news story

8th June 2007

MP's Website nominated for Award

Northavon MP Steve Webb's website has been nominated for the prestigious New Statesman New Media Awards 2007. 

The New Statesman has been running its New Media awards since 1999, promoting sites that embrace new technology, fresh thinking and creative management.  The Elected Representative Award goes to the elected representative "who best uses new media technology to communicate with the electorate." 

Steve Webb's site was highly commended in these awards in both 2002 and 2004.

The MP regularly consults local people for their views via an e-mail group which has more than 5,000 members.  He has also recently started a blog, and set up profiles on the social networking sites Facebook and MySpace, so that he can be more easily accessible to younger constituents who are less likely to contact him through traditional routes such as by post, telephone or even email.

Steve Webb said:

"I am delighted to have been nominated for this award.  I aim to be as accessible to local people as possible, and I use my website as an important tool to keep my constituents informed.

"I also regularly consult local people for their views through more traditional methods such as leaflets as well as my e-mail group and my Facebook and MySpace sites. I believe in harnessing a mixture of old and new technology to provide the best possible service to my constituents.

"The people I represent, who pay my wages, have the right to know what I do in their name and on their behalf. The website is one way of making sure that they can do that. It is regularly updated, with details of local and national campaigns, my speeches and questions in Parliament, and information on how to get involved."

The prizes for the winning nominations in the New Statesman New Media awards will be presented in July.

Constituents can find out more about Steve Webb's e-mail consultations by going to his e-democracy page here.  If you are a Northavon resident, you can join the e-mail group by filling in your details in the "Join my e-mail group" box on the left hand side of this page.