Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department processes consultations held by his Department’s advisory groups; and if he will publish a list of consultations undertaken in the last 12 months.

The Department runs a consultation if there is either a statutory duty to consult or a common law duty (a duty established by case law) to consult. It follows the Cabinet Office Guidance on Consultation and also guidance on GOV.UK on writing and launching a consultation. There is no set length of time that a consultation should run for, but most run for 12 weeks. The Cabinet Office’s consultation principles recommend a ‘proportionate amount of time’.

A list of consultations held in the last 12 months is not held centrally and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.