The work of the Committee in the 2010 Parliament - Political and Constitutional Reform Contents


4  Engagement and innovation

58. Our core task this Parliament has been to consider political and constitutional reform, and we have pursued this through many different avenues. These have included the many traditional tools at a Committee's disposal, including taking oral and written evidence, publishing reports and holding debates in the House. We have also undertaken several more innovative practices, including hosting online consultations, holding seminars and conferences, recruiting a staff member as a Campaign Co-ordinator and meeting informally with members of the public. All of these activities have better enabled us to consider matters of political and constitutional reform, to scrutinise the Government's work in this area, and to inform wider debate.

59. Our work on a written constitution and on voter engagement in the UK, in particular, has involved substantial public consultation, including informal meetings with members of the public, hosting online surveys, engaging debate on social media and inviting more traditional written contributions to our work. Our work on voter engagement benefited substantially from the many discussions with members of the public we held at a meeting in Sheffield organised by Parliamentary Outreach and the University of Sheffield, where we explored the reasons why people do not vote. Throughout our voter engagement inquiry we made a particular effort to hear from witnesses other than the "usual suspects", in line with the recommendation on public engagement made by the Liaison Committee; we heard from a range of campaign groups including Bite the Ballot, Operation Black Vote, Mencap and 38 Degrees, and took evidence from a number of local organisations when we visited the University of Sheffield. Live Twitter chats have enabled the Chair to engage with the public more directly, and Twitter and Facebook channels have enabled the promotion of the Committee's work to the public in a more accessible way.

60. The response we received to our consultations on a written constitution and voter engagement—with over 19,000 people giving their views in the form of written evidence, comments on social media and survey responses—demonstrates that there is an appetite for public discussion on political and constitutional issues. We nevertheless continue to welcome the contribution from the many experts in the field of political and constitutional reform with whom we have developed relationships over the course of this Parliament.

61. We have been particularly proactive at involving the wider public and organisations other than the "usual suspects" with our work. This has been beneficial both to our scrutiny of the Government's programme of political and constitutional reform, but has also helped to achieve the broader goal of better engaging the public with Parliament and issues of constitutional significance.

62. We consider that there is greater scope for select committees to consult the public on matters which directly affect them, such as voter engagement and the health of our democracy. For some inquiries, seeking the views of the public through non-traditional means, such as surveys and online discussions, may ensure that a greater and more representative range of views is taken into account when a committee formulates its recommendations to Government. We hope that the new ways of working we have taken forward with a view to increasing engagement will facilitate those committees which wish to make similar efforts in the next Parliament.


 
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Prepared 29 March 2015