Home : Networking : News

MPs move meetings online

Politicians trial web conferencing to reduce environmental and financial impact of face-to-face meetings.

By Nicole Kobie, 5 Jun 2007 at 15:07

While it's not likely to mean the Houses of Parliament go virtual, MPs have been trialling the use of online meetings to cut travel and costs - with an eye on being green ahead of today's World Environment Day.

Conservative MP Nick Hurd and Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams have been using WebEx conferencing tools to cutback on unnecessary face-to-face meetings.

"As MPs, we are constantly having meetings with constituents, colleagues and other stakeholders. Many of these face-to-face meetings are necessary, but many are not," said Hurd, the MP for Ruislip and Northwood.

While the move could save money and benefit the environment, it also increases access to politicians for their constituents. "Nothing can replace my traditional surgery, but this means that even when I have to be in London, I can have meetings with my constituents who are over 230 miles away," said Williams, the MP for Ceredigion.

The two MPs have called on colleagues to follow their lead. "If all MPs took advantage of online meeting technology, it would be a significant step in reducing thousands of travel miles and the associated carbon emissions," said Hurd.

According to a YouGov study sponsored by WebEx, it's a move most UK employees will back. The study found that workers believe a third of the average 91 face-to-face meetings they attend a year are a waste of time and travel. But less than five per cent of meetings currently take place online.

"UK businesses also need to wake up to the fact that overloading their employees with unnecessary meetings is not only damaging the environment, it's reducing productivity, increasing stress levels and creating a poor work-life balance," said Bert van der Zwan, WebEx vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Indeed, over a quarter of the survey's respondents sad that cutting back on in-person meetings will boost their productivity.

"It's not about replacing face-to-face meetings altogether. It's about considering which meetings don't need to be done in person and using online technology to have effective meetings from anywhere," van der Zwan added.