As UK Parliament heads back to in-person voting, select committees are told they can continue working via Zoom
- Reference: 1591722007
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/09/parliament_select_committees_zoom/
- Source link:
The current framework, which allows members and witnesses to participate remotely via Zoom, will continue until 17 September before the Commons enters recess for the usual party conference season.
This extended deadline will afford members the certainty that they can continue operating as usual, said Hoyle.
Parliament, which has historically clung to convention and tradition, has been forced to modernise its practices to continue functioning during the coronavirus pandemic.
On 21 April, Parliament agreed to conduct sessions under a hybrid format with a limited number of MPs attending in person, while adhering to social distancing rules, and [2]a further 120 attending via Zoom .
Those attending remotely had to [3]adhere to a code of rules that prohibited (among other things) informal wear, distracting backgrounds, and virtual Zoom backgrounds.
At the time, Leader of the House of Commons and part-time vaudeville villain Jacob Rees-Mogg stressed that the arrangement would only continue as necessary, with Parliament eventually returning to exclusively in-person sessions.
Rees-Mogg has since watered down the hybrid system, and this month introduced new rules that [4]required votes to be delivered in person , rather than remotely, arguing that it was necessary to hold the government to account. MPs previously [5]used the MemberHub online system to cast votes .
This decision has proven unpopular in some quarters, with one Labour MP describing the new socially distant voting rules as "ridiculous, dangerous, and unsafe" in an [6]interview with the BBC . The Scottish National Party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford also noted that requiring members to attend in person to vote undermined the government's advice on remote working. ®
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[1] https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2020/june/select-committees-to-continue-remote-working-beyond-the-summer-/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/04/21/uk_commons_agrees_to_allow_zoom/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/04/22/no_virtual_zoom_backgrounds_warns_house_of_commons/
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52895430
[5] https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/covid-19-hybrid-proceedings-in-the-house-of-commons/remote-voting/
[6] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52895430
[7] https://go.theregister.com/tl/1956/-8473/modernizing-your-net-application-for-google-cloud-platform?td=wptl1956
Re: Progress
That would require an understanding of said technology something rather lacking in parliament. I also don't think it's a good idea to teach Rees-Mogg because if he's find ankle pr0n on the net he'll never leave his house again, than again maybe it is.
Re: Progress
It's down to one elitist prick.Mogg.
But I guess the butler and maids will look after his home affairs should he get sick.As for those peskyworking mothers, can't they just get the nanny to step in?
Forcing MPs back to parliament covers their arse a little when we get the inevitable second wave which will all be sciences fault as confirmed by health minister Helen Whatley on Sky news this morning.
So what do you recommend? The UK stay at home until a vaccine is found?
It has been since day one, about managing the speed of infection, not stopping it.
Progress
It's nice to know that the same people who think it's possible to get 5 year olds to respect social distancing without teacher intervention are also willing to go back to sitting in close proximity to each other.
It would be even nicer still if they carried on with some of the efficiencies that the technology has given them