8 July 2002

Great Expectations: An Update on Public Involvement in the Draft Communications Bill

By Rebecca Newton, Director of Community Development and Online Education at CommunityPeople.net

Over 300 public voices are present in the weekly Joint Committee sessions considering the Draft Communications Bill. No extra chairs are needed at these particular sessions, nor is there a problem with parking spaces - the 300+ citizens are actively participating via the Hansard Society's online evidence and consultation process at www.commbill.net. Hundreds more are watching the live webcasts each week at http://www.parliamentlive.tv.

"Lots of people are watching. It's a very good time for the public to get involved!" says Beccy Earnshaw, Programme Director for the Hansard Society's E-Democracy Programme. "Contributions from the forum are being used directly in Parliament's questioning. This is the first time it's been done with a pre-legislative bill. We hope the public will continue to take advantage of this process."

The Hansard Society's programme, now in its third year of development, provides an online forum where the public may directly participate in the process of presenting evidence and discussing considerations for the Draft Communications Bill. Each voice is heard, responded to, and recognised within the process on a weekly basis. Ms. Earnshaw is charged with the task of overseeing the programme.

"The internet makes it easy," she says. "[Parliament] can reach more people with the web." To date, over 300 electors and 100 pieces of evidence have been presented to the committee via the online consultation programme. Though 300 or so active participants may seem modest when recent statistics report that nearly 1 in 4 households have access to the internet and 26.5 million adults in the UK have accessed the internet , the 300 plus participants exemplify an impressive number for the pilot project. "The internet provides an informal atmosphere that allows everyone to get involved," Ms. Earnshaw says. The programme provides an avenue for the public to feed their opinions and experiences directly into the Parliament process and allows the public to know their voices are being heard. Aside from the convenience of using the internet, you can't beat the dress code.

The Joint Committee actively participates in the online consultation forum and reads submissions, in the form of posts and e-mails, live on the floor during the sessions. They're listening, in other words, and involving the public in the sessions. Through the process, Parliament has shown it feels a need to not only get the public involved but to also respond to the voiced concerns. The online evidence and consultation process is a tool that reaches out and involves the public. The idea behind the project is that the process will become an expectation rather than a pilot project; a larger part of any scrutiny. Based on the programme's data to date, this expectation is well on its way to being met.

Accordingly, it's all well and good to provide a forum for the public, but the 64,000 Lb question would be: has giving the public the ability to interact with the pre-scrutiny committee process made a difference in the outcome? Though we won't know until the reports are complete, Ms. Earnshaw thinks so. "The framework relies on the committee to be committed to it. We've been lucky with this committee," she says; "we're confident the committee is listening."

The quality of the electors' responses is "excellent" according to Ms. Earnshaw. A few of the key issues that have emerged from the online consultation programme include:

·	The role of the citizen within the communications legislation. Particularly, the rights of the citizen should be given more credence.
·	The role of the consumer panel for protected rights.
·	Regional issues such as regional broadcasting, which is vital to a mix of broadcasting throughout the UK.
·	Protecting the Gaelic language.
·	Media ownership, including foreign ownership and religious ownership.
·	Children's broadcasting.
·	Public service broadcasting.
·	Internet content, which is not covered in the communications draft bill. Currently there is no duty on internet content and there is much discussion as to whether there should be. The general feeling is "no" at this point, according to Ms. Earnshaw.

And what do the committee members say of the public programme? As reported recently by the Hansard Society, the Committee Chair, Lord Puttnam, enthusiastically states, "…I'm delighted that we've attracted so much interest. We're very impressed with the quality of contributions so far. As is becoming more and more apparent, it's been very important to us to listen beyond Westminster and the 'usual suspects' - after all, the Communications Bill will affect everyone..."

Despite all the apparent successes, the biggest obstacle has been accessing the public at- large. Getting the message across that the public has the opportunity to take part in Parliamentary projects is paramount to the ultimate success of the programme. The media to date have been supportive. For instance, BBC Parliament puts up a strap line and the webcasting is effective. However, finding effective wording to reach a wider spectrum of the public is a challenge. Obviously, national and local media promotions would make a significant difference in participation, and it would behoove the media to strongly support the programme. But there's the byzantine task of reaching the public in their communities. Word of mouth, of course, is still the best form of advertisement and the hope is that a core of community evangelists will develop to spread the good news, so to speak.

What's the next step for the programme? Developing models of best practices as to how the programme can work. The programme team will research, analyze, write reports on the processes, and sort out "lots of issues," Ms. Earnshaw says. Providing an online environment where the public may feel confident to get involved in the programme will partially depend upon sophisticated online interactive tools. The Hansard Society would like to develop software specific to the online consultation programme, including user-friendly, intuitive tools to make participation effortless for the average citizen. Combining the informed nature of the written word with the best of the consultation conversation is on the development wish list, as well.

At the end of the day, the programme needs to work for Parliament, and the good news is it does now work within the existing structure of Parliament. The programme adds value to the current system, as the committee now views public input as part of the Parliamentary process. People are talking and Parliament is listening. History is evolving via the internet.

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Rebecca Newton is the Director of Community Development and Online Education at CommunityPeople.net, which is based in Glasgow, Scotland. She can be reached via e-mail at Rebecca@communitypeople.net