The UK-wide consultation on whether to standardise tobacco packaging is now live on the Department of Health’s consultation hub. It seeks responses from interested citizens, businesses and organisations on whether standardising tobacco packaging would have public health benefits. The online consultation has been built using Delib’s Citizen Space public consultation software.

It’s important in any consultation that the respondents are informed about the topic at hand, which is why there is relevant information embedded within the online consultation.

At the top of each page of the consultation is an embedded PDF of the consultation document; this is also included on the initial overview page of the consultation. This makes it easy for respondents to read the document in context without leaving the consultation page.

When information from the consultation document is relevant to a specific question it has been provided as ‘More information’ under the question.

There are also text boxes at the end of every question to encourage respondents to justify their responses. This encourages deliberation, and gives the opportunity to provide any supporting evidence which could then be considered by the Department of Health when reviewing the proposals at the end of the consultation period.

The consultation is open until July 10th 2012.