A recently published survey shows that 71% of local councils cite engaging with young people as their main priority when establishing e-democracy initiatives. New technologies are changing the way local authorities engage with citizens and many believe young people could benefit most from such projects.
The poll sampled 178 English local authorities and found that e-democracy is still a relatively new undertaking for many councils. Only one in five so far have any kind of e-democracy strategy in place and the level of investment in these initiatives varies widely between local authorities. A further 30% of local authorities have plans to introduce such schemes but have yet to implement their proposals. The most common use of e-democracy are online comments, compliments and complaint systems. Online residents’ surveys are also popular. But, according to the survey, many councils are not doing all that they could, there is often a clear disparity between services offered off-line and those made available online.
The results of the survey, undertaken by the MORI Social Research Institute on behalf of the Local e-democracy National Project, show that these schemes do work and local councils succeed in increasing public involvement in the areas where they have piloted e-democracy tools.