Ten days of critical consultations

By my reckoning we have just witnessed the most significant ten days of consultation announcements by this or any Government.

In the past week, new consultations have been announced on the future use of nuclear power, and renewable energy (DTI), a new waste strategy for England and a revision to Carbon emissions (DEFRA) and proposed changes to planning laws, affecting Planning appeals, householders' rights to make changes to their properties, and major proposals for handling large infrastructure projects (CLG). And that's only three Government departments!

In the same period, we are seeing much criticism of the DTI in the wake of their response to the Post Office Closures consultation - because they plan to limit local consultation on the sixty-odd rationalisation plans to six weeks (why on earth?), and we see the RICS taking the Government to court over inadequate consultation on Home Information Packs.

I draw three conclusions from all this activity:-

1. Consultations have now become the de facto means of announcing Government policies whilst keeping the door open for detailed refinement. As such every lobbying organisation in the business has to watch them like hawks

2. Many of these consultations overlap or inter-relate, so the task of responding cannot be divided up and handed over to specialists. Consultees must also co-ordinate!

3. There are still consultations where there is much up for grabs, and others where we suspect minds have already been made up. The trick is to know which ones.

I am interested in others' views of the significance of this latest batch of consultations. Is this more of the same, Blair's last hurrah or a sign that a Brown Government will try even harder to lauch public debates about major issues?