We wake this morning to a Labour victory in the Batley and Spen by-election, and I’ve not yet had time to look at it more fully to determine what the consultation angle is (if there is one)- it’s certainly not as easy as Chesham and Amersham was the other week. But with that, we now have a full complement of Parliamentarians once more. So what does the new Member arrive in Parliament to find?

Westminster

Big news this week as the Consultation Institute was mentioned in Parliament. You will, I hope, indulge us in a little self-congratulation (with a serious consultation point at the end of it). One of the topics we have discussed recently in the Week in Parliament is the new Environment Bill, currently in the House of Lords. The Bill represents a comprehensive overhaul of environmental protections after Brexit and has drawn both positive and negative comment from a wide range of people.

Our brief appearance in the debate came from Baroness Hayman of Ullock, a former Institute Associate and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, who drew on her Institute experience whilst speaking from the despatch box:

“Noble Lords may not be aware that I was an associate of the Consultation Institute, and it was my job to go out and consult local communities when major infrastructure projects were coming their way—so I have for many years taken a close interest in the Government’s consultation exercises. Some of them have been very good, and some of them have not. Consultation is now a fact of modern public life, yet it has all too often been mistakenly characterised as the art of listening. So, if noble Lords will indulge me, I shall share the definition used by the Consultation Institute, which may be something the Minister can pass on to his colleagues. It says:

“The dynamic process of dialogue between individuals or groups, based upon a genuine exchange of views, with the objective of influencing decisions, policies or programmes of action”.

I hope that the consultation and precommencement consultation proposed in the Bill mean not only that the Government will listen but that those who take the trouble to take part will genuinely be heard and will influence the outcome of this legislation in a positive way.”– HL Deb 30th June 2021 Vol 813, col 889

The definition of consultation she shared is one of our most fundamental principles, and forms the ultimate basis for a lot of our other best practice advice. I’ve often drawn from it here in this column, whenever the Government runs a consultation that looks to be sub-par. We’re very pleased to hear it being shared more directly with Governmental decision-makers, and we hope they take it to heart!

I also promised you a serious consultation point, so here goes. Some of the Government amendments brought this week to the Bill proposed that previously undertaken consultation and engagement exercises should be allowed to count towards statutory obligations to consult in the Bill. Sound unusual? It is. To the best of my knowledge it’s the first time we’ve seen it- so what are the implications? We can see an argument for it to avoid unnecessary use of public resources on repetitive exercises, but it’s not something we’d like to see becoming commonplace. The pre-legislative context can be very different from the post-legislative context, and views might change with the establishment of new legal frameworks. In light of this, provisions such as this should be used sparingly, and only in certain conditions.

Wales

In the Senedd this week, members were debating the Welsh Government’s proposed new ‘young person’s guarantee’, a pledge to offer support for all young people to help them get into work, education, training or self-employment. The initial phase of this programme will be what sounds like a pretty massive engagement exercise, pitched as a “national conversation with young people”. As Institute members know, there are distinct challenges to consulting with young people, and particularly in a case such as this where the scope is so large it will be interesting to see how the Welsh Government go about it. In responding to a question, the Minister stated that he didn’t expect the consultation to be “done in a traditional way”, rejecting the ‘written response to consultation document’ format. With one of the significant challenges being the methods of involvement used to engage young people, we are eager to see what more specific plans they have…