Worcestershire County Council
- Home
- |
- Business
- |
- Get in Touch
- |
- Jobs
- |
- Learning
- |
- Leisure
- |
- Living
- |
- News
- |
- Social Care
- |
- The Council
- |
- Transport
- |
- My Local Area
CHECKLIST NO 4.A – PREPARING YOUR TIMETABLE
Word Version 
(38.00 KB) for you to save, edit & print (
)
When planning your consultation timetable remember to build in time for these relevant steps.
Work BACKWARDS from the date the decision will be taken to clarify your timetable.
| Task | Approximate time guide |
When will the decision be taken? Remember strategic/contentious consultation exercises must be approved by Cabinet before the exercise starts and reported to them afterwards |
Insert date |
Does my report need to be approved by anyone before the decision takes place? If so, allow time for this process. In particular for strategic/contentious consultation exercises ensure this has gone through the appropriate process before being submitted to Cabinet |
Check MAS |
| Draw up my report on this issue – including consultation outcomes and recommendations | 1 day |
| Draw up my report of the consultation outcomes - prepare different formats to enable feedback to stakeholders. | 2 days |
| Collate, analyse and consider the consultation outcomes. | 1-4 weeks |
Run the consultation – allow sufficient time for all your key stakeholders to respond. Be aware of times of year when the response may be affected e.g. religious festivals, school holidays. If you are using postal surveys build in sufficient time for reminders to be sent out 1–2 weeks before closing. Build in time to reach 'hard to reach' groups |
Ideally 12 weeks for written consultation documents. Allow 4 weeks to respond to postal survey – allow a further week for late returns. |
| Consider if you need to 'pilot' your consultation – if so build in time for this and any modifications that you may need to make | 2 weeks |
Advertise and publicise the consultation – allow sufficient time for distribution. Consider time needed for printing, enveloping, post etc. If you require your data to be processed either in–house or through a data processing company, build this in to your timetable now. |
2-4 weeks |
Produce consultation material –
If so build this in. |
2-4 weeks |
| Are you involving other partners/Directorates/agencies in this exercise? Build in time for them to contribute. | Allow time for partners to participate in your exercise as appropriate |
Are you using an external agency to run your consultation? Build in time to:
|
Allow 6 – 8 weeks |
| Depending on your method of consultation (e.g. focus groups, public meetings, roadshows etc.) you may need to let people know the date and broad outline of your event or recruit people NOW | Let people know the date in advance |
Does management/Cabinet need to approve your consultation plan? Remember for strategic/contentious exercises Cabinet needs to approve your consultation Project Plan before your consultation starts. |
Build in time to get necessary permission |
Identify resources - budget and staff time to carry out this exercise. Build this in to work programmes.
|
Take a day to plan your consultation exercise thoroughly – complete the Project Plan (119.50 KB) |
| Do you need a new exercise? Register your consultation on the database | Ask Me! – Consultation Planner & Finder |
| Clarify why you are consulting - search the database – can you link up with another exercise with the same time frame? | Ask Me! – Consultation Planner and Finder! – |
Do you need input from the design/reprographics/communications teams?Last modification: 08:35:36, 12th February, 2008 by Chris Baker
Review date: 11th May, 2008
