Government response
I am grateful to the Procedure Committee for giving
further consideration to the issue of e-Petitions in its second
report of the 2008/09 session entitled e-Petitions: Call for
Government Action (HC 493). The Government shares the Committee's
enthusiasm for a new e-Petitioning system and agrees that it has
the potential to enhance public engagement with Parliament.
As my predecessor has said, our only concern about
the system proposed by the Committee is the projected cost of
more than £4 million over a Parliament. Notwithstanding
the necessary complexity of the Committee's proposed scheme, this
system seems to cost more in comparison with other similar IT
projects, including the Downing Street petitions website.
As the Prime Minister said in his statement to the
House on 10 June, the Government intends to establish a new Committee
on parliamentary reform, chaired by Dr Tony Wright. The Committee
would consider the question of how members of the public might
be able to initiate debates and proceedings in the House. I hope
that the new Committee will be able to draw on the Procedure Committee's
findings in considering the role that a simpler, cheaper form
of on-line communication might take, whether in the form of an
e-Petitions system or something slightly different.
Barbara Keeley MP
Deputy Leader of the House
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