Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department issues on conducting public consultations during the summer recess.

Cabinet Office publishes Consultation Principles, which it expects all government departments to follow. They were most recently updated on 14 January in response to feedback from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee.

Principle G includes the line:

‘When the consultation spans all or part of a holiday period, consider how this may affect consultation and take appropriate mitigating action, such as prior discussion with key interested parties or extension of the consultation deadline beyond the holiday period’.

The Principles also make clear that formal consultation should only form part of the engagement process and that departments should make use of new digital tools and consider whether an iterative approach is appropriate.

The Principles can be found online on gov.uk and a copy can be found in the House of Commons Library.