E -petitioning in Bristol

What we’ll cover • Facts & figures• Life cycle stages• Administration• Challenges• Examples

• Using the ‘Duty to respond to Petitions’ to make improvements to our petitioning process

• Our Top Tips leading into discussion…

e-Petitions: Our WebsiteProvided by Public-i

www.public-i.info

Open sourceminimal costs maintenance/hostingno licence required

Catherine Howecatherine.howe@public-i.info

• Our approach: ’Providing a public service’

55 44 5122 37

209

04 - 06 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total

Facts & Figures

Number of e-

Petitions

Number of Signatures

28,50017,252 17,550

5,73618,572

87,565

04 - 06 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total

By Theme

25 2523

16 15

11

7 6 6 5 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 10

5

10

15

20

25

30

Who Signs ? Experian MOSAIC Profile

• Young, well-educated city dwellers (Group G)• Young professional families settling in better quality

older terraces• Well educated singles living in purpose built flats• Students and other transient singles in multi-let

houses

• Wealthy people living in the most sought after neighbourhoods (Group C)

• Creative professionals seeking involvement inlocal communities

Mosaic Public Sector Groups Your area/file % Comp. % Pen. % Index

A Residents of isolated rural communities 862 1.99 844,195 3.83 0.10 52

BResidents of small and mid-sized towns with stronglocal roots

2,027 4.69 1,945,991 8.83 0.10 53

CWealthy people living in the most sought afterneighbourhoods

1,940 4.49 716,555 3.25 0.27 138

DSuccessful professionals living in suburban or semi-rural homes

3,341 7.73 1,818,146 8.25 0.18 94

EMiddle income families living in moderate suburbansemis

5,331 12.33 2,496,266 11.33 0.21 109

FCouples with young children in comfortable modernhousing

2,409 5.57 1,203,473 5.46 0.20 102

G Young, well-educated city dwellers 12,848 29.72 2,072,342 9.40 0.62 316

HCouples and young singles in small modern starterhomes

2,660 6.15 1,138,566 5.17 0.23 119

ILower income workers in urban terraces in oftendiverse areas

3,639 8.42 1,855,287 8.42 0.20 100

JOwner occupiers in older-style housing in ex-industrialareas

3,877 8.97 1,727,307 7.84 0.22 114

KResidents with sufficient incomes in right-to-buy socialhousing

1,946 4.50 1,795,595 8.15 0.11 55

LActive elderly people living in pleasant retirementlocations

617 1.43 999,008 4.53 0.06 31

M Elderly people reliant on state support 482 1.11 1,123,266 5.10 0.04 22

NYoung people renting flats in high density socialhousing

686 1.59 1,153,966 5.24 0.06 30

OFamilies in low-rise social housing with high levels ofbenefit need

567 1.31 1,146,550 5.20 0.05 25

Total 43,232 100 22,036,513 100 0.20 100

Lifecycle Stages• Draft

Petitioner creates petition, waits for feedback on content and approval from council

• Collecting signaturesVariable timescales. Petitioner responsible for promoting issue but council notifies via:AskBristol, Wordpress,Twitter

• Awaiting submissionNo longer accepting signatures. Council writes brief report. Petitioner notified of procedure to follow

• Submitted to councilAwaiting council responseSpace for response by council – and petitioner

Administrative tasksAct on draft e-petitions • Check content with appropriate officers• Liaise with lead petitioner as required • Notify appropriate Cabinet members, Councillors and

officers when live

Report on closed e-petitions• Produce ‘Briefing’ and ‘list of signatures’ for lead

petitioner• Notify Democratic Services when closed• Update with response when available

Lead Petitioner Report

3

1 to 01 to 12 to 23 to 34 to 45 to 6

Signatures by Ward

Number of records in each ward

0 2 4 6 8

Bishopsw orthClifton

Clifton EastFilw ood

Frome ValeHartclif feHengrove

Hillf ieldsSt George East

St George WestStockw ood

Stoke BishopWestbury-on-Trym

AvonmouthBrislington East

CabotHenbury

HenleazeKingsw eston

SouthmeadSouthville

Whitchurch ParkBishopston

EastvilleKnow le

LockleazeRedland

BedminsterCothamHorfield

Law rence HillAshley

Brislington WestWindmill Hill

Easton

Banksy

• In response to a call from a councillor to remove the art work as it defaced a public, listed building

• Started by another councillor. Lots of media attention.

• Petition successful. The art work is still there (3,187)

Cycle path: Bus Rapid Transit and Safety Better lighting and more police patrols

Quotes from Cabinet Member:

‘It came out of the blue.It surprisedall politicians. The scheme wasdropped partly because thee-petition had shown It to be sounpopular‘

Quote from lead petitioner:‘The things we asked for demanded in our petition alhappened - and pretty quicklyactually’.

Used in press releases from centralgovernment.

Our Biggest Yet• Bristol wants a

Stadium not a Village GreenOver 30,000 so far

• Massive local and national media attention. Football. Facebook etc

• Counter petition:In Support of Ashton Vale Village Green1223 e-signatures

Challenges

• Needs resources• Ensuring petition statement valid• Tracking the petition after closure • Publishing feedback• Linking up with paper petitions• Keeping relevant people informed

• Organisational placement:Consultation / Democratic Services

Eg…• Checking factual assertions

“…if not 100,000 buses a year could flow through residential concrete streets in Lockleaze”

• Mediating between lead petitioner and the council “Please ensure this e-petition is activated or I will go directly to the newspapers. I will explain how the council tried to block this e-petition.”

• Managing Workload7 e-petitions in 1 week ~ all with some degree of complexity

• Updating Guidance Ensure Guidance and Terms of Conditions are up to date(eg FOI request for IP addresses of all signatures)

Improvements using ‘Duty to respond to Petitions’

• An opportunity to review our approach to:

• Get all the key people round the table• Engage Officers, Members and the Public• Improve our processes• Raise the profile of petitions and other ways to

engage in local democracy• Enable us to identify communities who are not

currently engaged and target support• Improve satisfaction

New changes to petitions in local and national government

• The new Localism Bill; proposing• To repeal of the duty to respond to petitions and the duty to

promote democracy, but also…• A new duty on local councils to hold local referendums. The local

authority must hold a referendum if it receives a petition signed by 5% of the electors and is a local matter (defined in legislation). The results of the referendum are non binding and can relate to issues outside of the council’s direct control.

• A changing approach, but need to focus on the value of petitions, what works well and aids local democracy

• Nationally, petitions to Government to be revived and be given greater opportunity to influence legislation• Online petitions registered via Directgov website with the

most support could be debated in Parliament

Testing the New Petition Scheme

• The Big Save Our Parks Petition

• Current and controversial issue. Cross party

• Started by Councillor• 1314 e-signatures• Paper petition as well• Over 7000 signatures in

total• First to trigger a full

council debate

1. It all takes time… and effort

2. Officers need to be well networked with all council services… including legal services

3. Keep key members and officers informed

4. Review policies/protocols to ensure action and feedback. Continually review

5. Promote/link to other ways for people to have their say

6. Analysis to identify common themes and patterns of usage etc… MOSAIC profile

Top Tips

THANK YOU

Michael BrewinResearch and Consultation Officer

michael.brewin@bristol.gov.uk

Deborah KinghornPolicy Officer

deborah.kinghorn@bristol.gov.uk

Richard JonesDemocratic Services Team Leader

Richard.Jones@bristol.gov.uk