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4.1 Evaluating the effectiveness of your consultation is vital, and should not be left to the end of the process. It will be much easier to do if you have included it in your initial planning. There are many models for evaluation, but try to keep it simple. If you've planned properly, identified what your success and failure criteria are and how you are going to measure them, then the evaluation process should be straightforward. There will always be unforeseen factors that influence results, and your evaluation should be flexible enough to take account of these.
4.2 Effective evaluation tells you what worked and what didn't (and why). It helps make sure that you get the best value for money from your efforts and time. If one particular method doesn't work, try to work out why. Problems are always much clearer with hindsight, and help you avoid pitfalls next time. Equally, if something works well, try to assess why it was successful, so that you can build on it.
4.3 If you are able to answer the question 'what would I do differently or the same next time?' your evaluation will have been valuable.
Points to think about:
Objectives
Set clear objectives from the start of the consultation. Why are you doing it? What do you want to find out? Who are you going to ask? How are you going to do it? What are you going to do with the results? As with all objectives, they should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-bound). At the end, you want to be able to measure whether:
 | objectives were clear;
| they were relevant to the consultation itself and linked to your wider planning process; and
| they were explained to, and understood by, all relevant staff and those consulted.
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Who you consulted
Set specific targets for the levels of response you want from different groups (think about users, potential users, representative groups, special groups - for example older people, or carers - staff, other service providers, the general public). Information about which consultation methods worked for which groups will be very useful for the future. At the end, you want to be able to measure whether:
| you got views from those you wanted;
| you were successful in consulting minority, disadvantaged or under-represented groups;
| different groups responded to different methods;
| you gave feedback to those consulted; and
| the people consulted felt that the consultation was worthwhile.
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Method/s
Identifying which methods to use is clearly central. You need
to bear a number of issues in mind, including who you want to consult; what sort of information you want, and how much money, time and experience you have. At the end, you want to be able to measure whether:
Timescale
The length of time consultation takes is often underestimated. You may give a deadline for responses, but what will you do if people ask
for extensions? Have you planned how you are going to report back on the results? - this can often take longer than the consultation period itself. At the end you want to be able to measure whether:
| the timetable was clear and kept to if not, why not; and
| enough time was allowed for responses.
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Information provided
Remember to evaluate the effectiveness of any material you produced as part of the consultation process. Did the posters used to advertise your open meeting attract the right audience? Was putting material on the Internet an effective way of encouraging views? Did you succeed in making information available to the right people? At the end you want to be able to measure whether:
Costs
You need to be able to show that you got value for money from your consultation. Some methods are much cheaper than others, but the information you get may not be of any use. Include staff time and training in your budgets and evaluation - this can be the most expensive element, particularly if you are running the exercise in-house. At the end you need to be able to measure whether:
| you budgeted adequately;
| you made savings in particular areas or overspent in others -
and why; and
| there were unforeseen costs - and what they were.
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Effect of the consultation
The key question. Has anything changed as a result of the consultation? At the end you need to be able to measure whether:
| you got views that you could use;
| you have actually used those views;
| the consultation has led to some identifiable change in your service or policy; and
| the consultation has changed the relationship between you
and your users and others.
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The length of time consultation takes is often underestimated
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