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Section 8 - Information about the Consultation Process
Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Government working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Government, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general Scottish Government consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.
While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may eventually inform the policy process, consultation exercises can not address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant Scottish Government department or public body.
Typically Scottish Government consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the area of consultation, and they are also posted under the current consultations section of the website, enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses.
Copies of all the responses received to consultation exercises (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Government library at Saughton House, Edinburgh.
The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision-making process.
Within the Consultation section of the Scottish Government website there is a full list of all closed consultations and a listing of forthcoming consultations. The "closed" section will, in the future, provide details about the outcome of consultations and have links to any reports produced from the consultation exercise.
If you have any queries about the consultation process within the Scottish Government please contact Tania Smith in the Constitutional Policy and Civic Participation Team:
Area G-A North, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ
Consultation on "A Fairer Local Tax for Scotland"
Responding to this consultation paper
We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by Friday 18 th July 2008. Please submit your response on-line or send it to afairertax@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
or post it to: A Fairer Local Tax (CRE 959), CSU, Spur U5b, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD.
If you have any queries about this consultation paper, contact Eva Bru-Dominguez on 0131 244 7011 (or at the email above or by post to 3-J North, Local Government Division, Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ).
We would be grateful if you would either use the consultation questionnaire provided or clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to, as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.
This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is. The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations (SEconsult:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.
Handling your response
We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form enclosed with this consultation paper as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.
All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.
Next steps in the process
Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library by October 2008 and on the Scottish Government
consultation web pages by October 2008 . We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.
What happens next?
Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the proposed abolition of the Council Tax and its replacement with a local income tax. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process during autumn 2008 . Our intention is to introduce legislation in the Scottish Parliamentary session 2008-09.
Comments and complaints
If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:
Name: Raymond Convill
Address: Room 3-J North, Local Government Division, Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ
E-mail: raymond.convill@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
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