Nick Maxwell

What are the key takeaways from the recent UK party conferences? 🇬🇧   Our Dods Political Intelligence consultants attended all three major conferences to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolving policy landscape.   Key areas highlighted in the fringe events include: 🔸 Economic growth and climate change at the forefront  🔸 Local government and devolution debates 🔸 The balance between state intervention and market-driven solutions 🔗 You can download our Party Conferences report here: https://lnkd.in/dWfatvzA #PartyConferencesReport

8

The new PoliMonitor PoliPolling fortnightly report is out including a breakdown of the latest polls following the Local Elections at the start of May. It also includes policy tracking for each of the main parties, so take a look 👀. Our Fortnightly report will expand with additional information essential to Public Affairs Professionals in the lead up to the General Election. Subscribe to our free fortnightly report here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eyXsFYUp #GeneralElection #Polling #Elections

5

This feels like urgent, important work in the context of global changes afoot at the moment. When America's information ecosystem is all but lost, how can we protect and renew what is left of ours? We will be looking at 1, new threat research to understand the implications of the Trump administration here, 2, new regulation, 3, new ways to safeguard traditional news, 4, government communications, and 5, citizen empowerment. So we can't do it alone and want to involve partners - see how to get involved below. Brilliant work by Elizabeth Seger Hannah Perry and team, with support from William Perrin OBE FRSA

26

6 Comments

📣 UK Government Suppliers to note: key practical procurement considerations for the current Pre-Election Period of Sensitivity* 🙋‍♀️ The high politics and drama of the election campaign continue (last night's Leadership TV debate for example). At a working level however, for those in the midst of government procurement exercises, Civil Service World/Proxima have issued this useful brief, https://lnkd.in/e73rHTAV 🙋‍♂️ In essence, government commercial teams need to be careful about initiating and concluding procurements but balance that with the need to continue normal business to support delivering public services. (*"PEPOS", formerly known as Purdah) #generalelection24 #publicprocurement #civilservice #governmentsuppliers

Since I spend so much time reading about this topic, I thought it might be useful to collect the work I have come across in one place. Let me know if I have missed anything so I can read it, and add a link to the blog ⤵

11

Getting hold of good beneficial ownership data to use as part of reform processes often relies on countries having effective legislation in place. In order to set out the technical characteristics of an effective legislative framework for beneficial ownership, my Open Ownership colleagues Favour Ime and Tymon Kiepe have produced this fantastic new piece of guidance https://lnkd.in/ekns4qWU #beneficialownership

12

1 Comment

One issue for those interested in #CollateralConsequences of #CriminalRecords, will be impact of EES (from November) and ETIAS (spring 2025). Will impact many of the 12.5million in #UK with such records as biometric data is collected + checks against relevent records made. See information here: https://lnkd.in/eeYZbnSb #Criminology

5

4 Comments

🗣️ Deliberative Democracy: So What for Scrutiny? 🗓 Date: Fri 20 Sep 2024 ⏰ Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM BST Are you a scrutiny practitioner looking to unlock the potential of deliberative democracy? Join us for an engaging session exploring how innovative approaches, like citizens' assemblies, can revolutionize public engagement and strengthen the scrutiny process. Hear directly from an expert panel about their experiences using these methods to tackle challenges and build consensus. We'll also explore how these approaches can be integrated into your scrutiny work, providing practical tools and insights. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your toolkit and connect with like-minded practitioners! 🛠️✨ 👉 Register here https://lnkd.in/erZQ8y_y #DeliberativeDemocracy #Scrutiny #PublicEngagement #CitizensAssemblies #LocalGovernment #Governance #LearningEvent #PeerLearning #ExpertPanel

4

The 🇪🇺 Digital Services Act is an open gov exemplar on paper, but how will it fair in practice? This week, Open Government Partnership co-hosted a roundtable to discuss how to establish a multi-stakeholder approach to effectively enforce the #EU #DigitalServicesAct (DSA) with Centre for Democracy & Technology Europe and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024. I joined a high level panel to discuss human rights centred compliance and enforcement of the DSA. On paper, the DSA exemplifies an open government approach to tackle disinformation and harmful online material; e.g., it requires: 🔍 Transparency – of online advertising, recommender systems and content moderation decisions; 💬 Participation – via user complaint systems, trusted flaggers and the involvement of civil society in expert groups; 👩‍⚖️ Accountability – with the EU Commission & national Digital Service Coordinators mandated to enforce requirements; and, 🗣 Inclusion – with a focus on addressing gender-based violence, protecting children's’ rights and addressing threats to fundamental freedoms. But strong regulation amounts to little with poor enforcement, so what happens next is all important. With that in mind, I outlined a few lessons from #opengov for the implementation of the DSA: 🤝 Multi-stakeholder – EU x regulator x civil society x researcher collaboration should be at the heart of implementation to ensure DSA enforcement benefits from the many valuable roles citizens, researchers & CSOs can play; 🏗 Structured dialogue – clear, well-structured & jointly owned processes for ongoing dialogue between stakeholders involved in enforcement need to be created to enable effective participation; 🚧 Low barriers – the cost of participation – whether submitting complaints, being a trusted flagger, or taking part in expert groups – should be kept as low as possible; 💶 Funding – civil society is under funded and overstretched, so institutions should explore how additional resources can be channeled to CSOs to provide vital roles of oversight and expert advice; 👋 Outreach – the impact of disinformation, hate speech and other online harms is unequally distributed, so institutions should specifically engage with CSOs representing the rights of impacted & marginalised groups; 💼 Lobbying transparency – lobbying by tech platforms at an EU or national level must be fully transparent & not result in weakened enforcement; 🔄 Feedback – feedback mechanisms need to be established to ensure citizens and civil society know how their contributions are being dealt with – whether submitting complaints or providing high-level expert input – and trust that their involvement is worthwhile. Final thought... OGP action plans and multi-stakeholder processes could be a great opportunity for the 20 EU member states in OGP to co-create implementation and enforcement of the DSA at a national level.

68

Join Open Ownership and Open Data Services Co-operative for a community call on Wednesday 25 September to help guide the development of the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard, learn about new sources of beneficial ownership data and hear about our work to update our open source tooling https://lnkd.in/eideD_k2 #beneficialownership #openstandards

12

The final BEREC cloud and edge computing report has been just published and can be found here: https://lnkd.in/d3XwXWg8 . We really welcome the valuable contributions received and thank all the stakeholders for the time and effort to provide their inputs.   The comments and suggestions received are summarized in the public consultation report where we also aim to clarify how BEREC has considered them and reflected around the different issues raised during the consultation. Direct link here: https://lnkd.in/dbp6qD77     Namely, main repeated comments from different contributors and the corresponding BEREC clarifications regard to: i) The scope of the regulatory framework due to telco/cloud convergence and level playing field; ii) Telco’s competitive advantage for edge deployment; ii) The scope of the Data Act; iv) Impact of cloudification on ex ante market regulation; v) Development of cloud products to meet network virtualization needs and vi) Licencing Practices.   Enjoy the reading! 

47

4 Comments

Looking forward to chairing this session for PLMR Genesis colleagues next week, with an expert panel discussing what may happen in the polls coming July 4th & what the East of England needs from a new administration. Sign-up details below if you want to listen in! #politics #policy #publicaffairs #eastofengland

1

Check out this podcast from Sookio to hear from Adam Robertson, Sue Keogh and me about how we're making government forms easier to use and quicker to process using the new GOV.UK Forms platform. https://lnkd.in/dwzrdn2B Government Digital Service

7

"Fifth, we provisionally find both Apple’s and Google’s product design choices about when, whether and how users make certain decisions about mobile browsers, also known as choice architecture, are making it significantly harder for users to drive competition by actively choosing which mobile browser they use."

24

1 Comment

I hope that the probable next government (with ministers "advised" by Sue Gray) does not let up on the pressure from current Ministers to identify who was responsible for what and when, with regard to the problems with the Post Office, from digital competence to corporate and political governance and decision -taking. Until this is done can we have confidence that lessons (other than to do a better cover up) have been learned? #labdig40

2

The US presidential/ UK PM debates have never taken place in the same week, let alone consecutive days. Setting aside which was the more entertaining (easily US) – a few thoughts on how the different broadcast formats affected the coverage and impacted the viewer: ⏳ Ground rules & visuals Contrasting with the BBC's looser approach, #CNN set explicit rules of engagement, everything from response times, microphone control and stage positioning. The split screen close-up camera effect was revealing – Biden pensive then growing in confidence and Trump looking increasingly needled as the debate progressed. If a similar technique was adopted for the UK debate, it wouldn't have benefited Starmer... 🔊 Moderation & questions Dana Bash and Jake Tapper led for CNN vs Mishal Husain alone for the #BBC. Two moderators enabled closer control and smoother transition through questions. Lack of audience in Atlanta meant a strangely sanitized atmosphere but removing audience reactions – along with the use of zoom-in – perhaps helps the viewer to focus more on the candidates and be less influenced by variables. The debate in Nottingham was less structured, giving both men – mainly Sunak – more chance to interrupt and go on the attack. There was also something very British about a willing audience stumbling through their questions amidst shouts of protest from outside! 🎯  Fact-checking Husain planted the flag early by highlighting BBC Verify and both candidates appealed to the service when disputed claims arose. She was also more assertive at clarifying statements and presenting official statistics especially during the immigration and fiscal debates. There was little pre-emptive or real time fact-checking in Atlanta, for which CNN are being heavily criticized. In the closing stages, the moderators struggled just to get the candidates – especially Trump - to engage with the question asked. Personal accusations, counter-claims and a ‘he started it’ line of attack increased as the debate wore on. As for the overall optics, Trump and Sunak appeared the more forceful and vigorous. Biden and Starmer will have to hope their more measured, statesmanlike performances are not overly perceived as tired or meek. #presidentialdebate #2024election

16

A sharp analysis of the current global political economy by Noah Smith. His insights align with two key policy papers we’ve released recently: Engines of Growth and Security and Prosperity: The Economic Case for a Defence Industrial Strategy. Both papers are available at www.thebusinesscouncil.ca.

44

The Global Digital Compact (GDC) wrapped last week and it offers a new multilateral digital governance reality. As we prepare for the WSIS+20 review next year, it is important we reflect on WSIS and what it may mean for the future of digital governance and the ability of stakeholders to participate in it. Here are my reflections about the future of digital governance in a post-GDC reality. https://lnkd.in/eeBvrwFu #governance #internet #GDC #WSIS #unitednations #multilateral #multistakeholder #internetgovernance #tech #China #humanrights

72

6 Comments

The UK's 'Grand Strategy' Delusion. In the event of a Labour Party victory in the forthcoming UK General Election a Strategic Defence Review will take place in 2025. Expect calls for a 'grand strategic debate' to analyse and explain the UK's rightful place in the world. But a new 'grand strategic' narrative will reveal nothing new and will serve merely to distract from the important task of acting grand strategically rather than merely talking about it. See my latest Substack essay, published today: https://lnkd.in/ekZFimDe

32