WRITTEN ON April 7th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Political engagement

Oh wow. Prompted by those headline-seekers at #10 a Commons Committee has decided to open up the House to the idea of e-petitions, arguing (with some logic) that it is to Parliament we should be petitioning – not to the PM – and that our MPs ought to be involved in the process (see earlier post here).

The Procedures Committee has just released its report with the pros and cons, and recommending their preferred option here including a way we can petition to www.parliament.uk and have three Westminster Hall debates a year (ie not full-on debates in the Chamber, but well worth having and often of pretty good quality I gather).Procedures Committee chair Greg Knight MP says in the press release (full text below)

“Historically and constitutionally the House of Commons is the place to which petitions should properly be presented. It is time for the House to reclaim that role in the internet age.”

They point out that the e-petitions service has seen #10 get petitions at levels the House has not seen since the end of the C19th (which would have been the slave trade abolitionists I guess)

So – what should we petition on for those first three Westminster Hall debates? I reckon

1. We ask Parliament to create and endorse a long-term plan to reduce our economic dependence on the arms trade
2. ….and for evidence-based raionalisation of our drug laws with the aim of reducing the harm done to society and
3. …and for some sort of legal ownership of our own data including biometrics with criminal sanctions for abuse

Whaddyerreckon?Procedure Committee
Select Committee Press Release
House of Commons London SW1P 3JA

Media enquiries Liz Parratt 07917 488978

Embargoed: not to be published in any form before 00.01 am Sunday 6 April 2008

‘> Commons should have e-petitions> ‘> say MPs

The House of Commons Procedure Committee today publishes a report on e-Petitions, proposing a scheme which would:

* Enable e-petitions to be submitted via www.parliament.uk;
* Retain the direct involvement of constituency MPs in the petitions procedure;
* Lead to three Westminster Hall debates based on petitions every year.

A four month inquiry by the Committee concluded that e-petitioning offers a simple, effective and transparent way for the public to tell MPs about what matters to them and to indicate levels of support for their concerns. The Committee> ‘> s proposed scheme would provide petitioners with advice and support and with a route to follow up the petition after its presentation > -> as well as improving engagement and transparency.

Experience elsewhere, particularly on the 10 Downing Street website, has demonstrated high levels of public interest and engagement. In its first year of operation the Downing Street site received some 29,000 petitions and 5.5 million signatures. The House of Commons has not experienced a comparable volume since the late nineteenth century.

Chairman Greg Knight MP said:

“Historically and constitutionally the House of Commons is the place to which petitions should properly be presented. It is time for the House to reclaim that role in the internet age.”

The Committee also considered the possible risks, including trivial or > ‘> mischievous> ‘> petitions; costs; implications for MPs> ‘> workload, and the consequences of failure.

The report concludes that if e-petitioning is to attract the widest possible range of users, it will need to be able to adapt and respond to their expectations, and to cope with potentially high and unpredictable levels of demand: the introduction of e-petitioning in itself will raise expectations and the House will need to show that it is willing and able to respond.

Greg Knight continued:

“> We are not aware of any other existing scheme of comparable scale and ambition. It has the potential to open up the House> ‘> s proceedings in new and to some extent unpredictable ways.> “>

The Committee> ‘> s recommendations are likely to be debated by the House of Commons this summer.

/ends

NOTE FOR EDITORS:
The Procedure Committee considers the practice and procedure of the House in the conduct of public business. The Committee was nominated on 13 July 2005. Mr Greg Knight became Chairman of the Committee on 9 November 2005.

1 Government view: in The Governance of Britain, the Government stated that it believed that the House of Commons should have > ‘> up to date procedures for considering petitions> ‘> and that > ‘> people should be able to petition the House of Commons with as much ease as they should be able to petition the Prime Minister.> ‘> (Cm 7170, para 151 and 161). In its response to the Committee> ‘> s previous report the Government repeated its support for an e-petitions system (Cm 7193, para 3).

2 History: the petitioning of the House of Commons has a long history stretching back at least to the late middle ages.

Originally petitions were overwhelmingly requests for the redress of personal grievances.
Petitions requesting changes in general legislation or public policy first came to prominence in the early years of the seventeenth century.

Radical politicians such as John Wilkes used them for purposes of national agitation in the second half of the eighteenth century and it is from that time the modern form of public petition may be said to date. >

The early years of the nineteenth century saw a dramatic increase in the numbers of petitions presented to the House of Commons. In the five years ending in 1805, 1,026 were presented > -> a figure broadly comparable with the numbers we experience today some two hundred years later. In the five years ending in 1831, however, 24,492 were presented. Many of these petitions related to the need for parliamentary reform and in particular to the passage of what has become known as the Great Reform Act of 1832.

The petitions presented in support of that Act were the first example of what became a series of major campaigns fought during the nineteenth century in which mass petitions to the House of Commons played a significant part. In 1843, 33,898 petitions were received, the largest number ever in a single session.

The history of petitions in the twentieth century was broadly one of decline. Since the 1912 > -> 13 parliamentary session (when nearly 10,000 petitions were presented against the Established Church (Wales) Bill) the number of petitions presented in a single session exceeded one thousand only once (in 1988 > -> 89, where many were in favour of legislation to protect the human embryo). Nonetheless petitions with very large numbers of signatures continued to be presented either from organisations (motoring organisations petitioned against motor taxation in 1927 and for the restoration of the basic petrol ration in 1948) or on major issues of political controversy (eg for the prohibition of atomic weapons in 1950 > -> 51).

3 Details of the Committee> ‘> s preferred option:

* E-petitions can be submitted via www.parliament.uk;
* If they comply with the House> ‘> s rules, the petitioner> ‘> s constituency MP will be asked to act as facilitator;
* The e-petition is then posted on the parliamentary website for a set period. Others may add their names to it;
* At the end of the period, it is closed. Members will be able to indicate support for it.
* It is then presented to the house, either electronically or on the floor;
* Petitioners and signatories may opt in to receive updates on the progress of the e-petition and/or up to two emails from their constituency MP;
* E-petitions will then be printed in Hansard and sent to select committees and may be considered by them;
* The Government will normally be expected to reply within two months of presentation;
* On three occasions each year, certain e-petitions will be debated by the House of Commons in Westminster Hall.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Media Enquiries: Liz Parratt 07917 488978 parrattl@parliament.uk
Specific Committee Information: Tel 020 7219 3318, email: proccom@parliament.uk
Committee Website: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/procedure_committee.cfm
Watch committees and parliamentary debates online: www.parliamentlive.tv
Publications / Reports / Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474). Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

FURTHER INFORMATION:

1. Committee Membership is as follows:

Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Con, Yorkshire East) (Chairman)

Ms Celia Barlow MP (Lab, Hove)
Mr Christopher Chope (Con, Christchurch)
Ms Katy Clark MP (Lab, North Ayrshire & Arran)
Mr Roger Gale MP (Con, North Thanet)
Andrew Gwynne MP (Lab, Denton & Reddish)
John Hemming MP (LibDem, Birmingham, Yardley)
Mr Eric Illsley MP (Lab, Barnsley Central) Mrs Siân C. James MP (Lab, Swansea East)>
Rosemary McKenna CBE MP (Lab, Cumbernauld,
Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East)
Mrs Linda Riordan MP (Lab, Halifax)
Sir Robert Smith MP (LibDem, West Aberdeenshire &
Kincardine)
Mr Rob Wilson MP (Con, Reading East)