NEWS17 October 2008
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NEWS17 October 2008
Agency chief talks regulation (or lack of it) for deliberative methods
UK— Opinion Leader’s Viki Cooke yesterday responded to a formal reprimand from the MRS over last year’s nuclear power consultation exercise by saying the body is “not competent to assess” deliberative engagement methods.
Meanwhile the government is standing by its energy policy and saying the issue comes down to a “lack of clarity within the marketing industry”.
Research spoke to Cooke today about the growth of deliberative methods and what steps are being taken to regulate them.
I’m not going to give precise numbers but it’s just one of many things we’re known for. We pioneered the whole way of working.
There have been discussions around the industry for quite a long time. We were invited probably about a year ago to take part in an initiative that was hosted by the then National Consumer Council [now part of Consumer Focus], working with Involve [a non-profit organisation promoting public participation] and more recently the Sustainable Development Commission, who have been the drivers of it. There was a wide range of people. It’s ongoing and there are draft guidelines published now that involve probably anybody who’s significantly involved in these methods. We totally support it.
Well, I think at the outset [of the MRS investigation] we were waiting to see how the process would be managed and considered, and we didn’t want to say very much. We’ve made our statement now and I don’t want to elaborate.
We didn’t renew because our view was that the MRS Code of Conduct isn’t appropriate for the breadth of work we as an agency do. We’ve held that view quite a long time.
There are independent evaluators who provide services, but because of the relatively new way of working most of them evaluate in a learning sense, to help develop best practice. The reason this group of people have got together to develop guidelines is to move towards having a code of conduct.
It’s only happened in the last 24 hours. We’re considering our position.
Author: Robert Bain
Opinion Leader found in breach of MRS Code of Conduct
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