The government holds a lot of consultations. They can vary in form, content and length but all fundamentally want feedback on policy ideas and initiatives. But why exert the effort and get involved?
It isn’t always clear that they wants to hear your views, and they do not help themselves by having a whole range of policy papers available to them – Green Papers, White Papers, Draft Bills and then ‘just’ consultation papers. Announcements are not always made loud and clear and you sometimes need to be on top of your game and have a good monitoring system in place to keep yourself informed about opportunities.
Then add in the various stakeholder meetings and forums that might take place as well as the fact that a number of consultations can take place on the same issue. Select Committees too could hold an inquiry on the same issues. It can all become extremely time and resource consuming.
But that is no reason to ignore the opportunties for engagement. Here are five reasons why you should pay attention and take the trouble to get involved.
- Engagement provides a track record of commitment to the issues – getting involved late in the day which a problem is discovered is much less likely to succeed and can be more expensive to put right. The government also would not be pleased if, after a long period of policy development, you suddenly intervene to unveil a fundamental problem. Ongoing engagement shows commitment which is itself more likely to have an impact. Leaving things to the last minute is not a recipe for success.
- Practice arguments – arguments may need to change and develop over time. This can be done through consultation and taking up the opportunities for engagement. It can make your case stronger, and it is also important to note that you can repeat the arguments, they do not have to be different every time. This is not to suggest that a ‘cut and paste’ approach is the right one but the content does not always have to be brand new.
- Not in public – a public dust-up with the government rarely does anyone any favours. Keeping within the confines of the proper channels does not rule out a more political approach, if one is needed. It does though demonstrate to politicians that you have followed the rules, worked with officials and have done the right thing rather than trying to circumvent the process. That could mean you are viewed more favourably.
- Well-placed for future next steps – the policy-making process does not stop after a consultation or even after legislation. There can be more detail to be worked on – regulations, guidance, working practices etc. all to be developed. The more engaged you have been before, the more likely it is that you will be involved in these later stages as well. They can often be more critical than the original policy itself.
- Achieve what you want – the most important reason for taking part is that it gives the ability, at the extremes, to boost or kill a policy. It can be just as important to support a policy at all stages of its development as it is to intervene to point out its failings or negative consequences. Without intervention and engagement, you could end up with policy outcomes that really do not work for you and have adverse implications. Conversely, policies that you support and bring benefits could easily be lost if you are not prepared to stand up for them.
Consultations are important to the government, so they should be important to you. Have the processes in place to identify where you need to get involved and use your stakeholder programme to encourage a proactive dialogue so that others, particularly officials, alert you to opportunities. Trade bodies too should be a valuable source of such information as well.