The Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy has published a call for evidence relating to the first of its key themes – making laws in the digital age.
The objective of the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy is to consider, report and make recommendations on how parliamentary democracy in the UK can embrace the opportunities afforded by the digital world to become more effective in:
- representing the people
- making laws
- scrutinising the work and performance of government
- encouraging citizens to engage with democracy
- facilitating dialogue amongst citizens.
It is looking for input on the issues surrounding the law-making process. Its web site poses the following questions
- Could technology improve the access to and usability of both legislation and the law-making process for the citizen, representatives and professionals (such as lawyers), and if so do you have any suggestions?
- Should you need to be a lawyer to understand and use an Act?
- Should technology be used to integrate citizens’ views better into the legislative process? At what stage of the legislative process would this work best? How could the Public Reading Stage be improved?
- Are there any examples from other parliaments/democratic institutions in the UK or elsewhere of using technology to enhance legislation and the legislative process, which the Commission should consider?
Evidence by e-mail from everyone and in any format is welcome: videos, blog posts as well as more formal notes will be accepted. You can submit evidence by e-mail to digitaldemocracy@parliament.uk
The Commission is looking to receive evidence on legislation by the end of March. There is also a web forum here.
