All posts in the topic Parliament starts consultation on online petitions (Short link)
Summary
- There are 14 posts — by 6 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Sophia Collins at 2007 Dec 03 10:54 UTC
Details here: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/procedure_committee/proccompn91107.cfm Is anyone going to submit anything?
Hi Tom,
We've submitted a response advising Parliament to establish the proper
procedures like the Scottish Parliament has.
If anyone wants to read the submission in full let us know.
Cheers,
Barry Griffiths
eDemocracy Programme
Hansard Society
Out of interest, have their ever been any evaluations or articles
about the Scottish process?
all the best,
Tom
On Nov 23, 2007 10:21 AM, Ross Ferguson <email obscured>> wrote:
> Hi Tom,
>
> We've submitted a response advising Parliament to establish the proper
procedures like the Scottish Parliament has.
Hi Tom, yes. ITC have written a number of publications about our e-petitions systems -both Scottish Parliament and English Local authorities. The integration of the online system with the Parliament's system (or Council's system) is a central theme in most of these. See previous UKIE post: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie/messages/post/6SbxO45YtGXzgQUNCcB0v K Plus, Christopher Carman is evaluating The Scottish Parliament's e-petitioning process in general. See consult post http://groups.dowire.org/groups/consult/messages/post/3yOxey0DLpxmH4P00t pxMq However, if anyone else knows of any reports or publications which investigate the relationship between The Scottish Parliament's processes and its e-petitioning system, please let me know, because I think I'm about to write a case study on that very topic. -Ella Ella Taylor-Smith International Teledemocracy Centre Napier University 10 Colinton Road Edinburgh, EH10 5DT Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392 Fax: +44 (0) 131 455 2282 Email: <email obscured> http://itc.napier.ac.uk 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 loss or 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.
Ella beat us to it as we were going to say... Not by us, but the International Teledemocracy centre at Napier has written specifically on e-Petitions: "Digital Democracy through Electronic Petitioning," Macintosh, A and Malina A, International Teledemocracy Centre, Napier University and Steve Farrell, The Scottish Parliament, (2002). They have a whole lot of other publications out on eParticipation, some of which may touch on e-Petitions. http://itc.napier.ac.uk/ITC/publications.asp
I must say what I was actually really wondering about was evaluations or examinations of the offline process, the committee and its workings. Are they included? best, Tom On Nov 23, 2007 1:42 PM, Barry Griffiths <email obscured>> wrote: > Ella beat us to it as we were going to say... > > Not by us, but the International Teledemocracy centre at Napier has written specifically on e-Petitions: > > "Digital Democracy through Electronic Petitioning," Macintosh, A and Malina A, International Teledemocracy Centre, Napier University and Steve Farrell, The Scottish Parliament, (2002). > > They have a whole lot of other publications out on eParticipation, some of which may touch on e-Petitions. http://itc.napier.ac.uk/ITC/publications.asp
Hi, E-Petitions Review Plan Shelved By Downing Street I'm going to cut and paste this straight from E-Government Bulletin, 26 November 2007 (hope that's ok Headstar folks)... "+02: E-Petitions Review Plan Shelved By Downing Street. Plans for an independent review of the Prime Minister's e-petitions system have been shelved following the departure of Downing Street head of digital communications Jimmy Leach to join a PR agency, E- Government Bulletin has learned. At this month's e-Democracy '07 conference, hosted by the bulletin, keynote speaker Professor Stephen Coleman of Leeds University blasted the lack of an independent report into the first six months of the e-petition system. The e-petitions had captured the headlines, particularly in relation to road pricing trials, but there needed to be proper analysis of what types of person engaged with the process and what its results had been, Coleman said. "Has there been a report? If not, it is just a gimmick. If there is, and it is now languishing on the desks of civil servants, then what does that say about transparency and integrity?" At the time, Leach responded by saying an independent academic report would be commissioned and published in the months to come. However, E-Government Bulletin understands that such a report has yet to be commissioned, and all plans have been shelved following Leach's departure this week. The record of the Downing Street electronic petitions system was defended by Leach at the conference as a useful tool among many for gauging citizens' views. "It had its uses and had its impacts, but it shouldn't and won't be the only solution favoured by government. It is a digital manifestation of a single strand of the constitution." And while there was no direct line between electronic petitions and Parliamentary debate - just as with paper petitions - he said the triggering of a policy reply from a civil servant to all petitions signed by more than 200 people had already represented a significant cultural shift in government. "It has been quite a shift, to have civil servants sit down and explain why they are doing something. So far, three and a half million people have received answers. If we were to do that physically it would cost £1 a letter, which would be unsustainable. But we have spent so far £140,000 on this." Meanwhile, the House of Commons moved a step further to installing its own electronic petitions system this month, with the announcement of a new inquiry into the topic by its Procedure Committee. The committee proposes that electronic petitions to Parliament would have the same status as paper petitions, and is seeking views on how the process could work. For details see: http://fastlink.headstar.com/parl3 ." Ella Taylor-Smith International Teledemocracy Centre Napier University 10 Colinton Road Edinburgh, EH10 5DT Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392 Fax: +44 (0) 131 455 2282 Email: <email obscured> http://itc.napier.ac.uk 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 loss or 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.
That's a pretty lame excuse. The first and a major question is who has used
the service.
For less than a grand they can have a profiling report produced based on the
postcodes supplied as part of the sign-up process. That will reveal whether it
is all middle class folk or a representative mix across the nation and a lot
more besides. It will take one week and we'll be far ahead of where we are now
in terms of knowing who has been using the site.
Shane
Shane McCracken
Director
Gallomanor Communications Ltd
31 Silver Street
Bradford on Avon
BA15 1JX
01225 869413
07720 297515
0870 7627 451
On Mon Nov 26 15:10 , 'Taylor-Smith, Ella' <email obscured>> sent:
>Hi,
>E-Petitions Review Plan Shelved By Downing Street
>
>I'm going to cut and paste this straight from E-Government Bulletin, 26
November 2007 (hope that's ok Headstar folks)...
>
>"+02: E-Petitions Review Plan Shelved By Downing Street.
>
>Plans for an independent review of the Prime Minister's e-petitions system
have been shelved following the departure of Downing Street head of digital
communications Jimmy Leach to join a PR agency, E- Government Bulletin has
learned.
>
>At this month's e-Democracy '07 conference, hosted by the bulletin, keynote
speaker Professor Stephen Coleman of Leeds University blasted the lack of an
independent report into the first six months of the e-petition system. The
e-petitions had captured the headlines, particularly in relation to road
pricing trials, but there needed to be proper analysis of what types of person
engaged with the process and what its results had been, Coleman said.
>
>"Has there been a report? If not, it is just a gimmick. If there is, and it is
now languishing on the desks of civil servants, then what does that say about
transparency and integrity?"
>
>At the time, Leach responded by saying an independent academic report would be
commissioned and published in the months to come.
>However, E-Government Bulletin understands that such a report has yet to be
commissioned, and all plans have been shelved following Leach's departure this
week.
>
>The record of the Downing Street electronic petitions system was defended by
Leach at the conference as a useful tool among many for gauging citizens'
views.
>
>"It had its uses and had its impacts, but it shouldn't and won't be the only
solution favoured by government. It is a digital manifestation of a single
strand of the constitution."
>
>And while there was no direct line between electronic petitions and
Parliamentary debate - just as with paper petitions - he said the triggering of
a policy reply from a civil servant to all petitions signed by more than 200
people had already represented a significant cultural shift in government.
>
>"It has been quite a shift, to have civil servants sit down and explain why
they are doing something. So far, three and a half million people have received
answers. If we were to do that physically it would cost
>£1 a letter, which would be unsustainable. But we have spent so far £140,000
on this."
>
>Meanwhile, the House of Commons moved a step further to installing its own
electronic petitions system this month, with the announcement of a new inquiry
into the topic by its Procedure Committee. The committee proposes that
electronic petitions to Parliament would have the same status as paper
petitions, and is seeking views on how the process could work. For details see:
Hi Shane/group, what do you reckon their excuse/reasons for shelving the planned evaluation were? Every reason I think up could go either way.. What do you know Tom? Had you heard of this evaluation plan before Mr Leach's speech? -Ella Ella Taylor-Smith International Teledemocracy Centre Napier University 10 Colinton Road Edinburgh, EH10 5DT Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392 Fax: +44 (0) 131 455 2282 Email: <email obscured> http://itc.napier.ac.uk 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 loss or 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.
> What do you know Tom?
Nothing!
> Had you heard of this evaluation plan before Mr Leach's speech?
Nope, and because I was off taking my red-eye-flight jetlagged team
member to find a bed to crash in during that part of the conference,
so I didn't hear him say it on the day of the conference either.
We're just starting to conduct an independent evaluation of our own
sites, some of which are 3 years old, having systematically failed to
find an academic partner willing to take on the cost of doing this
before then. So I can't be too holier-than-thou on this front.
Obviously it's a site worth evaluating though, so I'll ask about it.
Hi, well I hope the Procedures Committee reads this nice little summary of the 1st year of the Downing Street tool http://www.numberten.gov.uk/output/Page11051.asp which still seems to be a missing a paragraph on the evaluation plan ;-) There's some comments on it from Michael Cross in yesterday's Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/29/politics.egovernment but I doubt if this contains anything you don't already know (as well as being a typically London-centric piece!) -Ella Ella Taylor-Smith International Teledemocracy Centre Napier University 10 Colinton Road Edinburgh, EH10 5DT Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392 Fax: +44 (0) 131 455 2282 Email: <email obscured> http://itc.napier.ac.uk 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 loss or 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.
Taylor-Smith, Ella wrote: > There's some comments on it from Michael Cross in yesterday's Guardian > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/29/politics.egovernment > but I doubt if this contains anything you don't already know (as well as > being a typically London-centric piece!) He obviously doesn't read <email obscured>. I'd have e-mailed to tell him that the Irish Parliament has already done it, but the Guardian site doesn't give an e-mail address for him.
I think this email is still up-to-date:- <email obscured> Sophia Collins Producer I'm a Councillor www.bigvote.org.uk <http://www.bigvote.org.uk> Gallomanor Communications Ltd. 01225 869413 31 Silver Street Bradford on Avon BA15 1JX www.gallomanor.com <http://www.gallomanor.com> Creating Community Conversations Gallomanor Communications Ltd. Registered in England & Wales, No. 03980700. Registered Address: Duckmead Cottage, Farleigh Wick, Bradford-on-Avon, BA15 2PU