Do public consultations work? The case of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Bill

Abstract

Conducting a public consultation is a popular way to draw on wider expertise in framing legislation in the UK. In Wales, low scrutinising capacity of a relatively small legislative chamber and limited civil service resources to prepare legislation may contribute to the popularity of consultations. Public consultations may also resonate with themes of inclusion and participation in Welsh governance. The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Bill was the first large legislative project of the Welsh Government since gaining primary law making powers in 2011. This case study investigated the public consultation (conducted at Stage 1) for this bill in 2013. It used a coding matrix to analyse the submissions to the consultation. The findings reveal that individuals and organisations may struggle to effectively influence legislation. Using van Damme and Brans' interpretative framework, the article locates the findings within the context of citizen participation, consultation techniques and discusses the usefulness of analysing submissions as part of consultation evaluations. In addition, the article makes a case for triangulating a documentary analysis of submissions with conventional qualitative evidence in future consultation research.

Whose input counts? Evaluating the process and outcomes of public consultation through the BC Water Act Modernization

“…One notable exception is a 2014 study by Gilens and Page; their quantitative analysis of 1,779 public policy issues subject to public consultation in the US showed that 'when the preferences of economic elites and… organized interest groups are INSTITUTE FOR RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy' (575). Their results support other case-study analyses' findings of (economic) elite influence on public policy-making (J. Carr 2012; Kaehne and Taylor 2016;Parkins and Sinclair 2014). Studies also highlight government officials' role in limiting consultation's policy impact (Carvalho, Pinto-Coelho, and Seixas 2016;Cheeseman and Smith 2001).…”

“…This focus on participatory engagement as key to good governance, and democracy broadly, has resulted in the institutionalization of consultation within public planning and policy-making (Shipley and Utz 2012), where submission-based consultation processes are a common means to solicit feedback, particularly in western democracies (Kaehne and Taylor 2016). The advent of the internet has transformed consultation, generating new mechanisms that enable broad, low-cost engagement through electronic platforms (Culver and Howe 2004).…”

“…Studies have highlighted that the selection of participation techniques, as well as the timing and format of participation, can promote or inhibit participation by certain groups (Cornwall 2004;Parkins and Sinclair 2014). Submission-based consultation processes (including online consultation) can be prone to self-selection biases, promoting participation by those who are already politically engaged and have the time, resources, and expertise to participate (Kaehne and Taylor 2016). For example, Culver and Howe (2004) found that while online consultation improved participation rates, participants tended to be older, better educated, and more politically engaged than the general population.…”

“…Arnstein's (1969) seminal critique that consultation can be tokenistic, reproduce power hierarchies, and contribute to citizen disengagement continues to be echoed throughout the participation literature (e.g. Innes and Booher 2004;Kaehne and Taylor 2016;Woodford and Preston 2013).…”

“…More explicitly critical evaluations that exist tend to focus on more direct and deliberative participatory processes (e.g. Carr 2012), rather than large-scale submission-based consultation processes that have become common among state and national governments (Kaehne and Taylor 2016). Little is consequently known about how large-scale processes contribute towards democratizing government decision-making.…”