What is a Government Consultation?
UK and devolved Governments often consult on elements of their policies and these consultations are open for everyone to comment on. Consultations can also be carried out by other public bodies, such as the NHS consulting on changes to health services.
Why are they worth engaging with?
You will have an opportunity to inform Government policy with your research, your work may be referenced in the resulting report, and you may be invited to engage further with the Government department running the consultation. Your work may directly contribute to a real world policy. However, consultations do not publish responses (unlike Parliament) and it is quite rare for an individual to be mentioned in a consultation response report.
How to find if there is a consultation relevant to your area of expertise
UK Government and government bodies’ consultations are launched regularly and you can find those currently open for responses here: Full list of current open calls for evidence and open consultations.
How to respond to a consultation
There will usually be an online survey or form to complete and the list of questions in the online form are usually available in the documents separately so you can scan to see if it is relevant for you. Only answer the questions that are relevant.
If your views are those of the VC’s office, a department, institute or centre, and this has been agreed, do respond as an organisation when asked. Otherwise, it’s as an ‘individual at an organisation’. There is no benefit to the government department in doing a joint or collaborative response, although it may benefit you. If doing this, try not to represent too many different points of view. It may be better to do separate responses if there are different views from different stakeholders (e.g different research groups).
Sometimes decisions will be made or justified by considering the number of responses on a particular point. Your views do matter if only to add to the number of people agreeing or disagreeing with a planned policy action. For example, if most respondents were from a particular sector, the planned action may be influenced by taking mostly their views into account.
Remember, you are usually writing for non-experts; keep your language clear and simple. Make it easy for your key points to be quoted in reports – short and to the point. Keep a copy of your response and let us know you have responded: policy@lancaster.ac.uk. Once you have put the work into a considered response, you may also want to use your response to form the basis of a policy briefing and contact other policymakers with recommendations or to write an opinion piece, blog, or LinkedIn article. There is no need to wait until the report is published to make your comments public (unless you are advised otherwise by the Government department).
Devolved powers
Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh governments or ‘devolved’ governments (and parliaments) have their own consultations and inquiries. These can sometimes offer more direct involvement with policymakers than Westminster and Whitehall and you can find out more here: