Making yourself heard - responding to consultations - LJN Blog Posts

Hi.I've been thinking about doing a blog or forum post like this for a while as I've seen a number of forums discussing the pains which result from changes to legislation and thought that this may be helpful...Very little changes without public consultation and debate - this is part of the democratic process. Anyone can get involved in a public consultation, you don't have to be a trade association or a big company. Although trade associations like the Federation of Small Businesses are quite active.Look out - here comes another one....Finding out what is on the cards takes a bit of computer work - all Government departments have web pages on which they list public consultation. Here are some which I think may be of interest for LJN members:Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS): http://www.bis.gov.uk/ConsultationsHealth and Safety Executive: http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/index.htmDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/about/consultations/HMRC: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/consultations/As a general round-up, you can also check the Central Office of Information pages where (in theory) all Government press releases as rounded-up and published: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/EUIt's worth remembering that alot of UK policy emanates from the EU.... so, in some cases, the national consultation will be run concurrently with an EU proposal (for example, where the Government wants to establish what the UK position on EU proposals should be) or will be run after the finalisation of EU level rules in order to focus on how we go about implementing those rules in the UK....The institution to watch is the European Commission; as the body which proposes legislation, it is also the one which issues public consultations. Policy areas are divided into Directorates-General.... I warn you that EU websites are complete hydras, but there is one page which lists most of the public consultations: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/consultations/index_en.htmRespondingResponding to a consultation paper may seem a bit daunting, but trust me it isn't. Be warned that some consultation documents are huge tomes - these are usually national ones, EU ones tend to be fairly short.When responding, you don't have to reply to every question or even any questions - you can write your own position and just submit that. You should always, though, read the consultation paper through - taking a newspaper's version of what it contains can lead you completely astray. When responding, try to avoid emotive language and don't make comments you can't substantiate.... simply saying 'this is stupid' or 'this is political correctness gone mad' isn't helpful to the 'policy wonk' who will be reading your response. Explain what the potential implications of a proposed change are for you clearly; if you can say, this is going to cost me X amount per client and means I'll have to increase my charges by Y amount, then you're giving the policy wonk the type of tangible information which is useful.Some consultations have online reply forms - these are helpful if you just want to make short replies. A letter can be better if you have detailed comments to make and if you want to request confidentiality! You can consider copying your letter to your MP, the Minister of the relevant department and / or the Opposition spokesman for the policy area; you should make the point that you have done so clear in your response. This means that the Opposition spokesman can use your response to challenge the Government - doesn't always happen, but it's certainly more common than people may think.With UK consultations, the Government publishes a final policy document which sets out its response to the feedback received, normally this is about 6 weeks after the consultation closes.Happy to take any questions if you're considering responding to a consultation....

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Comments

PRO

Phil Voice August 26, 2010 at 8:29am

Hi Cat

Sorry to take so long to respond; it was not through lack of interest.

I'd very much like for LJN and our members get involved in trying to influence areas that impact on our professional lives (I tried this once before after your help but the person in charge of the consultation never responded to my questions).

Would you be able to shepherd us as we embark on our first one or two? We can have a chat about this (if it's not too heavy a subject) when we meet shortly?

Phil