A government consultation is a formal process through which the public and interested organisations can provide their views on proposed government policy, changes to the law, or regulations.

Consultations therefore provide a tool for evidence-based policymaking.

Governments can consult on almost any element of policy. Consultations can range from broad, open-ended discussions on a new policy idea to specific, technical questions about specific regulations. The government department leading the policy will publish a consultation document and invite responses from individuals, businesses, charities, academics and public bodies.

After the consultation period closes, the government is expected to publish a response summarising the feedback received.

Green papers and white papers

Formal consultations typically follow the publication of a specific type of policy document.

A green paper is a discussion document issued at a very early stage. Its purpose is to stimulate debate and gather a wide range of views on a new policy idea before the government has formed a firm position.

A white paper is a more authoritative document that sets out the government’s settled policy proposals. While views are still sought on the details, a white paper signals the government’s intention to legislate. They may include a draft version of a bill. This allows for further consultation with stakeholders before a bill is formally presented to parliament.

The consultation process

There is no set format for consultations. Government departments can consult at different stages in the process of policy development.

Consultations must be launched with the publication of the relevant documents on the GOV.UK website. This is usually accompanied by a press release or a statement in parliament from the relevant minister.

Anyone can respond to a public consultation. Responses are typically submitted via an online portal, by email, or by post. The consultation document will set out the specific questions on which the government is seeking views.

After the consultation period closes, civil servants in the relevant department analyse all the responses submitted. They summarise the key arguments, identify areas of consensus and disagreement and assess the evidence provided by respondents.

The department will then publish an overview of the responses to the consultation. This summarises the feedback received. This consultation response document may be accompanied by a statement to parliament. It is expected that the responses would then inform the next stages of the policy-making process.

The government is expected to produce a response within 12 weeks of the end of the consultation period.

The ‘consultation principles’

The government has established consultation principles that provide guidance to departments and other public bodies on how to engage with stakeholders when developing policy and legislation.

The principles are in place to “encourage policy makers to consider what they are seeking to achieve through any consultation when determining when, with whom and how to consult.”

The guidance also directs departmental policy teams to design consultations on a case-by-case basis to best engage the cohorts of relevance to the subject of the consultation and gather the best possible information to assist with policy development.

The principles were last updated in 2018. Upon the publication of the updated principles, the government committed to reducing the risk of “consultation fatigue” by consulting only on issues that were genuinely undecided.

The principles are as follows:

Consultations should be clear and concise: This principle ensures that documents are written in plain English. Departments are instructed to avoid acronyms. Questions are kept simple and relevant, and information is presented in a way that avoids unnecessary length or complexity.

Consultations should have a purpose: Consultations are meant to be meaningful. Departments are instructed to “not consult for the sake of it”. Consultation responses should be considered when taking policy forward. Questions should not be posed on subjects that the government has already formed a view on.

Consultations should be informative: This principle ensures that the public receives enough background information to provide an educated response. Departments are expected to include impact assessments on the potential costs and benefits of different options.

Consultations are only part of a process of engagement: Departments are instructed to consider whether informal iterative consultation is appropriate, using new digital tools and genuinely collaborative approaches.

Consultations should last for a proportionate amount of time: This principle ensures that the length of a consultation is balanced based on the impact of the proposal. The window should be long enough to allow for thoughtful feedback, but not so long that it causes an unnecessary delay in developing the policy.

Consultations should be targeted: This guideline focuses on reaching the specific people and organisations most affected by a policy. Departments are instructed to tailor their methods to ensure accessibility for all groups.

Consultations should take account of the groups being consulted: This principle recognises that stakeholders will have different needs. Departments are advised that charities may require more time to respond than businesses.

Consultations should be agreed before publication: This standard requires that a consultation is agreed collectively within the government before it is released to the public.

Consultation should facilitate scrutiny: Departments are expected to publish the results of a consultation alongside the original documents, explaining exactly how many people responded and how that feedback influenced the policy-making process.

Government responses to consultations should be published in a timely fashion: Departments are instructed to publish responses within 12 weeks of the consultation or provide an explanation why this is not possible. Appropriate time should be allowed between the closing of the consultation and policy implementation or legislation.

Consultation exercises should not generally be launched during local or national election periods: New consultations are avoided during elections. Only in rare emergencies (a threat to public health is cited as an example) would a consultation be launched during this time, and even then, only after advice has been sought from the Propriety and Ethics team in the Cabinet Office.

Policy-making in practice: standardised packaging for tobacco products

The introduction of standardised, plain packaging for cigarettes and tobacco came at the end of a consultation process.

In December 2010, the Department of Health published the white paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our Strategy for Public Health in England. In it, the government stated its commitment to “look at whether the plain packaging of tobacco products could be an effective way to reduce the number of young people taking up smoking and to help those who are trying to quit smoking.”

In April 2012, the Department of Health launched a UK-wide public consultation on whether to introduce standardised packaging. The consultation document sought evidence and views on the potential impact of such a policy on public health, particularly its aim of reducing the appeal of smoking to children and young people, and possible unintended consequences.

Respondents were invited to address 15 consultation questions, and to provide views on 12 questions specific to the consultation-stage impact assessment.

The consultation questions included: “Which option do you favour? Do nothing about tobacco packaging (i.e. maintain the status quo for tobacco packaging); require standardised packaging of tobacco products; or a different option for tobacco packaging to improve public health.”

Another question asked: “Do you believe that requiring standardised tobacco packaging would increase the supply of, or demand for, illicit tobacco or non-duty-paid tobacco in the United Kingdom?”

The consultation received a huge volume of responses, with public health charities and medical bodies presenting evidence in favour, while the tobacco industry and associated groups argued against the proposal.

The original closing date for the consultation was 10 July 2012. However, in response to a number of requests, the closing date was extended to 10 August 2012. A report was then produced to provide an overview of the responses received and a summary of the main themes that emerged in response.

A total of 2,424 detailed responses addressed the question of which approach to tobacco packaging respondents favoured. Of these, 53% supported the introduction of standardised packaging, while 43% favoured maintaining the status quo. The remaining 4% were either neutral or supported an alternative approach to tobacco packaging to improve public health.

The government’s summary report was accompanied with a statement in the House of Commons in response to an urgent question. In July 2013, Anna Soubry, then the parliamentary under-secretary of state for public health, explained that the government wanted to wait for more evidence, which she described as an example of “responsible, grown-up government”.

In particular, Soubry stated that the government would wait to see more evidence on the impact of similar schemes emerging in other countries, notably Australia. She rejected the suggestion the government had conducted a “U-turn”.

Shadow health secretary Diane Abbott accused the government of having “caved into big business”. She argued that “hundreds of children start smoking every day” and that delaying the measure would lead to avoidable deaths.

Senior paediatrician Sir Cyril Chantler was subsequently asked to undertake an independent review of public health evidence for standardised tobacco packaging.

Jane Ellison, the new public health minister, stated: “The report of last year’s consultation published earlier this year showed that opinions were highly polarised with strong views put forward on both sides of the debate. Things have moved on and research evidence continues to emerge.

“We know that two thirds of smokers start as children so we must continue to do all we can to encourage everyone to quit and in the case of children, not to start in the first place.”

Chantler’s report, published in April 2014, concluded that the existing evidence was strong and that it was “highly likely that standardised packaging would serve to reduce the rate of children taking up smoking and implausible that it would increase the consumption of tobacco.”

The government proceeded to publish a set of draft regulations for standardised packaging and held a final, short consultation in which the government asked “for views on anything new since the last full public consultation that is relevant to a final decision on this policy”. (The provisions in section 94 of the Children and Families Act 2014 enables the secretary of state to regulate the retail packaging of tobacco products).

The proposals for retail packaging allowed only specified mandatory colours and specified text in a grey Helvetica typeface (Pantone 448C for packaging and Pantone Cool Grey 2C for text), with a specified maximum size.

The summary report of this consultation was published in February 2015. It found that health NGOs, local authorities, public health departments and health and social care professionals generally welcomed the Chantler report. Respondents from the tobacco industry argued that the Chantler review did not provide a sufficient evidential basis upon which to introduce legislation.

The report was published alongside an impact assessment on standardised packaging.

On 11 March 2015, MPs voted in favour of introducing plain packaging for cigarettes in the UK. 367 MPs voted in favour of standardised packaging, with 113 opposing. The regulations came into force on 20 May 2016, allowing a 12-month period for full implementation.

The Every Child Matters (ECM) green paper

In September 2003, the Blair government published the Every Child Matters green paper.

Its publication followed a public inquiry, led by Lord Laming, into the murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié. The inquiry had identified failures of communication and cooperation between the different public agencies responsible for child protection.

The green paper was therefore created to begin the process of overhauling children’s services. The document explicitly sought views on how to improve information sharing and create more integrated services focused on the well-being of the child.

In the paper’s foreword, the prime minister, Tony Blair, cited Victoria Climbié’s death as a “shocking example from a list of children terribly mistreated and abused.”

He added: “Sadly, nothing can ever absolutely guarantee that no child will ever be at risk again from abuse and violence from within their own family. But we all desperately want to see people, practices and policies in place to make sure that the risk is as small as is humanly possible.

“I believe that the proposals we are putting forward here constitute a significant step towards that goal.”

The document proposed to reorganise all services for children around five key outcomes: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and economic well-being.

To deliver this, it proposed major structural changes, including the creation of a children’s commissioner for England “to act as an independent champion for children, particularly those suffering disadvantage”, and requiring local authorities to establish integrated Children’s Trusts.

The government stated its intention to legislate at the next available opportunity to “require all local authorities to appoint a director of children’s services.” The responsibilities of the director of children’s services would include children’s social services and education. The proposed trusts would report to the director of children’s services.

The government also outlined its plan (subject to consultation) to introduce a “new duty to safeguard children, promote their well- being and work together through these partnership arrangements”.

Following its publication, the government embarked on a wide-ranging public consultation.

The feedback received was then used to develop firm proposals, which were set out in the Every Child Matters: The Next Steps (2004) paper.

In the foreword to the document, the children’s minister, Margaret Hodge, said the previous green paper had yielded “the richest and most significant debate on children’s services for over a generation.”

The document described the new Children Bill, informed by the consultation, as “the first step in a long-term programme of change”.

The Children Act, which received royal assent on 15 November 2004, established the children’s commissioner post. The legislation generally aimed to promote co-ordination between official bodies to improve the overall well-being of children.

Additional resources

• GOV.UK – Government Consultations and policy papers: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations
• UK Parliament – Government consultations: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10190/
• GOV.UK – Consultation principles: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance