Public Consultation Toolkit - Civil Service College

Public Consultation Toolkit 45 46 Public Consultation Toolkit
Case 12:
Penal Code (Amendment) Bill
Agency/country:
• Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Singapore
Background:
• MHA reviewed and proposed amendments to the Penal Code in 2007. As the Penal Code had
a wide ranging impact on society, extensive public consultation was conducted to gather
feedback and assess public sentiment.
Consultation Process:
• MHA posted the Amendment Bill on REACH’s Portal for the public to give their feedback and
views.
• MHA was explicit about the scope of influence; members of the public were invited to
provide feedback for either one or all the amendments to the Penal Code.
• To ensure participants had a clear context and background of the information a summary
of the amendments to the Penal Code was provided in the e-portal of REACH to provide an
explanation on the amendments. Presentations on the amendments were also delivered
during the focus groups to prepare participants for the discussion.
• MHA partnered REACH to post the Amendment Bill on REACH’s Portal for the public to give
their feedback and views. A news release was also issued to inform members of the public on
the consultation exercise.
• MHA also worked with REACH to identify facilitators to conduct focus groups, and
stakeholders to participate in them.
• Feedback was sought from people from different walks of life, e.g., religious groups, voluntary
welfare organisations (VWOs), students, grassroots members, social workers.
• A women-only focus group was also set up to discuss the proposals, particularly those which
concerned marital immunity which impacted them directly.
• MHA also sought feedback from the Law Society on the proposed amendments.
• MHA was upfront that the consultation would be over a period of five months.
• REACH assisted MHA in monitoring feedback received over the e-portal and collated the
feedback for MHA’s attention. MHA also actively monitored and collated feedback received
from other channels such as feedback posted in the media, Law Society and focus groups for
evaluation.
Outcomes:
• MHA evaluated the feedback received and incorporated some of the suggestions into the
Bill.
• The feedback was acknowledged in the Second Reading Speech in Parliament.
7. Follow-up and analysis
Closing the loop is a vital step in the public consultation process. After being consulted, the
public will expect to know the outcome. Hence, after the consultation period ends, agencies are
encouraged to follow up on:
• Collating the feedback and closing the loop with stakeholders; and
• Assessing the effectiveness of the consultation exercise and identifying areas for
improvement.
7.1. Step 8: Collate feedback and close the loop
After the feedback is received from the participants, agencies need to collate the feedback to
identify the common themes and important issues. Agencies should consolidate and categorise
the feedback and data received and document the findings in a report.
The report should contain the following information:
• Number of participants;
• Timeframe of the consultation exercise;
• Consultation process (channels, feedback mechanisms);
• Feedback received (categorised);
• Explanation for accepting or rejecting each category
of feedback; and
• Limits of the consultation approach.
In addition, agencies need to demonstrate that they recognise
and acknowledge the contributions of participants and assure
participants that their feedback has been taken into
consideration. This will also serve to encourage further
involvement in public consultation exercises in the future.
“... a common grouse
of the public who are
unhappy with the
government’s public
consultation process is
the oft quoted officious
and non-committal
replies they receive. Whilst
they do not expect the
government to agree to
or accept every feedback
and suggestion, they do
expect the government
to adequately address
their concerns and explain
the rationale for the
decisions.”
– Dr Amy Khor,
Chairman REACH