Paper from ePolitix.com
CONSTITUENCY FORUM—EFFECTIVE E-CONSULTATION
BETWEEN MPS AND CONSTITUENTS
INTRODUCTION
ePolitix.com has recently engaged in a successful
pilot of a new, innovative method of connecting parliament to
the public via email and the internet, enhancing and developing
e-democracy. "Constituency Forum" augments the way MPs
communicate with constituents by establishing an accessible and
inclusive two-way dialogue on topical local and national policy
issues via e-consultations. This is a new service which we believe
will be beneficial to your current/forthcoming inquiry.
Constituency Forum has been specifically designed
to minimise the impact on MPs' time and resources whilst delivering
a meaningful and informative dialogue between parliament and constituents.
It is a cost-effective way of promoting consultation saving the
parliamentary authorities money on postage and printing. It assists
inclusivity by ensuring that communication is in accessible formats
and delivered to individuals at their choice of location. Managed
by ePolitix—and with minimal work for MPs and their offices—it
has proven to be successful and popular in pilot projects with
MPs and constituents alike.
We believe that Constituency Forum would be
an invaluable service to extend to all MPs in the near future.
This service reflects the desire of the Modernisation Select Committee
to develop a stronger relationship between Parliament and an active
and engaged community of electors.
ePolitix would support this initiative with
a funded team of dedicated researchers experienced in e-democracy
and web-based information, knowledge and communication to manage
this service.
What is ePolitix?
ePolitix is a free to use politics information
and knowledge website with over 75,000 unique users and over six
million hits per month. It is easy to navigate and is available
24 hours a day, seven days a week. It facilitates the flow of
up to date communication between Parliament and the public—hosting,
updating and maintaining over 400 MP websites and over 300 specialist
public affairs websites for a diverse forum of organisations.
ePolitix is part of Parliamentary Communications Ltd, which also
provides EUPolitix.com for Europe and other products and services
to ensure better understanding of parliament and politics.
Our experience and understanding of managing
over 400 websites on behalf of MPs means we have a realistic understanding
of how MPs use the internet and email to communicate with constituents
within the time and resources available to them. We are also aware
of the need for a well-guided, simple process of e-democracy which
does not challenge any of the traditional means of contact between
MPs and their constituents. MPs have confidence and respect for
our services in this respect.
Anne McGuire MP believes "ePolitix has
proven to be an excellent central channel of communication between
the public and MPs" with increased numbers of constituents
contacting her via her ePolitix website. Edward Garnier MP said
his ePolitix website increased his availability to his constituents
through a one-stop-shop—essential in a large and semi-rural
constituency. The use of Constituency Forum e-consultations will
innovate and strengthen the ePolitix MP website service to all
MPs even further.
ePolitix has developed online consultations
on policy issues between hundreds of organisations and the political
community. These consultations—called Forum Briefs—have
attracted responses from government departments, party spokesmen
and select committees. This experience, combined with the success
of the Constituency Forum pilot project, demonstrates our proven
ability to manage participative consultations effectively with
our team of specialists. We have received many testimonials from
MPs about our professionalism and management of the evolving process
of e-democracy. This experience combined with our strong technological
knowledge means we are well-qualified and well placed to make
the public aware of an e-consultation and the value of participating,
how to manage submissions, request and encourage responses and
present results in a straightforward and simple manner.
CONSTITUENCY FORUM
Constituency Forum is a six-month pilot project
managed by a team of ePolitix specialist staff designed to encourage
participative e-democracy and revolutionise MP communication with
constituents. We established a two-way dialogue between three
participating MPs and a carefully formulated database of constituency
stakeholders on local, national and policy issues via e-consultations.
Throughout this process we have worked with
MPs to invite key constituency stakeholders—via email—to
register to participate in the e-consultation process by completing
an online form on their MP website. Constituents were also invited
via coverage in local press. Once a month an article written by
the MP and addressing a key policy issue was emailed to Constituency
Forum participants for a response and published on the MP website.
ePolitix then collated all e-consultation responses to form a
submission document which was sent by the MP to the relevant government
department for comment. A selection also appeared on the MP website.
Constituency Forum e-consultations have received
an unprecedented level and depth of responses demonstrating the
importance of e-democracy in the development of local politics.
Testimonials from both MPs and constituents accentuate the welcome
success of Constituency Forum in achieving its objective of connecting
parliament to the public.
David Laws MP said of the pilot: "I have
used the forum as a narrow but deep form of dialogue . . . I was
not disappointed and received expert opinion from those who were
directly affected by legislation which I probably would not have
received in any other way. John McFall MP said: "Many people
in the constituency have spoken to me about the Forum and how
much they appreciate the effort to communicate with them on matters
of local and national importance."
CONCLUSION
Constituency Forum is a long-term, cost effective,
time efficient, e-consultation process enabling MPs to better
communicate with their constituents. Our ambition is to offer
this unique and developing facility to all MPs. In order to do
so ePolitix, however, requires the necessary resources to offer
a uniform e-consultation service to MPs. If MPs had funding to
pursue e-consultations we would train and manage a team of researchers
to implement Constituency Forum for all MPs. ePolitix is keen
to pursue this discussion with Government and the relevant Parliamentary
authorities.
February 2004
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