Nominations - Democracy in action

'Social Care - one of the biggest unresolved issues of our time - and comparable with the pensions crisis'.

Until Radio 4's 'You and Yours' programme launched a groundbreaking 'Care in the UK' season, the future and funding of Social Care for older and disabled people was not high on the agenda. However,that changed during January 2008,

with the development of 3 online devices, together with on air broadcasts.

We informed and educated listeners, promoted awareness and prompted national debate, by developing a 'Care Calculator', a 'Care Map' and a 'Care Questionnaire'. They were contained within a specially built 'Care in the UK' website, which also included Have Your Say, Information, and Links and Contacts. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/index.sh...

Our groundbreaking interactive Care Calculator, developed in conjunction with the London School of Economics, showed people the level of Social Care they might get, on average, in England. It was revealing and shocking to many. Listeners played a 'game', choosing hypothetical scenarios, to see what care they might get from councils, subject to means testing and eligibility criteria. It prompted a huge response - please see below. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/calculat...

We also created another first - a 'Care Map' of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The 'zoom in' map is a practical, first-step-guide for people who don't know where to go or how to get support in their area. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/map.shtm...

The Care Questionnaire encouraged people to give their views about how they want Social Care to be funded and provided in the future. The LSE's Dr Jose-Luis Fernandez commented: 'This is the first time that such broad web based consultation has been carried out, and that it is very timely given the forthcoming Green Paper and the increasingly tighter Local Authority eligibility criteria. The survey should provide a very interesting picture of society's attitudes towards the social care system.' http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/question...

Importantly, the Department of Health agreed that listener emails, letters and comments would be forwarded to the national consultation, ahead of a Green Paper on Social Care Funding. The Care Minister Ivan Lewis commented:'I think the Care Calculator's excellent, I think it'll raise awareness…..and will help people to ... think through the consequences, to think about the caring circumstances they may find themselves in.'

Links to the 'Care in the UK' site were carried by scores of leading charities and organisations, BBC News Online and the BBC 'Where I Live' Sites. We hosted a Messageboard and Bloggers blogged. Woman's Hour, Today, Moneybox, Radio 5 Live, Radio 4 Bulletins, Pick of the Week, BBC Local Radio, Community Care's website, Guardian Society.co.uk, The Guardian, Daily Mail, BBC Breakfast, BBC TV 6 O'clock News, and The Politics Show all ran care stories, and linked to the 'Care in the UK' site. The site is ongoing and continually updated.

In the month itself the Care Calculator page was visited by 81,000 people in a single week, the 8th most visited Radio 4 page. Hits on the 'You and Yours' website in January were three times the usual number and our Health podcast downloads almost doubled from 25,000 in December 07 to 46,000 in January 08.

Nominated by ANDREW SMITH, 31 May 2008

'Social Care - one of the biggest unresolved issues of our time - and comparable with the pensions crisis'.

'You and Yours' and 'Woman's Hour' pushed this much neglected issue high up the Government's agenda by launching a month long 'Care in the UK' season across Radio 4 and other parts of the BBC. Thousands of listeners, viewers and web users shared their experiences about the current system and offered solutions for the future of Social Care funding.

Through a combination of groundbreaking new media developments, Messageboards, Podcasts, Blogs, Emails, Phone In programmes and on air radio and television broadcasts, the public (including service users, carers and older and disabled people), were uniquely able to speak to and question the key decision makers in the care sector, including the Care Minister, as well as those who influence those decision makers, like Chief Executives of charities, Directors of Social Services, care providers and regulators.

Importantly, the Department of Health agreed that listener emails, letters and comments would be formally included in their national consultation ahead of a Green Paper on Social Care Funding.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown told 'You and Yours':

' I welcome the fact that so many people are contributing through the work of the programme and the excellent programmes that you do. I also think it's really important we hear the whole range of concerns that people have. From your listeners I think we will hear information that will influence what we do.'

To facilitate discourse, You and Yours created a 'Care Calculator', a 'Care Map' and a 'Care Questionnaire', contained within a specially built 'Care in the UK' website, which also included Have Your Say, Information, and Links and Contacts. The website is ongoing and continually updated. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/index.sh...

The interactive Care Calculator, developed in conjunction with the London School of Economics, showed people the level of social care they might get, on average, in England. It was revealing and shocking to many. Listeners played a 'game', choosing hypothetical scenarios, to see what care they might get from councils, subject to means testing and eligibility criteria. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/calculat...

We also created another first - a Care Map of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The 'zoom in' map is a practical, first-step-guide for people who don't know where to go or how to get support, including contact numbers and support organisations in their area. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/map.shtm...

The Care Questionnaire encouraged people to give their views about how they want Social Care to be funded and provided in the future. Those views will also be forwarded to the Government's national consultation on Social Care. The LSE's Dr Jose-Luis Fernandez commented: 'This is the first time that such broad web based consultation has been carried out, and that it is very timely given the forthcoming Green Paper and the increasingly tighter Local Authority eligibility criteria. The survey should provide a very interesting picture of society's attitudes towards the social care system.' http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/careintheuk/question...

In the month itself the Care Calculator page was visited by 81,000 people in a single week, the 8th most visited Radio 4 page. Hits on the 'You and Yours' website in January were three times the usual number and our Health podcast downloads almost doubled from 25,000 in December 07 to 46,000 in January 08.

Nominated by ANDREW SMITH, 31 May 2008

Most politicians' blogs re-hash party literature and press releases. Not Green Ladywell - it's a mix of local news, a personal political diary, debate and campaigning. It has real personality and it's a genuinely useful community resource.

Green Ladywell should be the template for every other local politician to follow. Sue Luxton and Ute Michel's genuine commitment to the area and their hard work are clear to see, the posts are regular and informative and she is prepared to take and respond to criticism. You wouldn't know it was a party-political site if it wasn't for the fact that many of the posts shine a light on the workings of local Council politics.

Sue also gets stuck in to other local blogs (like mine) in order to reach a wider audience.

Lots of politicians talk about using the internet to engage with people - but few do it as well as Sue and Ute.

Nominated by Nick Barron, 24 May 2008

Agree with Nick. Sue and Ute's blog shows them to be hard-working councillors, dedicated to representing and supporting their constituents. It's unusual to see councillors so open and transparent. It's a shame representatives from other parties do not copy them.

Noel Lynch

Submitted by Noel Lynch, 31 May 2008

The postings on this blog are simultaneously helpful, informative and entertaining. Sue and Ute are not afraid to speak their mind and to respond to whatever people throw at them. This is political blogging at its best - good honest spin-free dialogue making the most of blog technology.

Submitted by Martha Kendrick, 31 May 2008

Noel Lynch is a completely politically uninterested contributor, I take it?

Submitted by Arnold Batballs, 05 June 2008

It's not just making good use of blogging that makes a good councillor - look at the performance of Gavin Barwell in Croydon (Coulsdon East) - a great guy!

Submitted by Richard, 05 July 2008

Jonathan works in the local area, and is a director of an e-learning business. In addition to this he maintains the nominated website, which forms the basis of Jonathan’s vision of interactive democracy. Via the site constituents can communicate with Jonathan, and see directly how he is working for the community. His vision is to be as open about his constituency work as possible.

There seems to be at present a cynical view of politicians and the whole political process, and this website hopes to be able to go some way towards refuting this. The site has been used to:

Enable community petitions to be delivered.

Provide evidence on-record to the local MP.

Provide an online forum for local people, which is read by Jonathan, and enables him to act upon local concerns.

Display pictures of environmental events and concerns taken by the public.

This website deserves the award because it is an attempt to start up a genuine local interactive way for the electorate to communicate with elected officials, and to feel that their voice is heard.

Nominated by John Morton, 31 May 2008

This is for others to judge

27 April 2008

Clear, Consise, very interesting.

Submitted by Eileen Adams, 27 April 2008

I sense this site breaks new ground...

27 April 2008

Derek is right - video has more potential as an emotionally engaging medium - eye contact, tone of voice, sound and colour but professional audience seekers need to learn a lot more about lighting, scripting and how to get messages RITE - relevant, intimate, timely and executable - because if they aren't as good as TV they will look ridiculous.

The medium is the message.

Submitted by Business Sensei, 27 June 2008

I really like this site: probably the best by an elected politician in the UK.

Submitted by Matthew Cain, 24 September 2008

Caroline's website has undergone a very recent revamp and has been launched with a quirky set of animations designed to visualise some of her achievements in European politics.

The news page is easy to use and updated daily with in-depth reports of Caroline's events in the Parliament, the outcome of relevant votes, new Written Declarations (like Early Day Motions in the House of Commons) and correspondence from the Commission. It also contains comment on current news stories, and the 'reports' page links to more feature-length articles. Caroline has also just started to write an online blog, which she tries to post onto daily when time allows.

Helpfully, all of the content is categorised into themes, so if you're interested in 'food and farming' say, you can go straight to a section containing everything Caroline has done in this area.

The site is basically geared towards providing useful and inspiring information which relates both to Caroline's work over the past nine years and to the work of the European Union as a whole.

It is a brilliant resource for learning more about how the European institutions work and how policies which are created in Brussels and Strasbourg affect the UK. The main aim here was to prove to people that they needn't feel alienated by the EU system, and to lay out the direct relevance of European law and regulations in more local matters.

For those living in the South East, there's a real insight into what having a Green MEP means. They can see exactly where she stands on a whole range of issues, and how she has used her profile to raise awareness of local campaigns, such as those on water fluoridation, development on greenbelt land, the management of waste, rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender people, and airport expansion at Heathrow and Stansted.

Most people would agree that Caroline is far removed from the cynical sterotype of an average 'Eurocrat'. She is approachable, open, passionate about her causes and keen to show that a greener world is not only possible, but completely achievable. This website showcases her work an original way and gives people the chance to get to know her.

* The site was created by a Manchester collective called UHC using freeware.

Nominated by Melissa Freeman, 30 May 2008

Fantastic website from a fantastic politician.

Submitted by Stuart Jeffery, 30 May 2008

For anyone not familiar with this website, it is well worth a look. A lot of sensible and thought-provoking comment and very well presented. Keep it up!

Submitted by Peter Lynn, 30 May 2008

Strange little animation thing at the start - but once you're in, it's actually a very good site that seems to be well looked-after.

Submitted by Jo Wigshaw, 01 June 2008

Very bad site in terms of inclusivity. It has memory and bandwidth hungry content, which simply encourages the wasteful planet destroying upgrading of computers, and excludes the poor who cannot afford them.

Submitted by Brian, 03 June 2008

Great website - so important that we get the Climate Action NOW message through...

Submitted by Roisin Robertson, 06 June 2008

An accessible unpretentious blog, most of which I suspect she has written herself and which- although not perfect on this point- does a lot more than just make party political points.

It is a model of how MP's can keep in touch with those constitutents who want to be kept in touch with.

Nominated by richard colbey, 18 April 2008

Lynne was one of the first MPs to make extensive use of New Media to keep in touch with local residents, and she has carried on with that commitment to a highly informative website and regular blog ever since, keeping her at the cutting edge of wired MPs spreading wider democratic interaction in this way.

Nominated by Paul Rainger, 15 April 2008

Humour and satire are effective weapons against the creeping "Nannyism" that is undermining and eroding the fabric of our society.

Nanny Knows Best over tha lst four years has used humour and satire to maximum advantage, whilst encouraging active debate and discussion on the site about the issues raised.

Nominated by Ken Frost, 12 May 2008

From the same stable as the indomitable and powerful 'HMRCisshite' website, nannyknowsbest exposes the arrogance of an inept and morally bankrupt government that insists it knows better than us. It is saving us from the hazards of gaping wheelie-bins, the terrors of monstrous mothers feeding their children morsels of sausage roll which, should they happen to fall to the ground and not immediately be eaten by a passing bird or dog, could rot and endanger life. It forces wayward people to trim the ivy on their garden walls before the tendrils overhang by a hazardous three centimetres, and makes absolutely sure our children don't lose their eyes and become traumatised for life by fragments of broken conkers (leaving their lives so bereft of enjoyment and amusement that excessive risktaking becomes the only antidote). And all because this is so much easier than increasing the rate of successful rape prosecutions out of low single figures, and administering tax credits safely and fairly (see www.taxCC.org). Nannyknowsbest deserves a prize for highlighting this erosion of autonomy, choice and freedom in 21st Century Police State, Orwellian Britain. Roll on Nu Labour's ultimate demise.

Submitted by Ali Myers-Ward, 12 May 2008

I heartily endorse Nanny Knows Best. An oasis of common sense in a land suffocating under the weight of a bloated government

Submitted by richard clarke, 12 May 2008

Nanny knows best is a great site that acts as a check on creeping state Nannyism.

Mr Frost should also be nominated for an OBE just to show that Nanny does not hold a grudge.

Submitted by Tonk, 12 May 2008

One of the most amusing sites going, due in large part to the utter stupidity and meanness of all branches of H.M.'s government. Wonderfully brought to living colour by Ken Frost. You couldn't make this stuff up !

Submitted by Don Morris ( Canada ), 13 May 2008

The man should be Knighted for his quest in exposing the ridiculous in government

Submitted by Ian Hunter, 14 May 2008

A truly spot on website that shows what exactly is wrong with Britain, thanks to this Nanny State culture that has been stealthed on us.

Submitted by David J Hilton, 24 May 2008

The Committee especially wanted to hear about people's experience of mainstream services (e.g. the police, courts, health and social services) and of support services (e.g. from refuges, voluntary agencies).

A good way for MPs to hear from people with direct experience of issues that they can often only talk about.

Nominated by Erica Davies, 24 May 2008

Vote Match has already received rave reviews. John Rentoul described it as “a digital-democracy breakthrough” and in its first five days had more than 8,000 users.

The aim of Vote Match is to provide people who know very little about politics information about the candidates and what they stand for in a simple and accessible way. It encourages individuals to think about policy rather than personality.

A key principle behind Vote Match is transparency. We are careful not to present the information as a recommendation and encourage people to take things further by examining the results they got in detail.

Vote Match is part of a growing network from which best practice can be drawn. Similar projects using this model have been used for the recent Dutch, German, French, Swiss and Bulgarian elections.

The potential for a tool such as this is enormous. In the last Dutch elections an estimated 1-in-3 voters used "Stemwijzer". 80% found it to be trustworthy and 10-15% of users who said they did not intend to vote ended up doing so.

Nominated by James Graham, Unlock Democracy, 08 April 2008

A very worthwhile venture, which I endorse whole-heartedly!

Submitted by Vishy Mahadevan, 10 April 2008

A real contribution to the democratic process

Submitted by Wyn Grant, 11 April 2008

I had a ballot paper delivered to my house yesterday and I had great difficulty picking someone i wanted to vote for! Votematch is an excellent concept and i feel could do great things for local elections also! I want to be represented by someone that has my thoughts in mind and it rightly matched! Well done Unlock Democracy! Lets hope this concept goes national!

Submitted by Matt, 25 April 2008

The people behind mySociety have worked hard over the past decade to create websites that provide day-to-day benefits to citizens in their interactions with government. In the past we have created sites such as WriteToThem.com, TheyWorkForYou.com and the Petitions site for 10 Downing Street. Our latest site is WhatDoTheyKnow.com, which provides an easy interface to send Freedom of Information requests to public authorities — a searchable, readable, Google-able, user-created archive of FOI requests and their responses.

In addition, the site makes it possible for interested third parties to follow the progress of FOI requests — either by email or by RSS. Individuals may also subscribe to updates on search terms (so one might receive an email whenever a new request or response mentions "Parliament Square", for example), public authorities or individual requesters (who can sign up to site pseudonymously), in order to help users find others who are researching the same area of government so they can form groups to investigate or campaign together; users may email each other through a simple webform.

One rather innovative aspect of the creation of the site is particularly worthy of note. Populating contact details for the FOI teams at so many public authorities was a massive, time consuming task. Rather than delay the launch of the public site beta whilst our small team did all the research to gather these details, on February 22, Tom Steinberg, mySociety's Chief Executive, emailed our supporters list with a link to a shared Google Spreadsheets document with a row for each public authority. Through the assistance of over 100 collaborators, 80% of these details were populated within the space of a weekend, later rising to 95%.

A single interface to provide access to over 800 public authorities — so far; we have several keen volunteers helping widen our coverage — has proved relatively popular already, despite little publicity thusfar. In the first two months of public beta, 232 requests have been made, with most still awaiting a response and 41 requests have been wholly or partially successful. In April 2008, nearly 6000 unique visitors came to the site 1.5 times each, accessing an average of 15 pages each.

Whilst the site is still very much in its infancy, we believe it has the potential to be an especially useful tool for helping to shine a light on British democracy in all its agencies. We pay taxes for government to provide all sorts of services, from healthcare through to national defence; some it does badly, some it does well. The more we find out about how government works, the better able we are to make suggestions to improve the things that are done badly, and to celebrate the things that are done well.

Nominated by Owen Blacker, 18 May 2008

This is the first EU based online campaign to use a multitude of web 2.0 tools.

You can support in a number of ways from a simple signing of their petition, signing up on Facebook, putting the banner on your site to translating their copy into another language.

Nominated by Helena Markstedt, 29 May 2008