Public Consultation Toolkit - Civil Service College

Public Consultation Toolkit Public Consultation Toolkit
1. Introduction
1.1. Public consultation in the Public Service
Public consultation is a process by which government interacts with the public or stakeholders
to seek input and discuss issues regarding a specific deliverable, which is often either a policy or
initiative.
Public consultation as defined here is distinct from public engagement, which refers to the
government’s ongoing involvement with stakeholders or partners, and is not necessarily
focused on a particular policy, initiative or issue.
The key difference between public consultation and public engagement is the driving impetus
behind the activity. While the objective of public consultation is to gather feedback on a specific
issue, the ultimate goal of public engagement is to develop a longer term relationship with
stakeholders.
Case 1:
Regulatory regime for the private education sector – an illustration of public
consultation
Agency/country:
• Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore
Background:
• The rapid growth of the private education (PE) sector had led to uneven standards across
private educational institutions (PEIs). To address this, MOE proposed to establish a new
regulatory regime to improve standards in the PE sector, to be overseen by a statutory body,
the Council for Private Education.
• The new regulatory regime consists of three key features: (i) an Enhanced Registration
Framework that sets out mandatory standards in the key areas of corporate governance,
academic rigour, and information transparency which PEIs need to adhere to in order to
be allowed to operate their businesses; (ii) a voluntary certification scheme (EduTrust) with
higher and more comprehensive standards to allow quality PEIs to differentiate themselves
from the rest; and (iii) regulatory levers to allow for a range of graduated solutions to match
the severity of breaches.
• A public consultation exercise was conducted from March to May 2009 to seek feedback on
the key principles and features of the new regulatory framework .
Consultation Process:
• MOE posted the Consultation Paper on its website, with a hyperlink on REACH’s (Reaching
Everyone for Active Citizenry@Home) Portal to widen the reach to the public and
stakeholders.
• An industry briefing was held for PEIs to facilitate their understanding of the key features of
the new regulatory regime. Over 500 PEI representatives attended the briefings.
• Four focus group discussions were conducted with selected PEIs and students whose views
would be representative of their communities. This helped MOE to further unpack the
concerns that have been raised.
Outcomes:
• After the close of the public consultation exercise, MOE evaluated the feedback received and
incorporated several suggestions into the regulatory framework. A summary of responses
to the feedback was also published on the MOE website.
• The Private Education (PE) Bill was also refined based on the feedback received. Consultation
on the PE Bill was conducted in July 2009 to seek final views.
• The PE Bill was introduced in Parliament in August 2009 and the Second and Third Readings
took place in September 2009. The Private Education Act was finally gazetted in October
2009.
• The Council for Private Education was formally instituted on 1 Dec 2009 as a Statutory Board
under MOE, and it commenced operations of the new regulatory regime on 21 Dec 2009.