A Lords committee is inviting views on the government’s proposed changes to how it carries out consultations.

In July 2012, the Cabinet Office published new guidance on how consultations would be carried out in future, which contained two important changes: the default timescale of 12 weeks would be scrapped leaving departments to choose their own durations, and consultations would usually be conducted online unless there was good reason not to.

The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee is examining the new regulations to see if they are likely to meet their stated policy objective.  It has invited Olive Letwin (pictured), minister for government policy at the Cabinet Office, to appear before it and answer questions about the proposed changes, on 11 December.

The committee is inviting members of the public to share their views on the proposed new process by 30 November.  It wants to know what people think about:

• Under what circumstances might it be reasonable for the government to decide not to consult on policy development;
• When, and for how long, consultation exercises should be held;
• How the ‘digital default’ model might impact on different groups in society; and
• Whether this new approach to consultation will lead to improvement in the process and outcomes.

Written evidence should be emailed to [email protected], though paper copies of evidence may also be submitted.

The Consultation Guidance published in July can be read on the Cabinet Office website.