Question

Does any Parish Council take public questions via Facebook or Zoom?

Answer 1

I've seen a number of Town Councils introduce it. Its has also enabled MPs, District, County, Borough Cllrs to join meeting and give a report and answer questions when the alternative would have been emailed report at best. Id look to introduce something if we had a internet enabled meeting room to do it properly. Id like to think in my remaining time we achieve that. Meetings should be open / transparent and accessible to all. We should be doing more to get people through door whether that be virtually or in person to watch and engage. If governent ever get get round to updating legislation I'd support hybrid meetings etc as well enabling actual elected members to benefit as well

Comments

Can't argue with the principle, but for a small council, the technology is just so expensive.

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And also time consuming for someone who has to be able, or authorised to reply to and respond to questions and comments on behalf of the council.

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It’s a classic example of cost benefit analysis.
If the skills don’t exist within the PC - you can guarantee they DO exist within the community.
Internet connectivity - £40/month
Streaming camera (one off) - £100-500 (depending on spec)

Fairly modest e pence to get online and streaming.
Easy to measure viewing stats (any council with existing streaming service could assist with viewer stats)
You’ll pretty quickly go from 0-1-2 people attending a physical meeting to literally 100s viewing livestream - that is what the stats tell us in my council.
Also - accessibility is a requirement of PSED and you won’t find a better demonstrable, quantifiable example of active outreach and engagement.
Yes, there is a cost but I’d wager 99% of councils have waste / inefficiency elsewhere which could make this a cost negative service upgrade.

To answer the question - yes, we do take questions direct during livestream

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Microphones?

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Incorporated within many available cameras.
We run a GoPro with media pack (which is quite grand sounding but is just a plug and play external mic)

All this tech gear is (relatively) really cheap, accessible and plug & play.

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We tried a hybrid meeting using a simple set-up such as this towards the end of the Covid period and it was a disaster. Nobody could hear what was being said.