Late last month the government announced that ‘Ministers rip up consultation culture’ and it conjured mixed feelings. Local democracy is already in shreds, with mass layoffs in the sector among health and local government professionals, so why stop there?
On the one hand, it’s easy to see how there is disillusionment with the current culture of consultation. Some of the reasons are practical – for example, there is no cross-government owner of this agenda and very little in terms of a joined-up approach other than the 2018 consultation principles. From a citizen’s perspective, there is rarely solid evidence of impact of their feedback and as a result trust in the ability of government to listen and adapt has become eroded.
Cynically, however, this change feels more like frustration that the government is consistently caught in the crossfire of not ‘practicing what it preaches’.
For example, a recent High Court challenge was launched by Chagossian groups alleging the UK government failed to comply with legal duties to consult on matters affecting their right of abode and resettlement. Lawyers for the Chagossians argued that the Foreign Office made “unlawful decisions” by failing to adequately consult them regarding their interests, including rights of abode, resettlement, and territorial interests. The challenge even covered failures around the timing of an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA).
So we feel the need to remind policymakers to that our current consultation culture is prized. It is the envy of the world, with numerous governments basing their best practices on our model of democracy with its built-in safeguards and thoroughness. Ironically, old democracies are headed in the opposite direction. For example, The Netherlands has a new Strengthening Participation at the Decentralized Level Act (‘participatieverordening’) which requires local authorities to draw up participation strategies and abide by them. This Act also introduces a right to challenge – a form of participation whereby residents can request to take over the execution of a government task (and budget!) if they believe they can perform it better or more efficiently.
In the words of consultation Guru, “Being consultative is good”. And this government can be proud of some recent exemplars such as the deliberative processes run to generate the NHS 10 year plan. So what we want to see is less of a change in consultation culture and more of a joined-up plan to develop consistency and embed quality. Instead, we think the fix to frequent failure and frustration caused by consultation is more about developing a new culture – of actively embracing rigorous scrutiny and open debate to the extent that its uncomfortableness is regarded as a blessing in disguise.