Hansard Society in the Media

Hansard Society encourages young people to vote

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:35:00 GMT

The Scout Association has been working with the Hansard Society and Oxfam to encourage young people to register to vote. More information about the project can be found at http://www.activecitizens.net/

The events have attracted press coverage, some of which is listed below:

Oxfam and Scouts join forces to encourage young voters - Civil Society Media, Monday 15 March

Charities campaign to encourage first-time voters - Children & Young People Now, Sunday 14 March

Scouts urge young people to vote - Jakehead.com, Saturday 13 March

Scout Association urging young people to vote - BBC, Saturday 13 March

Nottingham event to encourage youngsters to vote - This is Nottingham, Saturday 13 March

Audit 2010 Media Coverage

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:53:00 GMT

The 2010 Hansard Society annual Audit of Political Engagement has received lots of coverage in the media, some of which is listed below:

MPs' expenses scandal 'has not caused collapse in trust in politics' - Guardian, Wednesday 3 March 2010

Parliament's drift into irrelevance - Politics.co.uk Wednesday, 03, Mar 2010 01:33

Many young voters not registered, says watchdog - BBC, Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Only 22% of parents would be proud to see their child become an MP - Andrew Sparrow, Guardian, Wednesday 3 March 2010

Blunkett warns of widening gap between politicians and public - David Blunkett MP's blog, Wednesday, 03, Mar 2010

Hansard: No silver bullet - Politics.co.uk, Wednesday, 03, Mar 2010

Expenses row had 'modest impact' on MPs' reputations - Epolitix, Wednesday 3 March 2010

Move over Mondeo man - Mr Bored and Ms Mistrustful rule road in 2010 - Polly Curtis, Guardian, Saturday 27 February 2010

Lalit Modi eases fears of IPL terrorism after Englishmen wobble - Guardian, Saturday 27 February 2010 16.52 GMT

Digital citizens and democratic participation: An analysis of how citizens participate online and connect with MPs and Parliament

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:31:00 GMT

On February 10, the Hansard Society published the report Digital citizens and demoncratic participation: An analysis of how citizens participate online and connect with MPs and Parliament which has received coverage in several online publications. Dr Andy Williamson, participated in a panel discussing whether MPs should use online tools on Sky News on February 16.Director of the Hansard Society eDemocracy Programme. Below is a selection of articles discussing the report.

What do the public want politcians to get up to online? - Mark Pack, Liberal Democrat Voice

Hansard Society report: Britons want MPs to communicate online - Total Politics blog

People want MPs to engage online - Public Service

Digital Citizens want to engage with politicians - passive democracy is not enough - UKauthorITy.com

Dr. Ruth Fox on BBC Breakfast - February 6, 2010

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:43:00 GMT

Dr. Ruth Fox, Director of the Hansard Society's Parliament & Government Programme, was on BBC Breakfast discussing the process of parliamentary privilage. This interview was also covered in the Independent:

"If it is a defence against almost any action that an MP takes in Parliament, in any relationship with their work, then I think this is going to be deeply damaging for the public. They will see that it is putting MPs above the public, giving them enhanced powers, making them essentially above the laws that they themselves make."

Read the coverage:

The Independent

BBC News

Coverage of the open letter to Harriet Harman

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:46:00 GMT

Telegraph - February 4

Liberal Conspiracy - February 4

Left Foot Forward - February 3

Guardian - February 3

Read the press release and letter here

Hansard Society recommended in Procedure Committee report - February 3, 2010

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:06:00 GMT

The Hansard Society is recommended in a report released by the Procedure Committee - Election of the Speaker and of the Deputy Speakers. In its conclusions and recommendations it suggests that hustings for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons should be organised by organisations such as the Hansard Society. In June 2009 the Hansard Society organised the first ever public hustings, which were streamed live on the BBC - the first time a non-parliamentary business event had been broadcast live from within Parliament. The report said:

"Hustings

4. We welcome the part played by outside organisations such as the Hansard Society in organising hustings for the election of the Speaker and believe that this is a role best filled by these bodies, rather than by the House itself. (Paragraph 19)"

Dr Ruth Fox quoted by Bloomberg - January 20, 2010

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:56:00 GMT

Dr Ruth Fox was quoted in an article discussing the issue of district council potentially dropping the practice of counting ballots through the night. The article discusses the affect this may have on the financial markets in the UK.

Read the article on Bloomberg here

Chance missed on Commons Reform - January 15, 2010

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:46:00 GMT

Letter to the Guardian published:

Despite the Wright committee's report on reform of the House of Commons attracting praise and enthusiasm across the political parties (Letters, 14 January), at today's business questions, the government again failed to schedule a Commons debate on its recommendations. Reforms such as establishment of a business committee, enshrining a commitment to set up select committees within six weeks of parliament returning, and elections for select committees, have serious implications for the new parliament.

If they are not implemented before the general election, we run the risk of months of delay – months during which a new government, of whatever political persuasion, could escape effective parliamentary scrutiny. This cannot be good for public confidence in our parliamentary democracy and should be of deep concern to MPs across the house. There is very little time left to implement these recommendations and the Hansard Society calls on the house to put pressure on the government to make time available to debate and vote on these vital reforms.

Fiona Booth

Chief executive, Hansard Society

See the letter on the Guardian website here

Sir Ian Kennedy IPSA Speech - January 5, 2010

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:37:00 GMT

The speech given by Sir Ian Kennedy, setting the context for IPSA's proposed MP's expenses scheme, to the Hansard Society received wide media coverage:

Civil Liberties: Are we placing ourselves at the mercy of the state?

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:02:00 GMT

Our most recent Democracy Forum on Civil Liberties that took place on Tuesday December 8 provoked a heated debate amongst our panel. Sir Ian Blair, Peter Oborne and Henry Porter engaged in a lively discussion on the night, a discussion that has since continued in the press:

Sir Ian Blair kicked things off prior to the event with his piece for the Guardian entitled 'The Police are right not to remain silent on civil liberties'.

Henry Porter responded post-event with a blog post for the Guardian's Liberty Central entitled 'The great 'big state' debate'....

And most recently Peter Oborne penned his own post-debate retort 'DNA: The real test'.

Dr Ruth Fox on Daily Politics - December 10, 2009

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:23:00 GMT

Dr Ruth Fox, Parliament & Government Programme Director, appeared on the Daily Politics Programme to discuss the potentially historic numbers of new MPs after the general election. Ruth points out that many of the MPs retiring have an indepth knowledge of parliamentary process. You can watch the full Daily Politics on BBC iplayer.

Political Studies Association/ Hansard Society Annual Lecture coverage - 1 Dec, 2009

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:31:00 GMT

The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP delivered the Political Studies Association/ Hansard Society Annual Lecture to a packed audience in Portcullis House. This was the second lecture delivered by the Speaker to a Hansard Society audience, taking us yet further into the challenge of public engagement in the light of the ‘reputational carnage’ wreaked upon our constitutional institutions by the expenses scandal. The lecture, entitled ‘Parliament in an anti-politics age: the outreach challenge’, took the following approach. Their has been a lot of coverage of the speech. Read a write-up of the event, the full speech, listen to the audio and see photos here.

Evening Standard

Financial Times Westminster Blog

Dr Ruth Fox on BBC Record Review - 27, November 2009

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:22:00 GMT

Dr Ruth Fox appeared on the BBC Record Review to discuss the implications of the Tony Wright report, specifically the way that the House of Commons elects its committee chairs, considering if it should be a secret ballot election, to reduce the influence of the party whips. Ruth pointed out that given that the Government had amended the motion that set up the Tony Wright committee, they would almost certainly have to implement it. Andrew Pelling MP said that it would be the election that decided upon reforms, and Dr Evan Harris MP said that the reforms suggested in the report didn't go far enough.

Watch the full Record Review here or watch a clip on BBC online here

Teenage Kicks - New Statesman, Nov 9, 2009

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:18:00 GMT

Beccy Allen, Researcher & Project Manager, Hansard Society Citizenship Education Programme, wrote this with reference to the HeadsUp.org.uk forum Climate Change - How should the world summit tackle the problem.

"I read Tim Jackson's piece on the flaws of consumerism in relation to climate change with interest. In particular as he gives one of the few mentions in the Copenhagen Special to the role of young people. He is right that our teenagers are under immense peer-pressure to reinforce their identity and social standing through what they buy, wear, talk on and listen to.

However it is adults who feed on this kind of peer pressure and increase its importance to teenage lives through endless and targeted ad campaigns. It suits the purpose of multi-nationals to use our youngest generations as pawns in their viral marketing games, regardless of the consequences to them as individuals or to the planet. But teenagers don't start off like this. This is behaviour they learn from the rest of us.

Some young teenagers are far more aware and capable of seeing the dangers and impact of their actions than the rest of the world appears to be. The Hansard Society recently ran a three week forum about climate change in advance of the Copenhagen summit - the young people on the forum did not have a ‘consume now, worry later' attitude. They thought that it was up to them to act, that ‘the scientists should be working out how to save our planet not how to improve the unimprovable phone!!!!!' and that Gordon Brown should set a better example by using less energy. They were far more radical, passionate and inventive in their methods to tackle climate change than many adults appear to be - but I fear that unless adults set a better example and give them a place other than the out-of-town shopping centre to create their teenage identities, then these environmental instincts will be lost.

If we can't think of another vision of the good life to sell (ironically) to our children, in 10 years time the young people who now want to encourage everyone they know to recycle or who badger their teachers into turning off unused lights, will just be using their talents to sell the latest environment-sapping gadgets to the next bunch of teenagers that just want to fit in. If there's one thing that we don't need it's more Ad Execs.....unless of course they are selling us their inspirational vision for a new way to combat climate change."

Read the full report of the forum here

Dr. Ruth Fox in 'Viewpoint' on BBC Democracy Live

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:48:00 GMT

Ruth Fox, the director of the Hansard Society's Parliament and Government Programme, offered her thoughts on the current state of democracy in the UK, on BBC Democracy Live.

For all its imperfections representative democracy remains the best form of political decision-making and governance at our disposal.

Few among us would relish the alternative and over the last half century our political system has delivered relative peace and stability, economic prosperity and living standards unimaginable to our forebears.

And yet, as Hansard Society research found last year, well before the MPs' expenses scandal, only 19% of the public believe that Parliament is "working for them".

In a system in which fidelity to Parliament's authority is predicated on public confidence and consent, such levels of dissatisfaction indicate that the democratic chain of command between politicians and the public is severely strained.

So, for all the advantages and benefits we have derived from it in the past, there is no room for complacency when contemplating the future of parliamentary democracy.

In the aftermath of the expenses scandal a series of far-reaching but often inchoate parliamentary and constitutional reforms - for example, a written constitution, electoral reform, or a smaller House of Commons - have been suggested to tackle the perceived systemic infirmities.

But none of the suggested reforms actually tackle two of the biggest challenges we face today: the sheer lack of knowledge among the public about why and how our system of representative democracy works as it does; and the lack of modern mechanisms to facilitate improved public engagement and participation in the parliamentary process.

Lack of knowledge

There is a direct link between levels of political engagement and participation on the one hand and levels of knowledge and interest on the other.

Despite improved access to information available to the public today, the Hansard Society's annual Audit of Political Engagement demonstrates that people's knowledge and understanding of the basic tenets of our system of parliamentary democracy is worryingly low.

For example, half claim to know little or nothing about the constitutional arrangements governing Britain; just 32% say they understand how Parliament works; and only 50% are confident that Parliament is not the same thing as government.

Why does this matter? Well, there is rarely a unified public view on any issue. Politicians therefore have to chart a complex, difficult course between clashing interests, competing resource demands, and the variable needs of different segments of the populace.

The policy decisions that result from this process of negotiation and conciliation are often a necessary compromise between the ideal and the possible.

In the age of 24-hour news and the internet, this mediation process is even more fraught as politicians respond to the often short-term, impatient, and selective attention of both media and public.

Social networking and the blogosphere provide ever more outlets for information exchange, and are driven by new concepts of online citizen journalism and community organisation.

But when it comes to politics they tend to produce more heat than light, bringing together and reinforcing the views of the like-minded rather than educating a broader cross section of the populace about the relative merits of the political system.

The public lacks understanding about how and why the system works as it does, and how they can play a role in it. Their dissatisfaction with the political process and the policy outcomes that result is consequently high.

Unless this knowledge gap is addressed all other reforms may ultimately fail in achieving the overall objective of improving the health of our democracy.

If the public do not really understand how the democratic system operates they cannot effectively participate in it. Improved citizenship education - specifically political literacy education - is therefore urgently needed.

Online petitions

The second challenge is how to adopt new mechanisms to bring Parliament up to date with how we live today, to enable people to have a say and exercise influence in a way that reflects the way they actually want to engage.

The Audit demonstrates that a majority do not actually want to participate in decision-making and when they do they prefer mechanisms which require only short, shallow commitments of time and resources.

A Parliamentary Petitions Committee, encompassing a new system of ePetitions, would provide a possible solution.

The Audit shows that people are more likely to sign a petition than they are to engage in any other form of democratic activity.

Utilising modern technology and digital engagement tools to incorporate petitions into parliamentary procedures would therefore go some way to ensuring that Parliament is more responsive to matters of topical public concern in future as well as providing a raft of new "teachable moments" to enhance public understanding of our democratic processes.