For more information, please contact Fiona Rae (frae@lambeth.gov.uk) or Maria Burton (mburton@westminster.gov.uk)
Democracy Club provides some of the most comprehensive election data in the UK. Their digital tools make election information more accessible, user-friendly and readily available online, enhancing the democratic process and boosting voter engagement.
This webinar will explore why Democracy Club thought these services were needed in the first place, how they went about delivering them, and how they have worked with the electoral administration community along the way. The session will be particularly suitable for Electoral and Democratic Services Officers, councillors, or anyone working at a council.
Democracy Club are a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, powered by an incredible community of volunteers. Working in partnership with the Electoral Commission, councils and many other organisations, they build services that get people voting during national and local elections.
With their services becoming more widely adopted, they are starting to think about what they can do beyond elections. The wider aims are to make it easier for people to engage with their democracy and they consider local government as a key starting point. Local governments might be the most important layer of the state for people to understand: they hold lots of power, councillors are more accessible than MPs and the decisions made have direct effects on people’s lives.
Democracy Club are very early along in this journey, so would like to open up the conversation to ADSO members to talk about the challenges and opportunities there are to apply their approach to democracy on the day after polling day.
Our speaker is Sym Roe who founded Democracy Club in mid-2014 and has since been co-director and CEO. He now heads up all technical and delivery operations.
The webinar is sponsored by FCS Software Solutions Ltd https://fcssoftware.co.uk/, specialists in the development of cloud-based solutions for the Democratic Services sector.
ElectionsPro is a cloud-based solution that delivers IER, the annual canvass, elections, and referendums. The solution also includes a cloud-based scanning app, an election staffing portal, a count results and display module, automated NLPG integration, automated local data matching, an automated data governance tool (to support GDPR compliance), and Gov.Notify, email, and SMS integration as standard.
FCS also provide additional electoral services such as the mobile canvass application (CanvassPro) and a fully integrated online, phone and SMS canvass response service.
AppealsPro is the UK’s leading school admission appeals software solution, and in 2024 FCS will be launching ComplaintsPro as part of its case management solution, and are continuing to work with local authorities in the development and trialling of our committee management solution, CommitteesPro.
To register, click on the following link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6970755721753528160
Please note that you will need to be able to login in to GoTo webinar in order to access the webinar. If you are logging in from your workplace, you will need to ensure that GoTo has not been blocked by your organisation. Otherwise, you can log on from your mobile.
Please contact Mel Harris Mel.Harris@wychavon.gov.uk or Matt Berry mattberry@cannockchasedc.gov.uk for more information.
Please contact either Michael Robson Michael.Robson@northoftyne-ca.gov.uk or Shauna Healey shaunahealey@merseyfire.gov.uk
For more information, please contact Fiona Rae (frae@lambeth.gov.uk) or Maria Burton (mburton@westminster.gov.uk)
Democratic Services have a vital role to play in terms of making sure councils make robust and democratically sound decisions. However, this role as one of the guardians of the democratic process can’t be at the expense of supporting local government to move forward and adapt to its ever challenging and changing context.
The webinar, delivered by the Chief Executive at Adur and Worthing Councils, Dr Catherine Howe, will explore how democratic decision making and design can be harnessed as part of organisational change and the opportunity Democratic Services teams have to support and be part of wider change in Local Government.
The potential impacts of opportunities of new technologies as well as some of the trends in citizen participation will be discussed as well as exploring how Democratic Services could reshape themselves and their skills to be part of that wider conversation and support change inside and outside of an organisation. It will also touch on some examples of the integration of democratic and deliberative approaches as well as looking at ways to kick start democratic innovation.
The webinar is particularly suitable for Senior Democratic Service Officers and Monitoring Officers as well as participation practitioners who want to understand more about how their work can integrate with democratic processes.
The webinar is sponsored by MVI Audio Visual (www.mvi-audiovisual.com), who provide standard software for automatic camera control, name displaying and voting automation in council chambers. Their products are widely used around Europe, including the UK.
Their remote participation product EasyConf Connect is designed for councils to live stream the council meeting, even in hybrid scenarios. It combines remote participants and in-room participants in a unique way. All meeting metadata, like attendance, speech times and voting results, is stored as PDF and can be integrated into the councils document management system.
Please note that you will need to be able to login in to GoTo webinar in order to access the webinar. If you are logging in from your workplace, you will need to ensure that GoTo has not been blocked by your organisation. Otherwise, you can log on from your mobile.
Please contact Georgia Latham (Georgia.latham@stockport.gov.uk)or Rachel Gibbons (RachelGibbons@wigan.gov.uk) for more information