What's in a name?

When the Scottish Parliament reconvened this week one of the first actions of the SNP minority administration was to change the name of the Scottish Executive to the Scottish Government. What’s in a name I hear you say?

To me (and this is a personal viewpoint), the word government implies more strongly an autonomous parliamentary institution than the term executive … and that is as near to a political opinion as we ever intend to get!

Actually, the real purpose of this entry was that the change of name reminded me of an excellent and thought-provoking white paper produced by Jerry Fishenden, Microsoft UK’s National Technology Officer, outlining a new vision for parliaments.

The white paper explores the innovative use of technology by the Scottish Parliament since its inception (and it is already over 10 years old). As the Scottish Parliament is a relatively ‘new kid on the block’ in parliamentary terms it was able to design in technology that would streamline the business processes associated with political administration and encourage more web-enabled interaction with citizens.

It is a successful, working example of how technology really can enable a parliament of the people for the people.

Posted by Ian