Mary Reid

Democratic Services Officers manage all the Council meetings and committees. They are experts on procedure and on constitutional issues and they provide invaluable support to councillors. And yet they often, sadly, get left out of the e-democracy networks, which seem to be dominated by ICT people and consultation officers.

So I was really pleased to be asked to run a workshop yesterday about e-democracy tools for a conference of Democratic Support Officers, alongside Andrew Bessant, who is the Head of Democratic Services and Partnerships at Kingston. 

Andrew kicked off by talking about a number of initiatives in Kingston - e-petitions, YoungLivin, online surgeries for young people, e-Publish and blogging. I then put it in a national context and explained the wide range of tools explored by the National Project for Local e-Democracy (now being nurtured by the International Centre).

It was e-petitions which generated the most discussion.  We pointed out that the system can track paper petitions as well as online ones.  We also try to avoid making e-petitions any more complicated or bureaucratic than the paper versions.  Relevant petitions ensure that an item is placed on a Council agenda. The proposers can then speak on behalf of their campaign. 

So far, Kingston has received 23 e-petitions on subjects as diverse as mobile phone masts, resurfacing roads and pavements, bus services and provision for young people.