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Merge pull request #640 from alphagov/update-petition-standards
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Update the petition standards
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@pixeltrix
pixeltrix authored Dec 20, 2017
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100 changes: 76 additions & 24 deletions app/views/pages/help.html.erb
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<h2 id="petitions-committee">The Petitions Committee</h2>

<p>The <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/petitions-committee">Petitions Committee</a> can:</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/petitions-committee">Petitions Committee</a> can:</p>

<ul class="list-bullet">
<li>write to you for more information</li>
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<h2 id="standards">Standards for petitions</h2>

<p>We’ll only reject your petition if it’s:</p>
<p>Petitions must call for a specific action from the UK Government or the House of Commons.</p>

<p>Petitions must be about something that the Government or the House of Commons is responsible for.</p>

<p>Petitions can disagree with the Government and can ask for it to change its policies. Petitions can be critical of the UK Government or Parliament.</p>

<p>We reject petitions that don’t meet the rules. If we reject your petition, we’ll tell you why. If we can, we’ll suggest other ways you could raise your issue.</p>

<p>We’ll have to reject your petition if:</p>

<ul class="list-bullet">
<li>similar to an existing petition</li>
<li>not clear what you're asking for</li>
<li>about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not responsible for</li>
<li>about something that’s the responsibility of a devolved body (eg the Scottish Parliament)</li>
<li>about a purely personal issue</li>
<li>confidential, libellous, false or defamatory</li>
<li>contains language that may cause offence, or is provocative or extreme in its views
deceptive or misleading</li>
<li>advertising or spam</li>
<li>nonsensical, or a joke</li>
<li>party political</li>
<li>about honours or appointments – there’s a different way to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/honours">nominate someone for an honour</a></li>
<li>breaks the law or violates intellectual property rights</li>
<li>covered by a court order, injunction or is about a case that’s active in the UK courts</li>
<li>potentially confidential, commercially sensitive or might cause someone distress or financial loss</li>
<li>names people working in public bodies (except for senior management)</li>
<li>names family members of elected officials or people working in public bodies</li>
<li>names someone who has been accused of a crime, or contains information that may identify them</li>
<li>a Freedom of Information (FOI) request – there’s a different way to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request">make an <abbr title="Freedom of Information">FOI</abbr> request</a></li>
<li>
<p>It calls for the same action as a petition that’s already open</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It doesn’t ask for a clear action from the UK Government or the House of Commons</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It’s about something the UK Government or House of Commons is not responsible for.</p>
<p>That includes: something that your local council is responsible for; something that another Government (such as the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government or the Northern Ireland Executive) is responsible for; and something that an independent organisation has done.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It’s defamatory or libellous, or contains false statements</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It refers to a case that’s active in the UK courts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It contains material that may be protected by an injunction or court order</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It contains material that could be confidential or commercially sensitive</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It could cause personal distress or loss. This includes petitions that could intrude into someone’s personal grief or shock without their consent.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It accuses an identifiable person or organisation of a crime</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It names individual officials of public bodies, unless they are senior managers</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It names family members of elected representatives, eg MPs, or of officials of public bodies</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It asks for someone to be given an honour, or have an honour taken away. You can nominate someone for an honour here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/honours">www.gov.uk/honours</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It asks for someone to be given a job, or to lose their job. This includes petitions asking for a vote of no confidence in someone and petitions calling for someone to resign.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It contains party political material</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It’s nonsense or a joke</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It’s an advert, spam, or promotes a specific product or service</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It’s a Freedom of Information request</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It contains swearing or other offensive language</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It’s offensive or extreme in its views. That includes petitions that attack, criticise or negatively focus on an individual or a group of people because of characteristics such as their age, disability, ethnic origin, gender identity, medical condition, nationality, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>If we reject your petition, we’ll tell you why. If we can, we’ll suggest other ways you could raise your issue.</p>

<p>We publish the text of petitions that we reject, as long as they’re not illegal, offensive or confidential.</p>
<p>We publish the text of petitions that we reject, as long as they’re not:</p>
<ul class="list-bullet">
<li>defamatory, libellous or illegal in another way;</li>
<li>about a case that is active in the UK courts or about something that a court has issued an injunction over;</li>
<li>offensive or extreme;</li>
<li>confidential or likely to cause personal distress. That includes petitions that could intrude into someone’s personal grief or shock without their consent; or</li>
<li>a joke, an advert or nonsense.</li>
</ul>

<p>If you have any other questions, please <%= link_to 'get in touch', feedback_path %>.</p>

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