A danger of rubber stamping
The "Financial Times" reports today that, by the deadline of last Thursday, the Department of Trade & Industry had received some 1,100 submissions on its consultation document proposing the closure of some 2,500 local post offices nationwide. The Postwatch submission is a particularly comprehensive document that makes no less than 99 measured recommendations.
Yet the Government is apparently planning to consider all these submissions, further deliberate on its proposals, and draft and publish a more detailed decision document by the end of March. The closure programme is going to be complex and controversial enough without stakeholders and communities feeling that the consultation process was simply a rubber stamping of the original proposals.
Yet the Government is apparently planning to consider all these submissions, further deliberate on its proposals, and draft and publish a more detailed decision document by the end of March. The closure programme is going to be complex and controversial enough without stakeholders and communities feeling that the consultation process was simply a rubber stamping of the original proposals.
posted by Postwatch at 12:24 pm
1 Comments:
I think in the circumstances this is very measured.
What annoys people more than anything else is the belief that a consultation is a sham; better not to consult at all.
To say that a response to a consultation was greater in volume than expected, and so more time for consideration is needed is an entirely reasonable thing to do. And would deflect much criticism.
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