• Our work

      Themes

    • Brexit and Parliament
    • Future Parliament
    • Governance of Parliament
    • Making better law
    • Parliaments around the world
    • Parliamentary scrutiny
    • Political engagement
    • Representation
    • publications

    • Publications Home
    • Procedural and constitutional guides
    • Briefings
    • Reports
    • Submissions
    • projects

    • Audit of Political Engagement
    • Mock Elections 2019
    • services

    • Statutory Instrument Tracker®
  • About

      about

      who we are

    • What we do
    • Our history
    • contact

    • Our people
    • Contact us
    • Contacts for the media
    • careers

    • Jobs
    • subscribe

    • Insight Notes newsletter
    • Hansard Society newsletter
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • Journal
  • Scholars
Hansard Society logoHansard Society logo
  • Our work

    • Themes

      • Brexit and Parliament
      • Future Parliament
      • Governance of Parliament
      • Making better law
      • Parliaments around the world
      • Parliamentary scrutiny
      • Political engagement
      • Representation
    • publications

      • Publications Home
      • Procedural and constitutional guides
      • Briefings
      • Reports
      • Submissions

      projects

      • Audit of Political Engagement
      • Mock Elections 2019

      services

      • Statutory Instrument Tracker®
  • About

    • about

        who we are

      • What we do
      • Our history
      • contact

      • Our people
      • Contact us
      • Contacts for the media
      • careers

      • Jobs
      • subscribe

      • Insight Notes newsletter
      • Hansard Society newsletter
      • Join our newsletter

        Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

        You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

        Thank you!

        You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

        Follow us

        :( Oops! Something went wrong...

        Please reload the page and try again.

        Insight Notes

        Subscribe to our regular Insight Notes on parliamentary data, procedures and the legislative process at Westminster, including updates on Brexit Statutory Instruments - in your inbox every sitting Monday afternoon.

        You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

        Thank you!

        You have been successfully added to our Insight Notes email list.

        Follow us

        :( Oops! Something went wrong...

        Please reload the page and try again.

      Follow us

  • Blog

    Blog

    • blog

      • Despatch Box Blog
  • News

    News

    • news

      • News Home
  • Events

    Events

    • events

      • Events
  • Journal

    Journal

    • journal

      • Parliamentary Affairs
  • Scholars

    Scholars

    An architectural blueprint showing six abstract geometric shapes
    blog / 21.11.16

    Culture, design and filter bubbles: looking back at #FutureParliament

    Share this

    To mark Parliament Week – a programme of activities connecting people across the UK with the Westminster Parliament – the Hansard Society hosted a half-day event to look at the problems with the legislative process, and how technology might help solve them.

    Adam Dyster

    Adam Dyster

    Events Manager, Sense4us, Hansard Society

    The latest in our Future Parliament series of research and events, it also looked at how Westminster could best use the rupture of being uprooted from the Palace to drive innovation, including trialing new technology.

    Future Parliament event screen and audience

    Off to first @YourUKParl Parliament Week event with @HansardSociety#FutureParliament#UKPW16https://t.co/vn8jCwiWj5

    — Aileen Walker (@AileenWalkerUK) November 14, 2016

    Capacity, Scrutiny and Engagement: Challenges and Opportunities

    Our first panel looked at the current challenges to the legislative process within Parliament, and those areas where technology might be of greatest use, drawing on the Society’s involvement in the mutli-national EU funded Sense4us technology research project.

    Dr Ruth Fox, Director of the Hansard Society, chaired a discussion with Emma Allen, Director of Digital Development, Parliament Digital Service; Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow; and Liam Laurence Smyth, Clerk of Legislation in the House of Commons.

    Panel discussion with Stella Creasy, Ruth Fox, Liam Laurence Smyth and Emma Allen

    Changing culture

    All the panelists raised culture change as a major issue for Parliament and technology - whether encouraging people to get involved with legislation, or moving beyond mass-email point-and-click campaigns.

    Culture change required; tech can help but if fundamental message is confused, ppl will just be frustrated - @stellacreasy#FutureParliament

    — Beki Hill (@BekiHill) November 14, 2016

    Getting people involved in legislation is the biggest challenge says Liam Lawrence, Parliament’s clerk of legislation. #FutureParliament

    — Kathryn Corrick (@kcorrick) November 14, 2016

    Clearly a need for civil society to think more about how tech can create change without deluging MPs with identical emails #FutureParliament

    — Victoria Boelman (@vboelman) November 14, 2016

    Q&A session with the audience

    Education

    Education was also a clear factor for both the panelists and audience, helping the public understand both what Parliament does and decoding the language it uses.

    There's a need for trusted sources that explain the realities of parliament, not just the logistics, says @stellacreasy#FutureParliament

    — Beki Hill (@BekiHill) November 14, 2016

    Over third of Qs posed to Parliament's enquiries office don't relate to Parliament, says @_allenemma#FutureParliament

    — Hansard Society (@HansardSociety) November 14, 2016

    Opportunities for improvement

    With the challenges laid out, it was clear that technology could help improve the process.

    PDS is expanding a online glossary of parliamentary terms to help public grasp procedural language, says @_allenemma#FutureParliament

    — Hansard Society (@HansardSociety) November 14, 2016

    Q I asked at #FutureParliament was whether #AI & language recognition could help interpret legislative jargon & bills for wider population

    — DisruptivePolitics (@DisruptivePoltx) November 14, 2016

    There must be a technological solution to analyse correspondence, verify constituents & determine themes!@stellacreasy#FutureParliament

    — Hansard Society (@HansardSociety) November 14, 2016

    Sense4us

    With a break for refreshments, the audience was able to learn more about Sense4us, a multi-national technology research project funded by the European Commission to develop new information discovery tools for policy-makers and researchers. The Sense4us toolset includes new tools to support text analysis, social media search and sentiment, linked open data search, and dynamic policy model simulations.

    Demonstrating the SENSE4US intelligent decision and policy making support toolbox #FutureParliament@kmiou#Sense4Uspic.twitter.com/Xad1vkcVQW

    — Hassan Saif (@hrsaif) November 14, 2016

    Demonstration of the Sense4Us tools

    Parliament as an innovation lab: Restoration and Renewal… and beyond

    Our second panel looked more closely at the future of Parliament - and the potential opportunities for innovation across the Restoration and Renewal programme.

    With MPs and Peers due to move out of the Palace into alternative locations in the Westminster area for a few years, could these temporary new Houses be turned into parliamentary laboratories to trial and test new digital technology?

    BBC journalist and technology critic Bill Thompson chaired the discussion with Victoria Boelman, Principal Researcher in Government Innovation, Nesta; Elizabeth Linder, Founder of the Conversational Century; Rebecca Rumbul, Head of Research, mySociety; and Paul Walland, Director of Innovation at the IT Innovation Centre, University of Southampton, and co-ordinator of the Sense4us project.

    Panel discussion with Bill Thompson, Rebecca Rumbul, Paul Walland and Victoria Boelman

    Experimental design?

    Regardless of what technologies Parliament might test, the panel was clear that any temporary building presents a chance to be bold and less risk-averse, especially when it comes to space and design.

    London's example of using structures created decades/centuries ago, because they were built with great vision, has lessons #FutureParliament

    — Glyn R Jones (@GlynRJones) November 14, 2016

    Tech world tends to abstract space and technology. They need to be spoken abt together, says @elinder#FutureParliament

    — Hansard Society (@HansardSociety) November 14, 2016

    .@vboelman - Decant of Parliament should allow for failure when trialling ways of working, shouldn't be risk adverse. #FutureParliament

    — Adam Dyster (@AdamDyster) November 14, 2016

    No silver bullet

    Closing the event, it was clear that any technological ‘solutions’ would need to be considered carefully. From online echo chambers to the digital divide, innovation is just one tool at Parliament’s disposal.

    Algorithms create echo chambers. Especially problematic when applied to democracy. How do we solve this? From the floor#FutureParliament

    — Hansard Society (@HansardSociety) November 14, 2016

    Especially given recent elections and polls, we need better mechanisms on how we understand people @elinder#FutureParliament

    — Tharindi H (@tharindi_h) November 14, 2016

    Lack of data in success of digi democracy initiatives. Engage more ppl or just more efficient for alrdy engaged?@vboelman#FutureParliament

    — Hansard Society (@HansardSociety) November 14, 2016

    2nd panel at @HansardSociety#FutureParliament on Restoration & Renewal. Main theme now falling in love with the problem, not the solution pic.twitter.com/uWsanLp4uM

    — Ed Greig (@edgreig) November 14, 2016

    Sense4us is a project funded from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (contract number 611242)

    EC and Sense4Us logos


    Enjoy reading this? Please consider sharing it

    Related

    A table tennis match
    blog / 13.02.21

    Ping-pong and packaging

    EU flag missing a star, symbolising Brexit
    blog / 22.01.21

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation

    Cover image for the Parliamentary Affairs journal
    journal

    Parliamentary Affairs (vol 73, issue 2, 2020)

    Cover image for the Parliamentary Affairs journal
    journal

    Parliamentary Affairs (vol 73, issue 1, 2020)

    People walking over Westminster Bridge towards the UK Houses of Parliament
    news / articles

    The public think politics is broken, and are willing to entertain radical solutions

    Photo of a clock showing the countdown to Brexit
    news / articles

    In the rush to prepare for Brexit, parliamentary scrutiny will suffer

    School pupils in an assembly with their hands up.
    projects

    Mock Elections 2019

    People walking over Westminster Bridge towards the Palace of Westminster, Houses of Parliament
    projects

    Audit of Political Engagement

    Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer in a socially distanced House of Commons chamber, 23 September 2020. ©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
    publica… / briefings / 2020

    Expediting of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill through Parliament: five issues

    Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP during the Urgent Question on COVID-19, 7 July 2020 © UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
    publica… / briefings / 2020

    Building on the 'Brady amendment': how can Parliament scrutinise Coronavirus regulations more effectively?

    Parliament with icons overlay
    services

    Statutory Instrument Tracker®

    Join our newsletter

    Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

    You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

    Thank you!

    You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

    Follow us

    :( Oops! Something went wrong...

    Please reload the page and try again.

    Top three

    Lord David Frost
    blog / 19.02.21

    Lord Frost appointment raises parliamentary scrutiny questions

    A table tennis match
    blog / 13.02.21

    Ping-pong and packaging

    Coronavirus medical animation
    publica… / data / 2020

    Coronavirus Statutory Instruments Dashboard

    Latest

    Lord David Frost
    blog / 19.02.21

    Lord Frost appointment raises parliamentary scrutiny questions

    Lord Frost’s appointment as Minister of State in the Cabinet Office to lead on UK-EU relations brings some welcome clarity about future government arrangements in this area. However, it also raises challenges for parliamentary scrutiny, above all with respect to his status as a Member of the House of Lords.

    Lord Frost appointment raises parliamentary scrutiny questions
    A table tennis match
    blog / 13.02.21

    Ping-pong and packaging

    There was controversy on 9 February over whether the government had used procedural trickery to swerve a backbench rebellion in the House of Commons on a clause inserted in the Trade Bill by the House of Lords. Apparently, it was something to do with ‘packaging’. What does that mean, and was it true? The answer is all about ‘ping-pong’.

    Ping-pong and packaging
    House of Lords committee
    blog / 05.02.21

    Post-Brexit select committee changes highlight Lords–Commons differences

    The contrasting post-Brexit fates of the two Houses’ EU-focused select committees have come about through processes in the Lords and the Commons that so far have differed markedly. This difference reflects the distinction between government control of business in the Commons, and the largely self-governing nature of the Lords.

    Post-Brexit select committee changes highlight Lords–Commons differences
    Photo of the United Kindom taken from space at night
    blog / 03.02.21

    An inter-parliamentary body for the UK Union?

    Before Brexit, mechanisms for inter-parliamentary relations and scrutiny of inter-governmental relations in the UK were unsatisfactory. Post-Brexit, the need for reform has become urgent. There should be a formal inter-parliamentary body, drawn from all five of the UK’s legislative chambers, with responsibility for scrutiny of inter-governmental working.

    An inter-parliamentary body for the UK Union?
    EU flag missing a star, symbolising Brexit
    blog / 22.01.21

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation

    The end of the transition period is likely to expose even more fully the scope of the policy-making that the government can carry out via Statutory Instruments, as it uses its new powers to develop post-Brexit law. However, there are few signs yet of a wish to reform delegated legislation scrutiny, on the part of government or the necessary coalition of MPs.

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation
    EU and UK flags in front of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster
    blog / 29.12.20

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce

    Parliament’s role around the end of the Brexit transition and conclusion of the EU future relationship treaty is a constitutional failure to properly scrutinise the executive and the law. As the UK moves to do things differently after 1 January, MPs must do more to ensure they can better discharge their responsibilities regarding the making of UK treaties.

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce
    Prev
    Next
    • Recent pages
      • Culture, design and filter bubbles: looking back at #FutureParliamentblog
    • Home
    • Contact us
    • What we do
    • Jobs
    • Privacy policy
    • Site map

    Join our newsletter

    Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

    You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

    Thank you!

    You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

    Follow us

    :( Oops! Something went wrong...

    Please reload the page and try again.

    Copyright © 2020 Hansard Society • Charity No: 1091364 • Registration No: 4332105.