Scottish Government

SECTION 3 Responding to this Consultation Paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 19 January 2007. If possible please send your response electronically to homelessness@scotland.gov.uk

If you would prefer to send a hard copy this should go to:

All responses should contain a respondent information form - which can be found on page 12 of this paper. If you would like to discuss this consultation, please contact Anna Donald on 0131 244 0933 or by e-mail at anna.donald@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

A consultation questionnaire is set out over the next few pages. It would be useful if you are able to respond using this questionnaire - if you require an electronic version please contact Robin Bate ( robin.bate@scotland.gsi.gov.uk). If you are completing the questionnaire electronically the text boxes will expand to fit the length of response. If you are completing it in hard copy please mark clearly which question you are responding to on any additional sheets of paper.

We would be grateful if you could indicate clearly in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to (using the consultation questionnaire if appropriate) as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other SE consultation exercises, can be viewed online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for SE consultations ( SEconsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new SE consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultations activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Access to consultation responses

We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 19 February 2007 and on the Scottish Executive consultation web pages by the same day, unless confidentiality is requested. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website.

LOCAL CONNECTION - CONSULTATION RESPONSE

Respondent information form

Please complete the details below and return it with your response. This will help ensure we handle your response appropriately. Thank you for your help.

The Scottish Executive Consultation Process

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body. Consultation exercises may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises.

Typically, Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the area of consultation, and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive web site enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses. Copies of all the responses received to consultation exercises (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4552).

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review;
• inform the development of a particular policy;
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals; or
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.