Minister appears before People and Parliament Inquiry
20 May 2009 (updated on 22 April 2010)
The House of Lords Information Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into how the House of Lords can improve public understanding of its work and role, and how people would like to interact with the House of Lords and Parliament, takes evidence from Tom Watson MP, Digital Engagement Minister.
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Mr Watson will be questioned about how technology can enable better engagement between Parliament and the public, what Parliament should do to embrace social media and Web 2.0 technologies to improve the ways in which it consults, and what technologies the two Houses could utilise to allow the public to contribute in innovative ways to the work of Parliament
The inquiry has, to date, heard evidence from a variety of sources that include newspaper editors, young people, web specialists and stakeholders such as the Hansard Society. Witnesses have said that while Parliament’s use of the internet has made progress in recent years, there are still considerable grounds for further development and improvement.
The Committee is also running an online forum to listen to the views of the public as part of its inquiry and has invited the public to submit their thoughts as video responses on UK Parliament's YouTube channel.
The Committee is hoping to hear new ideas for improving the way the House of Lords communicates with the public. The deadline for submissions to the forum and YouTube video is Thursday 21 May 2009.