After every public consultation, publish a “you said, we did” report within 60 days

The problem: people take part in public consultations, hear nothing back, and conclude their input was ignored. That discourages the next round.

The proposal: within 60 days of a consultation closing, the responsible body publishes a short report. It lists the main points raised, how many people raised them, what the body changed as a result, and, equally important, what it decided not to change and why.

Who acts: the department running the consultation writes the report; an independent body, such as an ombudsman, checks that it reflects the responses fairly.

Costs and trade-offs: the work is modest compared with running the consultation. The risk is box-ticking, with vague statements instead of real answers. A short template that requires specific, checkable statements helps.

First step: adopt the rule for one department's next consultation and publish the report in the same place as the original questions.