Cancer Research UK (P12)
ABOUT CANCER
RESEARCH UK
Cancer Research UK welcomes the House of Commons
Procedure Committee inquiry into e-petitions. Cancer Research
UK[1]
is the world's largest independent organisation dedicated to cancer
research, with a research spend of over £315m in 2006-07.
We have over 45,000 volunteers, one million regular donors and
directly engage with around three million people every year.
Cancer Research UK also campaigns for change
through our public campaigning team. CancerCampaigns are responsible
for engaging the public in achieving our political and policy
objectives. We believe that campaigning has great potential to
help us in our vision that together we will beat cancer. In early
2006, our Smokefree Workplaces campaign resulted in MPs voting
for a historic change in the law: comprehensive legislation ending
smoking in all workplaces in England. Our Cancer 2020 campaign
called on politicians in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland to plan for the cancer challenges ahead. The Government
in England committed to a new Cancer Reform Strategy in November
2006, with Scotland agreeing to update their Cancer in Scotland
strategy in February 2007. We are currently still working with
politicians in Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure that they
too plan for the future of cancer. Our most recent campaign, Screening
Matters, calls on politicians to get more people into cancer screening
programmes across the UK and to make sure the programmes are as
good as they can be.
E-PETITIONING
Whilst Cancer Research UK has never petitioned
the House of Commons before, Cancer Research UK use petitions
to campaign for change and during our Cancer 2020 campaign we
presented a petition in electronic form to 10 Downing Street.
We believe that e-petitions are a step in the right direction
to connecting with the public in the spirit of 21st Century technology
and engagement. As the decline in political engagement continues,[2]
people are forging new connections within their communities or
interest groups—particularly in areas they feel are neglected
by government. E-petitions facilitate individual campaigning and
the launch of the 10 Downing Street e-Petitions site in November
2006 has provided a convenient and innovative opportunity to help
people communicate with Government and with the Prime Minister's
Office. Since the launch of this site, petitions from the public
have significantly grown in number—in the year that the
site has been running, over 29,000 petitions have been submitted
with over 5.8 million signatures.
Cancer Research UK has found that new communication
channels and technology can open up discussion and engagement
to new audiences and greatly increase participation. In our current
campaign, Screening Matters, over 25,000 people have engaged with
our campaign online, in addition to the 40,000 who have signed
our pledge cards.
We would be interested in hearing more about
the details of the e-petitions process but we would hope that
any scheme facilitates the important role that charities play
to campaign for change. Whilst a website for e-petitions (such
as the Number 10 Downing Street site) is a convenient tool to
allow individuals to easily engage with Government, charities
such as Cancer Research UK would need to have access to petitioners"
details to run a successful and sustained campaign. Cancer Research
UK uses the details of people who sign petitions to keep them
updated on the progress of the campaign and to provide continued
information and support to them. We would suggest that a flexible
system is put into place where there are numerous ways to present
electronic petitions—including through an e-petition website
as well as presenting electronic petitions in different formats
such as CD-ROM etc. This would allow charities to access useful
and important data to allow them to communicate with their supporters.
We would also hope that any such scheme requires the same verification
data as any written petition (eg name and postal address) and
does not make it compulsory to include other more onerous validation
information such as IP addresses or e-mail addresses.
We believe that e-petitions have the ability
to help the House of Commons improve its links and connections
with the public—both individually as well as through charities
who often present a powerful platform from which people can rally
behind big causes such as cancer or the environment. This inquiry
provides an opportunity to think about the future possibilities
of petitioning as well as the barriers to petitioning. As outlined
in the Public Petitions and Early Day Motions report,[3]
current procedures can act as a barrier to presenting electronic
signatures and may even prevent MPs from presenting online signatures.[4]
Moreover, we agree that it is vital that members should engage
with e-petitions in the same way as written petitions.
MOVING FORWARD
It will be important to widely publicise the
process and function of e-petitions. Anecdotal evidence suggests
that charities, as well as members of the general public, have
little knowledge of the rules or process of petitioning their
MP and in turn, the House of Commons. The Committee may want to
consider how it can best explain the petitioning process to facilitate
engagement with the democratic process. One example of how this
has been done elsewhere is the Scottish Parliament's DVD aimed
at those working in the community. This uses real life examples
of how the process works and can be an instrument of change.
The Committee should also clearly articulate
the process for taking petitions forward. The Government should
take into account concerns around the effectiveness of the current
system and ensure that it implements fully the learnings from
elsewhere, such as the Scottish system which has been highly praised
and is now being adopted by Germany.
Whilst the Public Petitions and Early Day
Motions report[5]
clearly states opposition to the establishment of a Petitions
Committee (as is in place in Scotland), the Scottish Government's
approach does have the benefit of being able to address the question
of how petitions can influence the decision making process by
allowing the petitioner to continue to have an active participatory
role with a number of follow up stages. Where appropriate, the
Petitioning Committee also explicitly links petitions to changes
in draft legislation. We would be interested in how this can be
done whilst maintaining the important link between a petition
and the MP.
November 2007
1 Registered charity no. 1089464. Back
2
For example, voting is down from 84% participation in 1950 to
just 62% in the last election, with only 37% of 18-24 year old
voting in the 2005 UK election. Back
3
House of Commons Procedure Committee, First Report of Session
2006-2007 Public Petitions and Early Day Motions, May 2007. Back
4
In her evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee, Theresa
May MP stated that current procedures had prevented her from presenting
960 online signatures that she had gathered. Back
5
House of Commons Procedure Committee, First Report of Session
2006-07 Public Petitions and Early Day Motions, May 2007. Back
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