E-petitions

Download or read book E-petitions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report follows on from the Committee's report of May 2007, HC 513, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780215034168). Both in that report and the Government's reply to it, support was expressed in principle for an e-petitioning system for the House of Commons. Historically it has always been seen as the right of every commoner to prepare and present petitions to the House of Commons in case of grievance and the House to receive and respond to them. The suggested scheme retains the direct involvement of constituency Members of Parliament in the petition procedure. It is proposed that: E-petitions are submitted via the Parliamentary website; 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 website for a set period - allowing others to add their name if they wish; at the end of the period, it is closed; it is then presented to the House; petitioners and signatories may opt in to receive updates; e-petitions will be printed in Hansard and sent to select committees and may be considered by them; the Government will normally be expected to reply within 2 months; on three occasions each year; certain e-petitions will be debated by the House of Commons in Westminster Hall. The Committee acknowledges that setting up an e-petitions scheme is not without risks. Its successful implementation will require new ways of working and novel forms of governance. However, e-petitioning is also seen as having the potential to open up proceedings and make a major contribution to the House's strategic objective to 'make itself more accessible, to make it easier for people to understand the work of the Parliament and do more to communicate its activity to the general public'