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Online help: can the web set the political agenda?

By Felicity Ussher

Published: Wednesday 21 June 2000

Getting the UK government to recognise that an online public consultation on domestic violence is worthy of its attention wasn't difficult.

Prime Minister Blair already sees the internet as a way of improving contact with the electorate, and the Home Office is adamant that domestic violence must be stopped. So it was no surprise when Tessa Jowell, minister for women, yesterday promised to take action on the findings of the Womenspeak web project.

The tricky part was setting up the online forum to begin with. Abused women have an extremely low profile in society and it took a month's work for a full-time employee of the Hansard Society to reach them.

What's more, there was no money to be made from the site, so the only way of funding it was by ploughing through long lists of potential sponsors.

Fortunately, BT, KPMG and Unify stepped into the breach. But this does beg an important question: what is the point of politicians recognising that social inclusion and the internet can go hand in hand if they don't identify ways of financing the partnership?

The market is not going to provide the answers. It is busy making its money from high-income customers who use the web to buy things and research their entertainment needs.

In the meantime, the survivors of domestic violence who took part in Womenspeak don't want the forum to be shut down, following the end of the research project. For them, it has become a vital support network that is about living, not buying.

Debates on social inclusion must lead to public policy that either subsidises projects such as these, or regulates a market that is currently focussed only on the upper end of the social scale.

But in the meantime, pull out your wallets or chat to your sponsorship manager. Margaret Moran, chair of the All-Party Committee on Domestic Violence, wants to set up a similar website for the children of abusive relationships - and desperately needs your help to do so.