Contents
You can download the full Introduction to public consultation how to guide [PDF 584KB]
or view it online.
- Introduction
- Purpose
- Nottinghamshire’s participation values
- What is consultation?
- Arnstein’s ladder of participation
- Consultation and market research
- Engagement
- The consultation challenge
- Five types of consultation
- The five-stage consultation process
Appendices
- The International Association of Public Participation code of ethics
- Sources of additional information
1. Introduction by Councillor David Kirkham Leader Nottinghamshire County Council
Effective consultation
When I was elected to be Leader I said from the beginning we must put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Effective public consultation will help us achieve this. Consultation is the key to the Council improving its services. We need to know what our customers think and what factors sometimes make it difficult for people to use our services.
This means consulting with stakeholders and residents and taking their views on board in the planning of council services. But too often we fail to get this right.
These ‘how to’ guides will help you. They have been designed to address our stakeholders key concerns and give guidance and tips to help our employees and public sector partners consult better. They are part of an increase in support for our front line staff and are backed by the Chief Executive’s Customer Management Team.
Staff should not feel they are on their own. Additional help and support is available by contacting the Customer Management Team on tel: 0115 977 2937 or e-mail: consultation@nottscc.gov.uk.
The Consultation Practitioners’ Forum also helps to share best practice across the Council. Their help has been invaluable in producing these guides and I’d like to thank them on behalf of the Council for sharing their expertise with us.
We have drawn up 12 consultation standards that establish best practice. These are based on our participation values and put the public at the heart of what the Council does. Applying these standards rigorously will help us to get our consultations right first time.
Improving the way we consult helps us all to achieve the Council’s strategic aims and meet the needs of Nottinghamshire’s diverse community.
I hope you find the guides useful.
Yours sincerely
Councillor David Kirkham
Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council
2. Purpose
These guides have been produced as part of the County Council’s commitment to improve the support available to Council employees and our partners carrying out consultation. They are based on the Council’s participation values and set key performance standards for all consultations carried out on behalf of the County Council.
3. Nottinghamshire's participation values
Nottinghamshire County Council recognises that local people must be involved in decisions about public services and the policies that affect their lives.
Our Public Engagement Policy applies to all the Council’s work. It sets out seven core values that underpin our engagement with the public. These are:
- The public should have a say in decisions that affect their lives.
- We promise that the public's contribution will inform the decision.
- We will communicate the interests and meet the needs of participants.
- We wil actively seek out and support public involvement.
- We will allow participants to define how they participate.
- We will provide participants with the information they need to take part in a meaningful way.
- We will communicate to participants how their input affected the decision.
These values reflect the principles set out in the International Association of Public Participation’s Code of Ethics, which is set out at Appendix 1. The Code lays down the key principles for open and appropriate relationships with consultees and the spirit behind effective public consultation.
4. What is Consultation?
The International Association of Public Participation identifies the goal of consultation as, ‘to obtain public feedback on analysis, alternatives and/or decisions.’ IAP2 ‘Foundations of public participation’ brochure 2003.
In the UK, the Consultation Institute describes consultation as, ‘the dynamic process of dialogue between individuals or groups, based upon a genuine exchange of views, and normally with the objective of influencing decisions, policies or programmes of action.’ Consultation Institute Charter 2004.
Consultation is not:
- telling people about a Council decision that has already been made
- day to day engagement with stakeholders – for example through local strategic partnership meetings
- asking people to report complaints or suggestions
- giving people advice on council (or other authority) services.
5. Arnstein's ladder of participation
Consultation falls within a continuum of public participation and involvement. In the 1960s Arnstein developed an eight-rung ladder with steps representing increasing levels of public participation. This eight-rung ladder can be simplified as follows:
- Information giving – letting people know what we do.
- Consultation – inviting people to have a say before we make a decision.
- Acting together – involving people and coming to a joint decision.
- Supporting – helping others do something instead of the Council.
6. Consultation and market research
Consultation is different from market research even though they both involve getting to know more about our customers. They have inherently different objectives though they may use similar techniques.
Consultation is an open and transparent activity; it has its own standards and is usually highly inclusive. In consulting the public or stakeholders an organisation usually commits to telling them about its business and involving them in it. How the consultation is conducted, its purpose and results are normally published, as should be the impact of the consultation on the organisation’s decision-making or activities.
Market research is essentially a private activity; an organisation using it is under no obligation to include everyone, to tell anyone what they are doing or why, or publish their results.
7. Engagement
Public engagement is the foundation of good consultation.
Engagement:
- establishes a relationship
- fixes the ground-rules
- sets expectations
- exchanges goals.
If a relationship with a particular audience is not established before a consultation begins it must be developed before useful results can be obtained.
8. The consultation challenge
In drawing up these guides the Council asked a selection of consultation practitioners and key stakeholders about consultation and engagement in the county. Four key areas of concern were raised:
- Consultation is generally carried out too late to influence the decision.
- The same stakeholder audiences are repeatedly consulted.
- The same methods are used each time, without regard to either the nature of the consultation or the audience.
- The consultation process ends when a decision is taken and no feedback is given to consultees.
9. Five types of consultation
There are five main types of consultation:
- Organisational goals and priorities, where an organisation invites an audience to help identify what it should do.
- Policy guidance, such as budget consultation, where an organisation asks for help on one aspect of its activity to better align it with the publics’ requirements or views.
- Option appraisal, where an organisation invites the public to assist in resolving the choices it faces.
- Mitigation, where an organisation intends to do something that may not be popular, for example consultation about a locally unpopular land use (known as LULU), but wants to investigate how the action or decision can be made more palatable.
- Performance, where an organisation invites comments on its activity and seeks help in improving its service delivery.
10. The five stage process
The Consultation Institute has identified five stages to the consultation process. These simple steps will help ensure a successful consultation and avoid the concerns expressed by our consultees.
1. Design - planning effective consultation
Consultation needs to be planned as an integral part of overall project plans, not just an afterthought once proposals/policies have been developed. As large scale consultations will take more than six months to carry out, it is crucial to plan consultation as early as possible.
The planning process must ensure that consultation is carried out to the standards required by the Council within time and resource constraints. This means that consultation plans usually require a degree of negotiation which can add to the length of the planning process. Organising pre-consultation with key stakeholders is invaluable and often helps to quickly identify the essential elements of a public engagement plan.
For further information on planning see ‘How to' guide 2 - Design - planning effective consultation.
2. Targeting - selecting your audience
Many consultations involve the same stakeholders time and again. Some organisations are missed out and others simply do not have the resources or interest to respond. It is easy to say that we want to consult with everybody that is affected or has an interest in the decision; it is a lot harder to identify specific individuals and organisations and then to contact them.
In identifying your target audience you need to consider the following:
- who (organisations and/or individuals)
- type of stakeholders and other statutory bodies
- public
- service users/non-users
- employees
- where (locality/area boundaries).
For further information on how to identify your consultees see ‘How to' guide 3 - Targeting - selecting your audience.
3. Methods - capturing people's views
The best methods to use are determined by your target audience. Experience and pre-consultation meetings with key consultees can act as a guide. Additional information is available in ‘How to' guide 5 – Methods - capturing peoples' views.
A successful method with one target audience may not work as well on another occasion or with a different audience. It is important to remain flexible rather than to rely on a single favoured technique. Think of the consultation from the consultees’ point of view and how they may wish to be approached this time.
4.Feedback - keeping consultees informed
Our consultees have told us they want us to improve the way we handle the latter stages of a consultation. Consultees need to know the results of the consultation itself, they need to know what decision was made as a result and they need to be able to see how the Council used their views in coming to the decision. These requirements define the three phases of feedback.
Output
This is a record of what consultees said during the consultation. It is needed to inform the decision-making process that follows. But, it should also be provided to all consultees as well as the Customer Management Team to include on the consultation database.
Outcome
When the decision has been made following consultation, this too needs to be communicated to consultees.
Reconciliation
Consultees should be provided with a brief explanation of the issues addressed in coming to a decision and the reasons why a particular choice was made.
For further information on providing feedback see ‘How to' guide 10 – Feedback’.
5. Influencing - making the decision
Sufficient time must be allowed for stakeholders and the public to influence the Council’s decision-making process. The Council’s decision-makers also need time to consider the results of relevant consultations.
Good decision-making is transparent. Consultees need to know:
- Who is taking the decision.
- Why the Council took one decision rather than another.
A ‘notice of decision’ should be produced to complete the consultation process. This informs consultees of the Council’s position on each of the major issues raised in the consultation and, where the Council’s decision conflicts with the views of consultees, the Council’s reasons and any proposed mitigation.
For further information on how consultation can influence decision making see ‘How to' guide 11 – Influencing decision makers.
Developing Best Practice
Public and stakeholder consultation is a relatively new professional discipline and relevant skills and approaches are developing all the time. In recent years this development has gathered pace and the role of consultation and the need to do it well is now widely recognised. These guides aim to capture best practice and help consultation managers in all public services undertake consultations based on what we know works and what our various audiences require.
These guides will be kept under review and improved as further experience is gained. In the meantime we wish colleagues in Nottinghamshire well as they seek to involve the public in the work of the Council.
Rhion Jones
Programme Director
The Consultation Institute
November 2006
A note about the authors
These consultation guides were commissioned by Nottinghamshire County Council’s Customer Management Team. They were drafted by Dale Cash, Theo Dennison, Paul Donnelly, Dan Falchikov and Elizabeth Vidotto on behalf of Peergroup UK Ltd. The Consultation Institute reviewed them and made comments in the light of their experience of best practice within the UK.
Peergroup UK Ltd is recognised by the Institute as providing specialist knowledge of the subject and work alongside Institute staff to develop and deliver relevant consultancy and guidance to local authorities and other public bodies.
The guides were written in consultation with County Council's Customer Management team, Nottinghamshire County Council's consultation managers and members of the Nottinghamshire Consultation Practitioners forum. Their input has been invaluable.
These guides have been reviewed by Nottinghamshire's Plain Language Group.
Nottinghamshire County Council's consultation standards
- A consultation mandate should be completed and approved by your departmental co-ordinator/champion before the start of any consultation. (Guides 2 and 11)
- The consultation should be logged on the County Council’s consultation database. (Guides 2,10 and 11)
- For key decisions a public engagement plan should be published with the forward plan.(Guides 2 and 11)
- In planning a consultation, the specific communication needs of groups and individuals who are often otherwise excluded should be considered. (Guides 3 and 4)
- A minimum of 12 weeks should be allowed for consultation on major decisions. (Guide 2)
- The name, address and contact number of the person responsible for the consultation should be published on all consultation materials. (Guides 2 and 10)
- The consultation material should make clear by what date responses are required, in what format and to whom they should be sent. (Guides 2 and 6)
- The consultation should include a face-to-face element where consultees are able to meet, question and put their views to the decision-maker(s). (Guides 4,5 7 and 8)
- Any venue selected for a consultation event should meet the Council’s accessibility code.( Guides 4 and 8)
- Any complaints about the consultation, questions asked, materials or time allowed should be noted in the consultation report. (Guides 9,10 and 11)
- A notice of decision should be published for each consultation. (Guides 10 and 11)
- Feedback regarding the responses, the Council’s decision and how the consultation influenced it should be given to consultees. (Guides 4,7,9,11 and 12)
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