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The best-laid schemes? The provision and accessibility of government consultation information in the UK.

Baxter, Graeme

Authors

Graeme Baxter



Abstract

In recent years, government at all levels in the UK has increasingly recognised the need for ongoing dialogue between policy makers and stakeholders during the policymaking process. Prompted by a number of factors, including devolution and New Labour's Modernising Government agenda, the number of public consultation exercises conducted annually has grown considerably since the late 1990's. Yet very little has been written on the information management and communication issues surrounding government consultations, nor on the mechanisms of the consultative process more broadly. This paper reports the results of a study (part of a larger ESRC-funded project) which has examined in some detail the provision and accessibility of government consultation information in the UK, with a particular emphasis on information relating to written consultation exercises conducted by the Scottish Government. This study examined the accessibility and communication of information at all stages of the consultation process, from the publication of the consultation paper at the beginning of the exercise, to the production of analysis and feedback at its conclusion. It revealed that, despite the existence of government good practice guidelines which emphasise the need for consultation information and documentation to be clear, accessible and responsive, in reality it is often missing, incomplete, or presented in inconsistent and often confusing ways. Post- consultation feedback, which provides details on how responses have influenced final policy decisions, was found to be particularly lacking.

Citation

BAXTER, G. 2010. The best-laid schemes? The provision and accessibility of government consultation information in the UK. Libri [online], 60(3), pages 253-267. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/libr.2010.022

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 13, 2010
Online Publication Date Nov 14, 2010
Publication Date Sep 30, 2010
Deposit Date Mar 19, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Libri
Print ISSN 0024-2667
Electronic ISSN 1865-8423
Publisher De Gruyter
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 60
Issue 3
Pages 253-267
DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/libr.2010.022
Keywords Great Britain; Information policy; Information needs; Surveys; Government information
Public URL http://hdl.handle.net/10059/953
Related Public URLs http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2468

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