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United Kingdom

The United Kingdom's e-democracy policy aims to facilitate, broaden and deepen participation in the democratic process by e-enabling the communication between the public and the state. E-democracy is divided into e-voting and online participation.

The Office of the e-Envoy has established an inter-departmental group to look at how best government and the public sector can exploit new communications media to support wider public participation. It is also working with key stakeholders to develop guidance and leadership for the effective integration of participation into policy making and service delivery processes. The Office intends to actively help embed the principles of online participation across government and the wider public sector.

Examples of initiatives are -

  • E-enabled debates on genetically-modified foods, pensions and the future of the EU;
  • the development of online spaces for groups with common interests to exchange information and share good practice (e.g. Teachernet);
  • cross-departmental collaborations such as the Getting to Grips with Grub consultation produced by the Food Standards Agency and DfES; and
  • a consultation site to help citizens shape government policy by taking part in consultations and find out how the UK is governed - refer to illustration below)
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    Figure 2: UK Directgov website

    screenshot of direct.govt.nz


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