Source · Select Committees · Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Acknowledged
Implement a strategy to ensure genuine public consultation on future policy proposals.
Recommendation
In future consultation rounds, the Government must implement a strategy whereby people feel genuinely consulted on policy proposals, not simply told what that policy will be. (Recommendation, Paragraph 20) The Commission
Government Response Summary
The government states it has been informed by significant stakeholder engagement and will continue to engage closely and openly with all interested parties as the Troubles Bill progresses, considering how it can be improved, without committing to a new formal consultation strategy.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
In the 18 months since the General Election, the Government has been informed and guided by the many stakeholders with whom we have conducted significant engagement. We have been listening, and the measures that we have brought forward, primarily via the Troubles Bill, seek to reflect what we have been told by them. As I have stated on a number of occasions, given the range of perspectives held by so many people, it is always going to be impossible to deliver an approach that provides everybody with everything that they want. The Government will, however, continue to engage closely with all interested parties, including the Committee, as the Troubles Bill continues its parliamentary passage, and to consider how it can be improved. That engagement will take place in a spirit of openness, as we consider suggestions on how to further improve the current draft of the Bill that many have already recognised as a fundamental improvement on the flawed Legacy Act of the previous Government. While we cannot please everybody, it is absolutely vital—for victims and survivors, for those who served, and for wider society in Northern Ireland—that we act, and that we will continue to do our utmost to get this right so that the families who have waited for so long for answers may finally find them.