Scotland and Wales lead the field in ePetitions, says Hansard Society
A new Digital Paper, Digital Democracy in Scotland and Wales: Lagging or Leading?, published today by the Hansard Society, examines digital democracy initiatives in the devolved legislatures and concludes that, while more needs to be done to bring about two-way interactivity between the public and those who represent them, the Westminster Parliament can learn from the ePetitioning processes in place in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
Digital Democracy in Scotland and Wales: Lagging or Leading? examines the digital engagement strategies in place in both legislatures and highlights the key benefits of their ePetitions processes:
- They are well-designed and have a clear, open set of procedures in place for dealing with each petition submitted. This is in contrast to the recently closed Number 10 petitioning site where there was no obligation to take any notice of anything submitted.
- They focus on the merits of each individual petition as opposed to number of signatures collected. This allows petitions with a few hundred signatures which might have important and serious consequences for those involved to be given a fair level of consideration.
Freddy Fallon, researcher on Hansard Society’s Digital Democracy programme and author of Digital Democracy in Scotland and Wales: Lagging or Leading?, commented:
‘With ePetitioning on the agenda again for the Westminster Parliament, it remains to be seen if it will match Scotland and Wales in their ability to provide all petitioners with a fair and open process. Whatever the outcome, all three legislatures will need to continue to develop new ways to bring about more two-way dialogue between the public and their elected representatives.’
For further information, contact Virginia Gibbons, Head of Communications at the Hansard Society on 020 7438 1225 or mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk
Editors’ Notes
- The Hansard Society is the UK’s leading independent, non-partisan political research and education charity.
- Digital Democracy in Scotland and Wales: Lagging or Leading? is the fourth in an occasional series of short Digital Papers from the Hansard Society Digital Democracy Programme.
- The Hansard Society Digital Democracy Programme’s thought-leading research has been a formative part of an emergent digital Britain from the internet’s impact on Parliament, to better government engagement with citizens and the potential for civil society to harness digital media. The Digital Democracy Programme undertakes research and produces publications and commentaries with a focus on online political communication and citizen engagement, exploring the many faces of digital inclusion, citizen engagement, political campaigning and parliamentary process.