{"id":2500,"date":"2019-02-27T12:31:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T12:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/?page_id=2500"},"modified":"2025-03-05T12:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T12:26:20","slug":"government-consultation-principles-updated-2018","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/adult-social-care-and-health-engagement\/government-consultation-principles-updated-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Consultation Principles updated 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back to main Have Your Say page<\/a><\/p>\n

Consultation Principles 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> Consultations should be clear and concise
\nUse plain English and avoid acronyms. Be clear what questions you are
\nasking and limit the number of questions to those that are necessary.
\nMake them easy to understand and easy to answer. Avoid lengthy
\ndocuments when possible and consider merging those on related topics.<\/p>\n

B.<\/strong> Consultations should have a purpose
\nDo not consult for the sake of it. Ask departmental lawyers whether you
\nhave a legal duty to consult. Take consultation responses into account
\nwhen taking policy forward. Consult about policies or implementation plans
\nwhen the development of the policies or plans is at a formative stage. Do
\nnot ask questions about issues on which you already have a final view.<\/p>\n

C. <\/strong>Consultations should be informative
\nGive enough information to ensure that those consulted understand the
\nissues and can give informed responses. Include validated impact
\nassessments of the costs and benefits of the options being considered
\nwhen possible; this might be required where proposals have an impact on
\nbusiness or the voluntary sector.<\/p>\n

D.<\/strong> Consultations are only part of a process of engagement
\nConsider whether informal iterative consultation is appropriate, using new
\ndigital tools and open, collaborative approaches. Consultation is not just
\nabout formal documents and responses. It is an on-going process.<\/p>\n

E.<\/strong> Consultations should last for a proportionate amount of time
\nJudge the length of the consultation on the basis of legal advice and taking
\ninto account the nature and impact of the proposal. Consulting for too long
\nwill unnecessarily delay policy development. Consulting too quickly will not
\ngive enough time for consideration and will reduce the quality of
\nresponses.<\/p>\n

F.<\/strong> Consultations should be targeted
\nConsider the full range of people, business and voluntary bodies affected
\nby the policy, and whether representative groups exist. Consider targeting
\nspecific groups if appropriate. Ensure they are aware of the consultation
\nand can access it. Consider how to tailor consultation to the needs and
\npreferences of particular groups, such as older people, younger people or
\npeople with disabilities that may not respond to traditional consultation
\nmethods.<\/p>\n

G.<\/strong> Consultations should take account of the groups being consulted
\nConsult stakeholders in a way that suits them. Charities may need more
\ntime to respond than businesses, for example. When the consultation
\nspans all or part of a holiday period, consider how this may affect
\nconsultation and take appropriate mitigating action, such as prior
\ndiscussion with key interested parties or extension of the consultation
\ndeadline beyond the holiday period.<\/p>\n

H.<\/strong> Consultations should be agreed before publication
\nSeek collective agreement before publishing a written consultation,
\nparticularly when consulting on new policy proposals. Consultations should
\nbe published on gov.uk.<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> Consultation should facilitate scrutiny
\nPublish any response on the same page on gov.uk as the original
\nconsultation, and ensure it is clear when the government has responded to
\nthe consultation. Explain the responses that have been received from
\nconsultees and how these have informed the policy. State how many
\nresponses have been received.<\/p>\n

J.<\/strong> Government responses to consultations should be published in a
\ntimely fashion
\nPublish responses within 12 weeks of the consultation or provide an
\nexplanation why this is not possible. Where consultation concerns a
\nstatutory instrument publish responses before or at the same time as the
\ninstrument is laid, except in very exceptional circumstances (and even
\nthen publish responses as soon as possible). Allow appropriate time
\nbetween closing the consultation and implementing policy or legislation.<\/p>\n

K.<\/strong> Consultation exercises should not generally be launched during local
\nor national election periods.<\/p>\n

If exceptional circumstances make a consultation absolutely essential (for
\nexample, for safeguarding public health), departments should seek advice
\nfrom the Propriety and Ethics team in the Cabinet Office. This document
\ndoes not have legal force and is subject to statutory and other legal
\nrequirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back to main Have Your Say page Consultation Principles 2018 A. Consultations should be clear and concise Use plain English and avoid acronyms. Be clear what questions you are asking and limit the number of questions to those that are necessary. Make them easy to understand and easy to answer. Avoid lengthy documents when possible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1186,"featured_media":0,"parent":1563,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-sidebar.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-2500","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 13:32:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7761,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2500\/revisions\/7761"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/haveyoursay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}