![]() Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) as the two Members of Parliament on the commission, the Speaker was concerned that the world outside Parliament was leaving Parliament behind. Made up of eight commissioners, including myself and the hon. ![]() Mr Speaker set up the Digital Democracy Commission in January 2014. The commission has backed his view and agreed that we need to empower those who want to use digital resources to open up our democracy. We cannot control that, and when Mr Speaker set up the Digital Democracy Commission, he recognised that we need to embrace that. ![]() The rate of technological change is rapid. If we look at the way in which Parliament works, we are some way behind that. That does not describe the world that we all operate in today. ![]() “Facebook didn’t exist, Twitter was still a sound, the cloud was still in the sky…LinkedIn was a prison”Īnd Skype was a spelling mistake. The fact that that is a breakthrough shows how far behind Parliament is compared with the world outside. We are encouraging them to tweet, text and share today’s proceedings with the wider public. As you have outlined, Mr Havard, this is a first for Parliament: the public in the Gallery are allowed to bring in mobile devices. I am delighted to have secured this debate about the future of Parliament, because that is no less than what we were discussing for a year as a commission. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Havard. Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op): I call Meg Hillier on behalf of the Speaker’s Digital Democracy Commission to open the debate. You are trailblazers in this Parliament allowing the public to interrelate in the way that has been described: discreetly, with electronic devices. However, it is important that we do this properly. That means that the same rules apply as apply to Members-so we will have no selfie sticks, or the rules of the Louvre museum will be applied. They have agreed, for the purposes of this debate only, that the public will be allowed to use electronic devices in the Public Gallery, provided that they do so silently and in a way that does not disrupt proceedings. Motion made, and Question proposed, That the sitting be now adjourned- (Mark Lancaster.) 9.30 amīefore we begin, I have a statement to make on behalf of Mr Speaker and the Chairman of Ways and Means. ![]() : Column 1WH Westminster Hall Tuesday 10 March 2015 backbench business Digital Democracy ![]()
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