Government Consultation Response Template
Three documents and two sheets that map every consultation question to a coverage decision before a word of narrative gets written.
Free download · No account needed
Question to Response Map
Five of 24 questions, coded before a word is drafted
| Q | Coverage | Self-containment check |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | In depth | Pass |
| Q7 | Not answered | n/a |
| Q9 | Brief | Flagged, fixed |
| Q12 | Not answered | n/a |
| Q20 | In depth | Flagged, fixed |
13 of this consultation's 24 questions get an answer. Three of those thirteen are caught here leaning on another one's figure and rewritten before submission.
A government consultation reads like one long submission until the department analyzes it, and then it reads as a set of numbered questions scored one at a time. A department's own published methodology says it plainly: for each question, the government response states how many of the total respondents actually answered that specific question, not how many replied overall. A response built as one narrative essay was never counted that way to begin with.
The pack is three documents and two sheets and one rule. Question to Response Map records a coverage decision against every question in the consultation's own numbering before a word of narrative gets written. Each one is answered in depth with graded evidence, answered briefly, or left with a stated reason instead of a silent gap. Evidence Register grades each supporting claim strong, moderate or weak. Response Narrative and Executive Summary then draft from that map, and a self-containment check re-reads every answer once written, specifically for one leaning on another to make its point.
Every sheet ships filled in for one illustrative response, a warehouse operators' federation answering a break-entitlement consultation. Of 24 questions, it answers 9 in depth with graded evidence, 4 more briefly, and leaves 11 with a recorded reason rather than a gap. Three of those 13 drafted answers are caught leaning on another answer's figure during the check and rewritten to stand alone. Open the pack in River and the map, the grading and the check run as you draft, the same coverage discipline behind a policy brief's options analysis.
What's in the pack
Question to Response Map sheet
Every question in the consultation's own numbering, coded in depth, brief, or not answered with a stated reason, decided before Response Narrative exists.
Evidence Register sheet
One row per claim behind an in-depth answer, graded strong, moderate or weak, the same discipline a stakeholder position map applies to a claimed position.
Response Narrative
The full question-by-question response, numbered exactly as the consultation numbers its own questions, with a stated reason wherever a question is left blank.
Executive Summary
One paragraph per section the response actually takes a position on, plus what was not answered and why, so a reader who stops here still knows the shape of the response.
Evidence Annex
The register written out and grouped by subject, with the grading reasoning attached, so a reader who disbelieves a figure can check it in under a minute.
Every question gets a decision, and every answer stands alone
The standing space rule every prompt reads first. It blocks a drafted answer from citing another answer instead of repeating the point in full, which is the specific failure a government's own scoring rule marks as unscoreable.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or download it
Open the pack in River and the agent builds the map with you before drafting anything, or download the two CSV sheets and three Word documents instantly, filled in with the worked example.
- 2
Map every question first
Read the consultation's own numbering and decide, question by question, whether it gets an in-depth answer, a brief one, or a stated reason instead. Record the decision before a word of narrative exists.
- 3
Grade the evidence behind every position
Every claim behind an in-depth answer gets a row in Evidence Register, graded strong, moderate or weak, the same way a cost estimate's assumptions get exposed rather than buried in a total.
- 4
Draft, then check for self-containment
Draft Response Narrative and Executive Summary from the map, then run a self-containment check that catches any answer leaning on another one's figure and rewrites it to stand alone before submission.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes. Download the whole pack as CSV sheets and Word documents with no signup and no credit card. Edit with AI is a separate, optional path that has the agent map your own consultation's questions with you. The template library holds every other research pack this catalog ships.
What format are the downloaded files?
CSV for the two sheets and Word documents for the response narrative, the executive summary and the evidence annex, in one zip. They open in Excel, Numbers, Sheets, Word, Pages and Google Docs with nothing to convert. Inside River the same content opens as live Docs and Sheets.
Do I have to answer every question in the consultation?
No. It is normal, and expected, to leave some questions blank. What the government's own consultation principles call for afterward is that responses received are counted and explained, so Question to Response Map records a reason for each blank question as you go, rather than reconstructed once the department asks.
How is this different from analyzing a docket of public comments?
That is a separate job: reading many other people's submissions after the fact, which is what a docket of coded positions is for. This pack drafts your own organisation's single response before the consultation closes, against its own numbered questions.
What does 'Edit with AI' actually do?
It creates a free River account and installs this exact pack as a private workspace. It opens with the agent ready to read the consultation document and your evidence, map the questions, and draft from what you send. Nothing is written until you send it something.
Does this work for a US rulemaking docket instead of a UK consultation?
The mechanism transfers directly: map the questions, grade the evidence, check for self-containment. The vocabulary does not. A US agency calls its own numbered items a rulemaking rather than a consultation, and scores its comments under its own separate process.
Get a response that gets counted, question by question
Send the consultation document and whatever evidence you have. The map comes back before a word of narrative gets drafted, with a reason recorded for anything left blank.
Edit with AI