availabletoseekinp ut fr om interested partiesot he r th an for mal co nsu lt atio gag ement work is no tth e sub ject of this Co de. Wh en departme nts decid e on ly to carr y out engagementwith int erestedpar ties in waysoth er thanformal,wr itt en co nsul tati on , the y ar e enco uragedto be clearaboutthere asons whythe methodsbe ing use d havebe en ch ose orderto reachcertaingroupsthis maymeangoingbeyondthe traditional,writtenconsultationexercise- see criterion52 Referenceto department includesreferenceto non-Ministerialdepartmentsand otherorganisationsthatthis a Minister includesthe seniordecisionmaker(s)

5 In thoseorganisations, the chiefexecutiveor the boardresponsiblefor the additionto the guidancesupportingthis Code,usefulinformationon alternativeformsof engagementmaybe is Codeis not in tend ed to createa commitme nt to co nsul t on an yth ing, to give rise to a dutytoco nsult,or to be re lie d on as creatingexpectations that th e Go ve rnme nt will consultin anypar ticularcase. Th e issu es on whichthe Gov er nme nt de cid es to con su lt de pendon thecir cumstances in eachcas reover, deviationfro m th e Codewill, at time s, be unavoid ab le when runninga for mal , wr itt en,pu blic co nsu ltation. It is reco mmended thatdepar tme nt s be open abo ut suchdeviations, st atingth e reasons fo r the deviation and what measure s will be employe d to makethe exer ciseasef fe ctiveas possiblein the ci der so me lawstherear e requirementsfor the Go ver nme nt to co nsu lt cer tain groupson ce rtainissu es.

6 This Code is sub ject to any suchlegalre quir ement. Care mu st al so be takento complywithany oth er legalre quir ementswhichmayaf fe ct a co nsu lt at io n exe rcisesuchas co nfidentialityissu es and equ alit y schemes. Morein formation on su ch mat ters can be fou nd in the guidancewh ich accompan ies th is Cod is Codeshould alsobe usedin co njunctionwit h th eConsultationandPolicyAppraisal CompactCodeofGoodPracticewh ic h supports the Compacton Go ve rnme nt s Relat io ns wit h th e Vo lu ntaryan d Commu nity Se cto r6an d with theCentral-LocalGovernmentConcordatwh ich estab lish es aframew ork of principles fo r howcent ral and lo cal gove rnme nt wo rk toget her to servethe e Bett er Re gu latio n Executive in the Departme nt fo r Busi ne ss, Ent erpriseand Reg ulat or yRef ormwelcomes fe edb ack re garding the eff ectiveness of the Cod e and the accompanyinggu id yo u havean y comments,pleasefeel fre e to co ntact the Bett er Reg ulat ionExe cut ive at.

7 Bet ter Regu latio n ExecutiveDe part ment fo r Business, Ente rpriseand Regu lato ry Re fo rm1 Vi ctor ia Stre etLo ndonSW1H0 ETTe le phone: 02 0 721 5 03 52E- mail:re gov .uk5 8 furtherguidancesee rion When to consultFo rmal consul tati on shoul d take place at a stag e when there is scope to influencethe policy mal, wr it ten , pub lic con sultation will oftenbe an importan t st ag e in th e policymakingpr oc on makespreli minaryanal ysisavailable for publ ic scr ut iny and allowsaddition al evidence to be sought froma rangeof in te re ste d part ie s so as to informthedevelopm en t of the po li cy or its imp le me is imp or tan t th at co nsultation take s placewhenthe Governme nt is ready to put sufficientinf orm ati on in to th e publ ic domainto enab le an eff ect ive an d in fo rme d dialogueon the issu esbein g con sult ed on.

8 But equ ally, th ere is no poi nt in con su ltin g whe n eve rythingis alre adyset tle d. Th e co nsultation exercisesh ou ld be schedul ed as early as possiblein the projectplanas these fact ors allo e Governmentis making informationavai labl e to st akehold er s ratherthanseekingviews or evidenceto influence pol icy, communicatin g a policy de cisionor clarifyinganissue, th is sh ouldnot be labe lle d as a co nsu ltati on and is the re fo re no t in the scopeof thisCo de . Mo reover, informalcon sultation of in terested par tie s, outsid e the scopeof this Code,is so metimes an opti on an d there is sep arat e gu id an ce on th wil l oft en be necessaryto engage in an in fo rma l dialo gue wit h stakeholderspriorto afo rmal co nsul tat ion to obtain ini ti al evi de nce an d to gain an unde rst an ding of the issuesthatwill need to be raisedin the formalcon sul tatio n.

9 These in fo rmaldi alog ues are al so outsideth e scopeof this cod co ur se of th e development of somepol icie s, the Gove rn me nt maydecidethatmo re thanone fo rmalconsultati on exerciseis app ropriat e. Wh en fur th er Consultation is amo re detailedlook at sp ecificel ements of th e po licy, a decisi on will need to be takenre ga rd ing the scaleof theseadd itio nal co nsu ltati ve act ivit ie s. In deci din g howto carryoutsuchre-co nsul ta tion, th e department wil l ne ed to wei gh up the leve l of int erest expressed byconsulteesin th e ini tial exe rci se and th e burde n th at run nin g se ver al co nsu ltationexerciseswill place on co nsul teesand any pote ntialdel ay in imp le men ti ng the po licy . In mostca seswh ere ad ditio nal exercises are app ro priate, co nsultat io n on a mo re limited scalewill be moreappr op ri ate.

10 In the se casesthis Cod e need no t be obse rve d bu t mayprovideusefulgui nsu ltat ion exer cisesshould no t gen erallybe la un ch ed du ring ele ct ion thereareexcepti onalci rcu mstances wh ere lau nchi ng a co nsu ltat io n is co nsid ered absolutelyessential(f or example, fo r safeguardingpub lic health), de par tments sh ould se ek advicefromthePr opri ety and Eth ics teamin the Cab in et Offi ce. If a con su ltat ion is ongo ing at the timeanelection is cal led , it should continue . However, de par tme nts sh oul d avo id takingactionduringelection periodswhichwi ll compete withcandid ate s for the at te ntio n of the 810 For moreon this,see the accompanyingguidanceat it erion Durat ionofconsultationexer cisesConsu ltat ions shouldnorm all y las t for at le ast 12 week s with considerationgiven tolo nge r tim es ca les wher e feasi ble and r nor ma l ci rcumstances,consultatio ns sh oul d last fo r a min imu m of 12 ou ld be factored into project pl ans for po licy devel op men t work.