Consultations

Introduction to consultation exercises

List of current consultations (with deadline date)

List of closed consultations

List of consultation responses

Consultation exercises normally begin with publication of a consultation paper in which Defra invites comment from stakeholders on a policy issue, legislative or other proposal.

Consultations are carried out in accordance with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation. The consultation period will normally last a minimum of 12 weeks, although there are circumstances in which shorter consultations will be unavoidable (e.g. where tight timescales are dictated by EU processes). A draft Regulatory Impact Assessment will be included as part of the consultation where proposals may create burdens for business - for further information go to: http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/regulation/Consultation/Introduction.htm

Once the deadline has passed, the consultation closes, and the comments received are carefully considered by Defra in developing its policies, plans for legislation etc. After this stage, the comments are made publicly available for six months as consultation responses.

The Defra library will supply copies of consultation replies on request to personal callers or telephone enquirers (Tel 020 7238 6712). To avoid delays personal callers should give the library 24 hours' notice of their requirements.

Many consultation documents have been published in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format . Further information is available on our Help page about downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat documents.