Path: oaktree.co.uk!psiuk-f4!psiuk-p4!uknet!psinet-eu-nl!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!transit.news.xs4all.nl!bullseye.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail From: Mark Goodge Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.gov.agency.csa,uk.legal,uk.people.disability,uk.people.support.cfs-me,alt.uk.law Subject: Result: Create new newsgroup uk.gov.social-security PASSES with option A (WITH optional clause) Followup-To: uk.net.news.config Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2001 16:24:39 +0000 Sender: Charles Lindsey as Deputy Control Approved: Charles Lindsey as Deputy Control Message-ID: X-Trace: mail2news.demon.co.uk 981047557 mail2news:27468 mail2news mail2news.demon.co.uk X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Mail2News-Path: news.demon.net!probity.mcc.ac.uk!nessie.mcc.ac.uk!clw.cs.man.ac.uk Lines: 296 Xref: oaktree.co.uk uk.net.news.announce:2100 uk.net.news.config:103076 uk.legal:46334 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Result: Create new newsgroup uk.gov.social-security PASSES with option A Summary - ------- Option A (Create group WITH optional clause) was preferred by a majority of voters to all other options, and exceeded the +12 margin over Option C (Status Quo). Therefore, Option A wins. ====================================================================== Voting closed at 23:59:59 GMT, 27th January, 2001 Proponent: David Turner Votetaker: Mark Goodge Distribution: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.gov.agency.csa,uk.legal, uk.people.disability,uk.people.support.cfs-me,alt.uk.law ====================================================================== The full results follow below in the following order: 1) Information on the ballot 2) Results 3) Individual Vote Details 4) Votetakers Comments 5) Voting and Appeal Guidelines 6) Rationale & Charter ====================================================================== Information on the ballot - ------------------------- The options on the ballot were: A: Create group WITH optional clause B: Create group WITHOUT optional clause C: Status Quo (Do not create group) The optional clause was: Posts attempting to label claimants or Civil Servants in a derogatory fashion will be treated as a violation of this charter, however labelling of government agencies and members of parliament is allowed. (The full charter, including the optional clause, can be found at the foot of this article) ====================================================================== RESULTS - ------- Brief Results List - ------------------- Multi-option votes in the uk.* hierarchy are decided by a two-stage procedure. All options are first compared with votes for Status Quo (SQ), and any which are not preferred to SQ by the required margin of 12 votes are eliminated. The remaining options, if any, are then evaluated by the Condorcet method. There were 37 votes cast. STAGE ONE: Option A was preferred to SQ (Option C) by a margin of 26 votes Option B was preferred to SQ (Option C) by a margin of 30 votes Therefore, all options proceed to a full Condorcet count. STAGE TWO: A was preferred to B by 18 votes to 14, with 5 abstentions or equal-rankings. A was preferred to C by 26 votes to 10, with 1 abstention or equal-ranking. Option A is therefore the Condorcet winner. Full Condorcet Tables - --------------------- Table 1 - Absolute Figures (Raw Preferences Grid) A B C A: Create group WITH optional clause [n/a] [ 18] [ 26] B: Create group WITHOUT optional clause [ 14] [n/a] [ 30] C: Do not create group [ 10] [ 3] [n/a] In this grid, each number represents the number of votes which were cast that preferred the option named in the number's row to the option appropriate to the number's column. For instance, 18 votes preferred Option A to Option B while 10 votes preferred Option C to Option A. Table 2 - Relative Figures (Opposite Comparison Grid) A B C A: Create group WITH optional clause [n/a] [ 4] [ 16] B: Create group WITHOUT optional clause [ -4] [n/a] [ 27] C: Do not create group [-16] [-27] [n/a] In this grid, each number represents the number of votes which were cast that preferred the option named in the number's row to the option appropriate to the number's column less the number of votes which were cast that preferred the option named in the number's column to the option appropriate to the number's row. For example, 16 more people preferred Option A to Option C than preferred C to A, and 27 more people preferred Option B to Option C than preferred C to B. The winning option in the absolute table is that where all the numbers in its row are higher than the number in the equivalent position in its column. The winning option in the relative table is that which has all positive numbers in its row and all negative numbers in its column. (On this ballot, this is Option A). ====================================================================== Individual Vote Details - ----------------------- Notes: 1. Voters were asked to rank the options from 1 (highest) to 3 (lowest). Equal rankings are allowed, and any unranked options are considered to be ranked below all ranked options. 2. Voters used a variety of different marks (or lack of them) to indicate unranked options. Irrespective of the actual character used, all unranked options have been represented in the table by '-' (dash). 3. The votes column shows the ranking given by the voter to each option. For example: A B C voter 1 1 2 3 voter 2 - 1 - Voter 1 ranked option A first, then B, and then C. Voter 2 ranked Option B first, and left the other options unranked. Name Email A B C - ---- ----- - - - Andrew Hodgson andrew?hodgsons@freeserve@oc@ku 1 2 3 Alistair Gunn palmersperry?yahoo@moc 1 2 3 Andrew Hartley andy?eastupham@freeserve@oc@ku 2 2 1 Andy Mabbett andy?pigsonthewing@gro@ku - - 1 Arthur Pye arthurpye@demon@oc@ku 2 1 3 astral alice alice?darkwave@gro@ku 1 2 3 Ben Whyte Ben?funky-badger@gro 1 2 3 Clive Martin clive?cmartin@demon@oc@ku 2 1 - Dave Lee dave?dizzydogs@oc@ku 2 1 3 Dave Hillam dave?hbarnet@freeserve@oc@ku 2 1 3 Dave Mayall david@mayall?ukonline@oc@ku 1 1 2 David Mahon dmahonUKGSS?amigo@oc@ku 3 1 2 David Turner dave?dach@freeserve@oc@ku 1 2 3 Doug Bollen doug?gingerbread@gro@ku 1 2 3 Hilde Fernandez hilde?borve@demon@oc@ku 3 1 2 James Coupe james?zephyr@gro@ku 2 1 1 J M KEMP James?none@gro@ku 1 2 - John Clark john@clark1?ntlworld@moc 1 2 3 John Underwood news?the-underwoods@gro@ku 1 2 3 John Ward John@Ward?iclwebkit@oc@ku 1 2 3 King Queen kq?kingqueen@gro@ku 1 2 3 martin mcgowan m@mcgowan?blueyonder@oc@ku 1 2 - Michael Farthing mf?cyclades@demon@oc@ku 3 1 2 Neil Fernandez ncf?borve@demon@oc@ku - 1 2 paul unnc?watman@clara@oc@ku 2 1 1 Paul Cummins tramlink?lineone@ten 1 1 - Pekka P Pirinen ppp?pirinen@demon@oc@ku 1 2 3 Philip Powell philip?blencathra@gro@ku 1 1 2 Richard G richard@g?ntlworld@moc 1 2 3 Richard Kettlewell rjk+vote-ukgss?sfere@greenend@gro@ku 3 2 1 Richard Letts richard-$vote$\??illuin@gro 1 2 - Tez Burke burkesworks?lineone@ten 2 1 3 Tigger puddytat?fsnet@oc@ku 1 - - Tom Harris t@harris?iname@moc 2 1 1 Tony tony?darkstorm@oc@ku 2 1 2 Trevor Sheppard trevor?thesheppards@freeserve@oc@ku 1 2 - {R} {R}?semolina@gro 1 2 3 There were no invalid votes. ====================================================================== Votetaker's Comments - -------------------- There was a relatively low turnout, but a problem on the Pipex mail servers meant that a number of early vote acknowledgements bounced. I re-sent all the bounced acknowledgements when the problem was fixed, and this time they all got through! ====================================================================== This vote was conducted by a neutral third party member of UKVoting. UKVoting is a group of independent votetakers who count votes on behalf of the uk.* hierarchy and other 3rd parties. The rules under which votes for the uk.* hierarchy are taken are posted regularly to uk.net.news.announce or can be found at the following URL: The UKVoting web pages can be found at There is a five day discussion period after these results are posted to uk.net.news.announce. Allegations of irregularity should be sent to control@usenet.org.uk. ====================================================================== Rationale and Charter from the CFV RATIONALE: uk.gov.social-security Current discussions on benefits happen in uk.legal and uk.gov.agency.csa however there are currently over 45 state benefits available, the uk.gov.social-security newsgroup would cover all social security and tax benefits. Voluntary organisation Gingerbread http://www.gingerbread.org.uk who offer support and advise to benefit claimants and lone parents are also backing the application for the creation of uk.gov.social-security. At present there is no newsgroup dedicated to people claiming state benefits. CHARTER: uk.gov.social-security This group is not government owned nor government moderated. Anyone interested will be welcome to participate in discussions about various benefits, which are paid by different government bodies, which form part of the UK's social security system. Discussions including, but not limited to the below are allowed. - - Helping people make claims for benefit & tax credits; - - Giving advice on which other benefits & tax credits people can claim; - - Giving support to claimants currently receiving benefits & tax credits; - - Information on procedures and schemes designed to help claimants gain/improve employment; - - How present and future social security laws effect claimants; - - Government plans to reform the welfare state; - - Administration and Philosophy of the Benefits System - - Discussion of overseas benefits systems will only be welcome where it occurs for purposes of comparison, or in relation to claimants moving between the UK and the countries concerned. Discussions relating to Government policies should take place in the relevant uk.politics.* group. Posts attempting to label claimants or Civil Servants in a derogatory fashion will be treated as a violation of this charter, however labelling of government agencies and members of parliament is allowed. Advertising Advertising is forbidden Binaries & Formatting Encoded binaries (e.g. pictures, compressed files, etc.) are forbidden. Such material belongs on a web or FTP site to which a pointer may be posted. Cryptographic signatures (e.g. PGP) may be used where authentication is important and should be as short as possible. Posts must be readable as plaintext. HTML, RTF and similarly formatted messages are prohibited. To see how to make your newsreader comply with this, read . 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