18 November 2002

Online Pre-Legislative Scrutiny: Greater Participation, Better Legislation

By Graham Allen MP

Wouldn't it be a good idea if MPs and members of the public were consulted on the contents of laws before they were passed? This seems to be a view the government is coming around to. In her Speech on the opening of Parliament on 13 November, the Queen affirmed that, in the coming Session, "Parliament will be invited to scrutinise legislation in draft on a number of measures, reflecting the importance that my Government places on pre-legislative scrutiny by Parliament." Given this emergent political will, and recent reforms permitting the carry-over of Bills from one year to the next, the timetabled examination of all Bills, in draft form, by Select Committees, is now a possibility. In order to ensure that maximum value is obtained from this process, evidence should be taken from the broadest possible range of interested parties. The best means of achieving this would be through the webcasting of Select Committee proceedings, inviting viewers to contribute their own views. This is a revolutionary approach, potentially incorporating millions of electors into the legislative process for the first time. Furthermore, it is one that has already been proven to work.

During June and July this year, a Joint Committee of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, chaired by Lord Puttnam, engaged in an on-line pre-legislative scrutiny of the Communications Bill. This experiment, hosted by the Hansard Society, was the first of its type to be conducted anywhere in the world. 373 participants registered, including many small organisations, such as community groups and charities, who are often excluded from conventional consultations, which tend to favour the big players in particular fields. In the words of the Committee's report, "It was noticeable that almost no online submissions were received from larger organisations (for example, the terrestrial broadcasters, Sky, BT, AOL, etc.)." The debate between the Committee and its audience proved to be a meaningful one. 222 messages were contributed, the contents of which indicated that "there was a synergy between the online forum and our written evidence, with involvement in the forum encouraging individuals to submit formal evidence."

The experience of this first use of online scrutiny has suggested a number of possible future refinements and improvements to the practice. For example, in order to avoid duplication of effort, certain areas of investigation could be turned over exclusively to the forum. However, Lord Putnam's overall verdict was clear. "The online consultation worked exceptionally well, and proved its worth as a vital tool in the democratic process. I am sure future committees will find it as invaluable as we did. The responses were of a very high quality, and gave us a real sense of public opinion across a wide range of issues. We should promote future fora as aggressively as possible to maximise participation."

The potential benefits of the application of this approach are twofold. Firstly, it will enable a collaboration between Executive, Legislature and Electorate to bring about better law. Secondly, at a time of falling participation and confidence in the political process, particularly amongst the younger age groups, the use of new technologies in this way may offer the possibility of re-connecting alienated sections of the population with the political process.

While indicating in her Speech on the opening of Parliament that she favours the practice of pre-legislative scrutiny, the Monarch has not yet offered a view on the merits of its being conducted online. However, she, and her government, would surely welcome a process which enabled all of her subjects to participate in and improve law-making, and place her nation back at the forefront of democratic innovation.

Other articles by Graham Allen MP:
- E-Democracy in Action
http://www.egovmonitor.com/features/edemo02.html

Graham Allen is MP for Nottingham North and a leading proponent of parliamentary e-democracy. He is the author of 'Reinventing Democracy' (1995) and 'The Last Prime Minister: Being Honest About the UK Presidency' (2001).