Hansard Society slams parliament's website

Parliament has an outdated and unhelpful website that is in desperate need of updating, according to a pro-democracy organisation.

The Hansard Society, which promotes parliamentary democracy, has produced a report that criticises parliament for a lack of clear communications with the public.

In one section of the report entitled "Members Only? Parliament in the Public Eye", Hansard slams parliament for failing to have any management strategy of its website: "The need to reform the website was a constant theme in the evidence we received.

"As we investigated this issue it became apparent that there is no clear governance of the website within parliament - various officials are involved via an e-delivery group in the House of Lords and a web group in the House of Commons but there is no strategic or overall authority and control. We recommend that a new Communications Department establish effective processes to manage, edit and develop the parliamentary website."

The chairman of the All Party Internet Group, Derek Wyatt MP, agreed the website needed an upgrade: "My view is that there shouldn't be one for us and another for them. It's been better since we got back [from the election] but it's clumsy."

Hansard said government departments, such as the Home Office, and private companies were providing informative websites but parliament was falling behind.

"Generally it needs to move in to the 21st century," said a spokeswoman for the Hansard Society. "There is a big gap between parliament's website and private companies, for example.

"The key thing is that the website should be enabling us to find out what's going on in our name. And although there have been changes planned, they are piecemeal. It's got to be made clearer by making things accessible by topic and MP."