All posts in the topic The man from the dept. has his say on ICELE... (Short link)
Summary
- There are 5 posts — by 3 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by paul canning at Jun 17 14:58 UTC
...in the comments of my blog! See http://davepress.net/2008/06/09/drip-drip-more-icele-news/#comment-995 To quote: On the 13 June 2008, the Minister for local e-democracy, Parmjit Dhanda M.P., announced in a letter to the International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE) Chair, Cllr. Matthew Ellis, that ICELE as a sponsored entity of CLG, would no longer receive any further funding beyond the agreed life-span of the programme. In the letter, the Minister stated, "I would like to place on public record my Department's gratitude for all of the good work ICELE has undertaken during the stewardship of you and your colleagues, Cllr. Bill Brookes and Cllr. Mary Reid, and to your support staff during the programme's life-span. I recognise that ICELE has taken forward the work of several components of the local e-Government programme including the Local e-Democracy National Project and disseminated these through your award winning website. In addition, ICELE has won some European funding to enhance understanding and good practice around eParticipation and ensured that assistance to local authorities has been available on the complex issue of local e-democracy when required. However when ICELE was established, CLG gave a commitment of funding up to 31 March 2008 with a key objective for the Centre to "build a model for long-term sustainability beyond the programme life-span". Regrettably, sustainability has not been demonstrated despite the successful bids for EU grants. My Department remains committed to encouraging the use of ICT for empowerment in partnership with others to facilitate and enhance local democracy. As part of the Government's work on the forthcoming Community Empowerment White Paper, we are actively considering how best to utilize new technologies to support community empowerment. ICELE has been very active in responding to recent consultations on a number of issues linked to the forthcoming White Paper and these have been gratefully received. However, in looking at this broad agenda, we have to assess the value, sustainability and potential benefits that other organisations could also offer in taking forward the work in this area. In conclusion, I am of the opinion that ICELE, as a sponsored entity of CLG, should cease operations on the 30 June 2008 [other than core staffing support activities related to the Review]. I have instructed officials to conduct a further review in partnership with ICELE on the tools and products produced or managed by the Centre. This review will also seek to establish how best any successful elements of ICELE's work might be taken forward and how sustainability might be achieved. Finally, I hope that Lichfield District Council and all other users of the local e-democracy tools will continue to play a role in taking the agenda of empowerment using ICT forward. Improving public services and strengthening democracy by encouraging active citizenship is a shared political goal and offers real opportunities to revive our civic society. Your continued support and enthusiasm for making this happen at the local level, either through your blogging as a local councillor or through your advice and guidance to others as Chair of ICELE, is testament to your understanding and leadership over the past two years." For information: • ICELE was officially launched in October 2006 by Communities and Local Government Minister, Angela Smith M.P., at the United Nations CIAPR Conference. • CLG has provided core funding to ICELE of £386,000 for the Centre's activities over the past two years and £234,000 to make the VOICE product fit for purpose. • The Review of the ICELE portfolio will be conducted to investigate how best to take forward any of the tools currently being used. We cannot however continue to indefinitely support non-sustainable or non-viable e-democracy products or tools for which there is no demonstrated need. No decision will be made in respect of any of the tools and products until this has been completed. • CLG, in partnership with other Government Departments, are actively considering how best to promote and utilize new technologies to support community empowerment as one of the strands in the forthcoming Community Empowerment White Paper.
So let me get this right ... they defund it and order it closed THEN they work
out what to do with the good stuff!
And presumably there will be a hiatus between ICELE disappearing (if it does)
in June and anything coming from the CLG's "actively considering how best to
utilize new technologies to support community empowerment."
Is there a target date for the result of this active consideration?
Peter
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I don't know at the moment, but as I mentioned on another thread I am at a meeting with CLG on Thursday and will be asking questions! Dave On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 2:31 PM, Cruickshank, Peter <P.Cruickshank@napier.ac.uk> wrote: > And presumably there will be a hiatus between ICELE disappearing (if it does) in June and anything coming from the CLG's "actively considering how best to utilize new technologies to support community empowerment." > > Is there a target date for the result of this active consideration? > > Peter > > > Napier University is the best modern university in Scotland and 5th in the UK. > (Guardian University Guide 2009) > > This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read, copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the permission of the sender. It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept liability for any lossor damage which may result from this email or any attachment, or for errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure medium. Email entering the University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the University. > Napier University is a registered Scottish charity. Registration number SC018373 > > Member profile for Peter Cruickshank: > http://groups.dowire.org/contacts/petercruickshank > > > ----------------------------------------- > > Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange: > http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie > > Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts on this topic here: > http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/4fCGvjWwpWpRDUYaNjyL7V > > For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange, > email <email obscured> > with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. > > UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
My tuppence worth (+ pic): NSFW! (apparently) How the Victorians do it (and how the d***s in charge here do it) http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-victorians-do-it-and-how-dicks-in.html