During September Westminster Hall debates will be relocated to Committee Room 10.
For the two weeks of the September sitting all sittings of the House in ‘Westminster Hall’ (the Grand Committee Room) will take place in Committee Room 10 on the Main Committee Corridor.
This is to allow stair-free access to these sittings to be maintained while works are carried out to the lift serving the Grand Committee Room. Sittings will return to the Grand Committee Room from October.
Today sees the launch of “Sex and Power 2014: Who runs Britain?” which shows just how little progress has been made on gender equality in the UK’s political institutions and suggests what the UK’s governments, parliaments, political parties and media should do about it.
Among the report’s key findings is that the House of Commons has slipped from 59th (in early 2010) to 65th (today) in the world ranking of parliaments for gender equality.
Just 22.7% of our MPs are women. And whilst the figure for some of the devolved parliaments is better – 41.7% of Welsh Assembly members are women, for example – the situation amongst political journalists is even worse. Over 91% of print and broadcast political editors are male.
Today’s report makes six recommendations for what must happen to change this situation. It was written by Counting Women In, a coalition of organisations including the Electoral Reform Society, the Centre for Women & Democracy, the Fawcett Society, the Hansard Society and Unlock Democracy.
Read the report (pdf)
Visit the Electoral Reform Society website
The New Statesman, in association with the Webb Memorial Trust has announced the 2014 Webb Memorial Trust Essay Competition for young people aged between 18 and 25.
This year’s question is: How can business reduce poverty?
For further information, please visit: http://bit.ly/1w8rkhZ
A free booklet exploring the history of Bertram Mackennal’s Parliamentary War Memorial is now available.
The booklet tells the fascinating but little-known history of the main memorial to MPs, Peers and staff who died in the First World War.
To download a free copy of the booklet, please click here.
“Parliament Clock Westminster” by Aldaron — Aldaron, a.k.a. Aldaron – Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parliament_Clock_Westminster.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Parliament_Clock_Westminster.jpg
Technicians will be cleaning and maintaining the Great Clock during the week of 18 August, and will be pausing the clock’s hands, so don’t rely on a quick glance out of the window to tell you if you’re on time for that important meeting! Apparently the chimes will continue, as we’re advised that the technicians – some of whom will be asbseiling down to clean the clock faces – have been issued with ear defenders.
More on the Parliament website
You may be interested in a special free online edition of Parliamentary Affairs, published by the Hansard Society in advance of the Scottish independence referendum. Parliamentary Affairs editors Professors Philip Cowley and Jonathan Tonge have brought together a series of articles from the archive, to form a special online ‘virtual’ edition that will be free until the end of November.
You can read it on the Parliamentary Affairs website.
On 23 and 24 September the Parliamentary Outreach Service will be delivering a 2 day training course as part of the ‘Training the Trainer’ programme at 14 Tothill Street, London SW1H 9NB.
The programme is based around a training resource which has been designed so that organisations are able themselves to deliver training and information about Parliament and how people can engage effectively. It consists of the following 11 modules and each module includes a session plan, presentation and group exercises. The modules are designed so that they can be delivered either in sequence or stand alone.
If you would be interested in attending this training and please complete the Application Form and return it to parliamentaryoutreach@parliament.uk .Places on this course are awarded according to how delegates plan to use the resource after the training with particular reference to reach, scope and sustainability so it is recommended to include as much detail as possible in the application.
The deadline for the application form is 22 August. The course is completely free of charge but the organisers ask that organisations sign a user agreement whereby they provide us with regular feedback as to how they are using the resource.
Please visit the website for further information about the course and additional dates and locations: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/outreach-and-training/train-the-trainer/
We have published a short introduction to Act – the Parliamentary Learning Management System – for new users, as it is being rolled out to all MP staff.
The guide is in the Training section of the site.
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has recently published the following two POSTnotes:
PDF, 4 pages, 291.8 KB
In the UK, 40-50% of children have at least one diagnosed allergy. The increased prevalence of allergies negatively impacts affected children’s quality of life and puts pressure on health services. This note discusses the causes and extent of allergic disease in childhood, examines the links between allergy, genetics and the environment and summarises current research.
View at https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-467/
PDF, 4 pages, 287 KB
Patient health records and other large scale medical and administrative datasets are increasingly being considered as a valuable tool for the study and improvement of health. This POSTnote examines the sources of data, their current and potential uses for health improvement, and the legal and practical issues raised by data use for public health or research purposes.
View at https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-474/
If you would like further information on these briefings or to receive hard copies please contact post@parliament.uk or 020 7219 8377.