Parliament Explained

A podcast from the UK Parliament

Episode 6 ‘Get Involved’

Script

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<<MUSICAL INTRODUCTION>>

MEERA:

Welcome to the final podcast in this series, “Parliament Explained”.I’m Meera Syal and in this series I’ve been exploring exactly what happens in Parliament.

To make sure you never miss an episode, you can subscribe to the programme on your podcast app so that it downloads automatically every Monday.

Last time we learned about the different types of Bills, and how they pass through different stages of changes, debate and scrutiny in each House before becoming Acts of Parliament - the laws of the land.

Today, we’re going to look at how you can take an active part in Parliament’s work and have an influence on the decisions that are made.

<<MUSIC ENDS>>

To start us off, we asked a few people what they thought their role was in how the UK is run. You may have thought about this yourself before.

VOX POPS: “I vote and sign petitions”

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“If you want a proper democracy you’ve got to encourage people to get active in it. You can’t just sit on the couch and throw your dinner at the telly and stuff”

“I’m too young to vote, I’m only 16. It’s quite annoying that I don’t get a say in what happens in the country. I’d love to have votes at 16”

“I do vote in local elections but I don’t vote for the national one”

“I regularly vote but that’s all” “I always vote, especially as a woman” “I think our role in general is to vote and look

at what the Government are doing, keep an eye on it and if you don’t agree with something then write to your MP or protest it in some way”

“I’ve voted, I’ve signed e-petitions as an artist and a performer”

“I’ve signed many petitions asking the Government to provide answers, to be held accountable to debate certain issues in Parliament”

“I’m certainly more engaged when there’s an election or referendum so I do always vote, not that the vote has ever actually gone my way when I have voted!”

“I vote and I basically work and act every day in a way that I think contributes to society, so if everybody does a little bit then society works”

“I’ve signed petitions and I think the use of social media is getting them a lot more out in

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the public eye. I’m certainly not one of those people who signs everything – it has to be important to me”

“I do care and I think it’s really important for people to vote because they can’t have a moan if they’re not even going to bother voting. People have fought and died for us to vote so I think it is important”

MEERA:Let’s start with an overview: first of all, you can have a say in who represents you by voting when there is a general election. Once they’re elected, you can contact your MP and ask them to take up an issue on your behalf in the House of Commons. You can also contact a member of the House of Lords to do the same.

You can keep up with news and debates on the Parliament website.

You may wish to share your experiences with a select committee in either House. And you can create or sign a petition to raise awareness of an issue and call for action.

But perhaps the most basic way you can have a say in how the UK is governed is by voting.

In the UK something pretty special happens every five years1. We hold a general election. On 1 Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011, general elections are held every 5 years. However, they can be held earlier if either: i) a motion is agreed by at least two-thirds of the whole House of Commons; or ii) a motion of no confidence is passed and no government is confirmed within 14 days.

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this one day every eligible person in the UK can place a vote and be part of electing their local representative to Parliament. Parties and candidates campaign to win votes by visiting constituents door-to-door, holding debates, and publishing manifestos - a bit like a shopping list of what they plan to do if they're voted in. But how does the election work?

Let’s ask LYNN HOBSON, Regional Outreach Officer for the Houses of Parliament.

LYNN HOBSON: The UK is divided into 650 local areas called constituencies, each of which is represented by one Member of Parliament. Voters register to make sure they can take part. On election day, polling stations are open from dawn till dusk.

And if a voter can't make it along, there are other ways to make sure they can take part including voting by post. Once every vote has been placed, the ballots are counted to find out which candidate has come out on top in each area. This is called first past the post. The elected MPs enter Parliament to sit in the House of Commons and represent everyone in their constituency. The political party with the most MPs - the majority - is invited by the Queen to form a government. And if there's a hung Parliament, where there's no clear winner, then a minority government or a coalition government may be created, or a fresh election held.

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So on this one day, a little piece of paper with your mark plays a big role in deciding who leads our country. Don’t forget, to vote in a general election you need to be registered to vote, which you can do online or by post.

VOX POPS:What do you think are the pros and cons of the first-past-the-post and proportional representation electoral systems?

“It’s very confusing because you assume that the person with the most votes is going to win, not the person who’s got the most votes at a certain point…I think it’s confusing, it needs to be made a little bit more transparent and clear for people to understand”

“For me personally I think we should have proportional representation. I think that would be fair… (You would get) a better view then of the views of all the people”

“I’m mixed in my opinion because I support a party which doesn’t really (get) a large proportion of the votes made. I’m a bit worried about more extreme parties becoming more vocal in the public sphere, and certainly the first-past-the-post system does deter that from happening”

“(Under) proportional representation, smaller parties would have more of a say, which maybe is fair but isn’t something I would want”

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“Proportional representation I think is very important”

“I think the first-past-the-post system is really good because it allows us to have that constituency link”

“I think if we moved to other things like Additional Voting or Single Transferable Vote, I don’t think we would necessarily have (the) strong outcome that first-past-the-post gives you, so I’m for it really”

“The idea of it is quite traditional because you want strong government, but its relevance in today’s society is questionable”

MEERA:Both the MP in your area and members of the House of Lords work for you. To help get in touch with them, many will list phone, email or post details as well as social media on the Parliament website. Just search for “find a member of the Lords”, or “find my MP”. Here’s Gary Hart, another of the Houses of Parliament’s Regional Outreach Officers.

GARY HART: MPs and peers will try to help with issues that are important to you, so long as they are the responsibility of the UK Parliament, rather than, say, your local council, or the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish governments.So, for example, you can ask them for advice or assistance on issues related to pensions,

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benefits, UK-wide taxes and national insurance, immigration, energy, defence, and data protection.

Both MPs and Lords can write directly to a government minister on your behalf and obtain information for you or, in some cases, speak directly to officials about your concerns.

Lords and MPs can also represent you by raising matters in each House on your behalf. They can do this in a number of ways, including asking questions in the Chamber or in writing, participating in debates and introducing or changing legislation.

They can’t, however, interfere in court decisions and they can’t help with private disputes.

You can find your MP using your postcode on the UK Parliament website. Members of the Lords don’t have a geographical constituency that they represent; instead they will often have a topic of interest or background in a particular area of policy. To help you choose which of them to contact, www.parliament.uk lets you filter the list of members of the Lords by interest.

As we learned in the last episode, if you want to influence a specific Bill, you can also use Parliament’s website to follow events and contact members in each House at important stages of

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the Bill’s progress. This is even more important in the Lords, where there is not one individual representative for your area. By checking who gets involved with a draft law you’re interested in, you can see which members of the Lords are likely to want to get your opinions on it.MEERA: In news reports we often hear about people ‘lobbying their MP’ or ‘lobbying Parliament’. Lynn, what does lobbying mean?

LYNN: Lobbying is when an individual or a group tries to persuade someone in Parliament to support a particular policy or campaign. It can be done in person, by sending letters and emails or through social media.

Anyone can lobby their MP or a member of House of Lords but it is usually more effective if you can find other people who share your concerns or experiences to lobby with you as a group. People who often lobby Parliament and its members include businesses, charities, pressure groups, trade unions and representatives of various sectors of industry.

One of the best ways you can get involved with Parliament is to keep in touch with what’s going on. And there are lots of ways you can do this. Because Parliament works on behalf of all of us, it’s really important that it’s open and

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accountable. To make sure it is, Parliament publishes detailed information about its work online and both Houses post updates on the Parliament website, as well as their own Facebook and Twitter pages.

First of all, everything that happens in each House’s Chamber, and many of the committees, is streamed live online at parliamentlive.tv. You can watch live or stream later.

If video isn’t your thing, Hansard is the official written record of Parliament. Everything that’s said in Parliament is written up word for word and published online in three hours flat.

MEERA: How about those changes to draft laws? Each proposed change is published online, as well as the stage of each bill and the time and date of the next stage.

And you can visit in person to watch the business of the Houses - the Chambers and committee rooms are open to the public to attend free of charge when the Houses are sitting. You’ll need tickets for Prime Minister’s Questions as it’s so popular, but otherwise you can queue up on the day.

<<MUSICAL INTERLUDE>>

MEERA: 11

Next up, we’re going to talk about a way for members of the public to get an issue raised in Parliament without necessarily needing their MP or a Lord to do it for them. Lots of people have issues they are passionate about, such as...

VOX POPS:What would you like the Government to take more notice of in your area or on a national scale?

“My mum’s a teacher and she teaches 80 kids, it’s ridiculous. I think more money should be spent on teachers”

“The NHS is a massive issue for me. I know that’s a national issue but on a local level I’ve got friends who work in the NHS, so I hear stories on a weekly basis of the struggles they’re going through and the problems they’re having, and that can only be magnified on a national level”

“The homeless, people with drink and drug…problems, and housing is horrendous at the moment. Just to get somewhere to live – my friend has 5 kids in a 2 bedroom flat and there’s no way they can get out of it”

“For me probably house prices and…renting for younger people”

“Schools, schools. I’m worried about my child because we’re not able to find the right school for my child right now”

“From my point of view, the NHS in my area. I mean, for goodness sake I had to wait six weeks for an appointment one time”

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“We pay a lot of road tax and there’s a lot of roads that are still rubbish, particularly where I live”

“Come up with a policy on immigration that people are more happy with, because something needs to be done to help people who are coming into the country”

MEERA: In the digital age, it’s easier than ever to get the word out and encourage others to support a particular cause.

Starting a petition is one way of getting your voice heard in Parliament. A petition is a written request asking Parliament or the Government to do something specific, for example making or changing a law, or to take action on a particular issue. You can invite other people to add their support by signing their name to your petition if they agree with its aims. In this way, petitions can be used to demonstrate the strength of public support for your cause.

To tell us more, we’re joined by Helen Jones MP, chair of the House of Commons Petitions Select Committee.

HELEN JONES MP: The Petitions Committee is a cross-party group of MPs whose job it is to look at all petitions that come to Parliament and to decide which of them should be looked into further.

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They might, for example, want to ask the petitioners for more information, or to speak to experts or to the Government about the issue raised; they sometimes decide to ask a select committee to look into it and, where the issue is of real public interest, they can arrange for a petition to be debated in the House of Commons.

MEERA: There are two types of petition – ‘paper’ petitions, and online e-petitions. So what’s the difference?

HELEN JONES MP: Both types of petition can be used to call on the Government to do something about a particular issue. But Public or ‘paper’ petitions need to be hand-signed by people supporting your issue. For this reason, people tend to do these on a smaller scale, in their local area.

MEERA: So, once you’ve collected all your signatures, how would you present a paper petition to Parliament?

HELEN JONES MP: For paper petitions, you still need an MP to present it for you in the House of Commons. With online e-petitions that isn’t the case – any member of the public can simply submit the petition online themselves. And if you are

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concerned about a national issue, rather than a local one, e-petitions can make it easier to collect signatures from around the country, as you'll be putting your petition up online for anyone to sign.

MEERA: All Government and Parliament e-petitions can be found online at petition.parliament.uk. You can see the petitions that other people have created on the site, and sign any which you strongly agree with. We’ll have more details on where to look, as well as numbers you can call for more information, at the end of the episode. So what happens to your petition once it has been presented on paper or submitted online?

HELEN JONES MP: Most paper petitions will receive a response from the Government, as do all e-petitions which receive 10,000 signatures or more. If your e-petition receives over 100,000 signatures it will definitely be considered for a debate in the House of Commons.

But as we’ve mentioned, the Petitions Committee can also decide that an issue raised in a petition should be investigated in other ways, by a committee, for example. And all petitions are recorded in the official record of Parliament.

MEERA:Petitions can be an effective way to get an issue

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onto the agenda and can lead to real action by the Government. So let’s look at an example. Maria Lester is a journalist who lost her brother Stephen Realf, aged just 26, to a brain tumour.

MARIA LESTER:I was inspired to start a petition when I was writing an article about losing my brother. In my research I spoke to a charity called Brain Tumour Research who told me a statistic that really shocked me. I found out that brain tumours were the biggest cancer killer of children and the under 40s but were only receiving 1.5% of the money spent on cancer research. I ended my article by launching a petition to increase funding into brain tumour research and just a couple of months later I was contacted by the Commons Petitions Committee.

MEERA: So where to start? Maria found her answer online.

MARIA (direct transcription): I had heard of other people staring petitions online, but I didn’t really know how to go about it or how complicated it was, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was easy. I launched the petition at home and it was very easy to do, I just went online and filled out the things. I had to get some friends to second it and support it, and then I think it was checked and it took a few days to get up and running. I included the link at the end of my article, which was the first time I really

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put it out there and I had no idea what to expect, but within about a week we had about 10,000 signatures which was just fantastic and we just kept on campaigning from there…I gather (that) is one of the biggest responses (the Petitions Committee) had had to anything like that. The Petitions Committee got involved when we were at around 14-15,000 signatures, so quite early on. I think they perhaps thought we might not get to the 100,000 signatures level, but they obviously thought it was a topic that was worth investigating further, so they decided to have this enquiry to look into it.

MEERA:The Committee was also shocked by the statistics and invited Maria, along with charities like Brain Tumour Research, and other experts, to give evidence in Parliament. They set up an online forum so that the wider public could share their experiences with the Committee and at the end of their inquiry the Committee issued their own report calling on the Government to take action. Meanwhile, Maria and her supporters campaigned in the media to help publicise the petition and soon it had attracted over 120,000 signatures which meant that the issue would almost certainly be debated in the House of Commons.

HELEN JONES MP:“We began this enquiry in response to a petition started by Maria Lester… and it is

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fair to say we began it in a state of ignorance. We did not know a great deal about brain tumours or their impact. But as we proceeded with the inquiry we were both humbled and shocked. We were humbled by the people who came forward to give evidence to us (in person, in writing and on the web)….over 1,100 people in 10 days”- Debate on Brain Tumours , Westminster Hall,

Monday 18 April 2016

MARIA:So many people showed up for the debate there weren’t enough seats! The report was so thorough and the research so overwhelming that most of the room agreed that something needed to be done.

MEERA:And the result?

MARIA (direct transcription):The Government issued a formal response to the inquiry report. They agreed that more brain tumour research is urgently needed and promised to create a working group of charities and clinical experts to take action.

I think it’s really important to keep the issue on the agenda. I don’t think many people would argue against funding more research into this, but it’s just a case of keeping the issue in the spotlight, keeping the attention on it, and

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hopefully that brain tumour (research) is going to get the money it deserves.

Research has shown that where the funding leads then the breakthroughs follow and the survival rates improve and I want to get to that point with brain cancer. You know I watched first-hand what happened to my brother - he was 26, he was training to be a pilot in the RAF. He had an incredibly bright future ahead of him, and that was just totally taken away by this horrible disease, and in fact fantastic, bright, brilliant, beautiful young people are being killed by this cruel cancer.

I would absolutely encourage others to start a petition, it is a fantastic way to raise awareness for your cause, both among the general public and among MPs. Most importantly it’s available to everyone, so if there’s something you do believe needs to be changed, why not try to change it.

MEERA:So how about that, democracy in action, and what could be a real life-changing result for thousands of people in the UK.

<<MUSICAL BREAK, MUSIC STOPS>>

You’ll remember earlier in the series we discovered that the role of many select committees is to scrutinise and look in detail at

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what the Government does. LAURA DANIELS is a member of staff for the House of Commons Health Select Committee.

LAURA DANIELS: Select committees hold inquiries into pressing issues and make recommendations to the Government for how things can be improved. They regularly ask people and organisations for their views to help with their inquiries by issuing what’s known as an ‘open call for evidence’. These are all listed on the Parliament website, or you can search “open calls for evidence”.

At Parliament we have lots of grand old rituals and official language, which can scare people off a bit, and this is a problem when Parliament is so keen to engage directly with the public. Select committees are especially keen to hear from as wide an audience as possible when they're investigating government performance. Many people think we’re only ever after the views of academics and heads of business, but the more varied people we have taking part, the better informed we’ll be. Even if you have just a small amount of knowledge or experience in something a committee is investigating, you can contact them directly.MEERA: Calling for evidence sounds a bit formal!

LAURA:

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Well, we call it collecting evidence, and you’re right that it might make you think of law courts and oath swearing, but try to think of it more as calling for your experiences, your thoughts, or your views. People shouldn’t worry too much about our formal guidelines advising people who want to send in lengthy documents. You only need to write as much as you want, and you can just cover one tiny part of the overall inquiry. It's the small details that make all the difference to our understanding. We have a pretty small staff for each committee, so we do still need to hear from you in writing. But it only needs to be readable, it doesn't have to be a formal paper.

Sometimes we ask for your comments through social media or at special events. If you have special educational requirements then, of course, give the committee a call, and we can explain other ways of contributing. You should soon see your contribution put up on our web pages, and you can follow the inquiry and watch a small number of people being invited to come and speak in public whether that’s in the House of Commons or the House of Lords. We call these people witnesses, but please don't think they're forced to come in. They are, more often, people who’ve sent us particularly interesting submissions and who we want to share ideas with.

Towards the end of an inquiry, you’ll see us use the evidence we have gathered from you as the

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basis for much tougher questions we then put to people who are in positions of power. And if we’ve had enough contributions, we can be sure that we’re we are asking the right questions.

MUSICAL BREAK, SFX - KEYBOARD TAPPING, BEEPING, TWEET SOUNDS FADE

MEERA:As we have heard, e-Petitions are one example of how social media use and the continued, rapid uptake in digital communications have made it easier for people to come together, debate and problem-solve.

Digital debates are another new way for the public to feed in their views and help to shape and inform House of Commons debates. This is where the Commons, working in partnership with specialist charities or campaign groups, invites the public to post their views on Twitter, Facebook and in community forums, a few days before a scheduled debate. It’s an opportunity for people to share their thoughts and experiences or to put forward the questions that they would like to see raised by MPs. Recent digital debates have tackled issues ranging from Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, to gangs and youth violence.

VOX POPS: “A “Stop Youth Violence” Twitter debate

reached over 8 million people!”22

“This then influenced the House of Commons debate that happened the following month”

MR SPEAKER:“We come now to the backbench debate on gangs and serious youth violence”

CHUKA UMUNNA MP:“The issues that we are discussing are difficult, they are not easy… there is no single cause for the violence that we have seen nor one single solution. What we are seeing on the streets of our country is leading to a senseless loss of lives. That perhaps explains why the digital debate which the House of Commons Digital team organised on Twitter ahead of this debate was the House of Commons’ most successful Twitter debate in terms of the number of Twitter accounts (over 8 million) reached. The hashtag for today’s debate is #stopyouthviolence and I recommend anyone watching this debate uses it.”

- Backbench Debate on Gangs and Serious Youth Violence, House of Commons Chamber, Thursday 3 March 2016

MEERA:The House of Lords hosts an annual series of ‘inter-generational’ debates, which see the House of Lords Chamber opened up to young people from across the UK and members of civic organisations to debate issues of the day, chaired by the Lord Speaker.

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The 2014 debate highlighted how different generations are affected by digital changes, and explored attitudes to how Parliament should meet the demands of a digital society. It posed the question ‘In a digital society, is politics for politicians or is everyone a decision maker?’ What do you think?

VOX POPS: “Everyone’s entitled to a voice, so if you care

about (an issue) you should be entitled to have your opinion on it as well. So it shouldn’t just be left to the decision makers, it’s should be down to everyone”

“It’s for everyone and I think it’s something everyone should be educated in to a certain degree, and I think it’s important that everyone does take part in what’s happening”

“It’s a good medium to engage young people, because that’s how they communicate with each other, but it needs to be used responsibly”

“I think everyone is a decision maker, I think it’s a good thing”

“I think everyone’s got their opinions and they’re able to share them, but I don’t know if they’re actually listened to”

“I don’t think everyone’s a decision maker and nor do I think that we should be, but I do think that people are becoming more engaged with politics in general and realising more how it does affect our daily lives, and

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social media plays a massive part in that” “I’d like politicians to have the final say but

I’d like also them to listen to the general public and bear that in mind at the same time”

“We live in a democracy so we should all be able to have our say, but rather than all the marketing spiel and having so many words, and I think more people would want to get involved”

MEERA:Referendums are a well-known example of where everyone is asked to be a decision-maker: when a question is put to the country as a whole, rather than being decided by politicians.

Referendums have been pretty rare in UK political history. In recent years, though, we have seen three:

On whether to change the voting system for electing MPs to the House of Commons from first-past-the-post to alternative vote

On whether or not Scotland should become an independent country; and

On whether or not the UK should remain a member of the European Union

Some pretty big questions. How effective do you feel these exercises in direct democracy have been in resolving important questions?

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And what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of making decisions in this way?

VOX POPS: “Referendums do not resolve issues… With

the recent referendum it was either a yes or a no, but then if we were out (of the EU), there was actually no idea of what form of Brexit (we should have). So you had the Leave campaign having very different strands of: we want to remain in the single market; soft Brexit; or we just want a hard Brexit; so there was no actual united opposition”

“(In) the last few referendums, the result has been something I haven’t been happy with, and I think that it was a lot of misguided people being allowed to have a vote and a decision on these things, so for that reason I’m not for referendums”

“I think there is more scope for us to be decision makers now, not on the huge issues, but I would like to see more referendums because we have the technology to do it now”

“We elected those people as our representatives, and they’re the ones who should be making the decisions”

“I’d ban them personally” “Well they certainly haven’t gone the way

I’ve wanted them to, and I feel like they’ve actually caused more problems”

“I think it’s good that we’re allowed to make 26

them, but I don’t think we’re equipped to make such massive decisions with just one simple vote and ‘that’s it’. It can change a whole society and a whole group of people’s lives”

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MEERA:So there we have it. We’ve heard about a range of ways that are open to you if you’d like to contribute to the work of Parliament. From speaking to your local MP, contacting a member of the Lords, or submitting evidence to a select committee, to starting a petition or taking part in a digital debate. And of course by voting when there is an election.

Remember you can also visit Parliament and watch democracy happen first hand in the Chambers and committee rooms.

<<MUSIC BEGINS>>

We hope you’ve enjoyed this series and that it’s helped you understand more about the people and processes involved, and the opportunities for you to take part in your UK Parliament.

We’ve talked about how Parliament works to check and challenge and check the work of the Government. We’ve explored how members of both Houses are able to scrutinise Government policy and proposed legislation through select committees, debates and questions. We’ve learned that the whole of Parliament has a say in the decisions that are made on our behalf, and have found out how laws are made and changed.

Now you know more about your own role in our democracy, what will be your first step? How will

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you get involved?

Parliament is ours, it’s relevant, and it’s constantly evolving and there are lots of different ways to follow things that are happening and keep track of events. You can watch proceedings live on www.parliamentlive.tv. You can learn more at www.parliament.uk, or check the parliamentary calendar at calendar.parliament.uk to find out what is coming up. If you’d like to keep up-to-date with what’s going on in the House of Lords specifically, you can subscribe to their newsletter by visiting lords-subscriptions.parliament.uk. If you have questions about the work, membership or history of Parliament you can call the House of Commons Enquiry Office for free on 0800 112 4272 or call the House of Lords Enquiry Service on 0800 223 0855 - also free - who will be happy to help you access any of the resources we’ve talked about in this series. Callers with a text phone can talk through Text Relay by calling 18001 followed by either of these relevant full numbers. Thanks again for listening to “Parliament Explained”. We hope you will feel inspired to take a closer interest in what Parliament is discussing day-to-day and consider sending in your views when there is an opportunity. You can also help Parliament in its work by sharing this information

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with others and encouraging them to take an active interest in their UK Parliament… and don’t forget, you can hear the Prime Minister’s Question Time Podcast each week by searching for ‘UK Parliament’ on SoundCloud.

<<MUSIC ENDS>>

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