Members of the public have a right to request access to information held by public authorities. The House of Commons and the House of Lords are separate public authorities. Requests for access to information should be directed to the relevant House which may hold the requested information.

Interested? All the information you need is here:  http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/foi/

The Information Commissioner’s Office is the UK’s independent authority set up to promote access to official information and to protect personal information. Further information about relevant laws is available on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.

This page – http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/  – provides access to research briefings produced by the Libraries of the House of Commons and House of Lords and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).

You can find research briefings by sorting by date, type, or one of 350 topics. Pick your options from the dropdown menus.

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has recently published the following POSTnotes.

1.  Organ Donation and Transplants ( PDF, 4 pages, 263.8 KB)

Transplants are the most effective treatment for organ failure. There is a need to increase the number of organs donated. The Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill passed by the National Assembly for Wales revises the current opt-in consent procedure for donations to deemed consent.

A new UK strategy sets out policy intended to improve organ transplant rates. This POST note examines this and other policies to increase the availability of donor organs in the UK.

2.  Autonomous Road Vehicles ( PDF, 4 pages, 412.8 KB)

Vehicles capable of driving without human intervention are rapidly moving up the policy agenda. Legislation in Nevada, California and Florida now means that they are being tested on public roads for the first time. This POST note reviews recent technological and policy developments in this area. It looks at how road safety, the environment and congestion could be affected, and examines barriers to adoption.

3.  Cosmetic Procedures ( PDF, 4 pages, 283.4 KB)

Cosmetic treatments are becoming increasingly popular in the UK. A review commissioned by the Department of Heath(DH) in response to the Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) breast implant scandal identified a range of concerns about the sector.

This POSTnote summarizes the procedures on offer, the factors driving the increase in demand and the health, ethical and regulatory issues that arise.

4.  Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis ( PDF, 4 pages, 270 KB)

Pre –implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), used in combination with IVF, allows families with a history of a serious genetic disorder to have a child unaffected by the condition. This POST note covers the applications of PGD in the UK and how the technology is regulated.

The main POST website is: www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/bicameral/post/.

If you would like further information on these briefings please contact post@parliament.uk or 020 7219 8377.

Wikipedia is an enormously useful resource and a growing number of MPs have their own pages – here’s a list of MPs for English constituencies  for example. For some time now Andy Mabbett, a well-known and hugely respected UK Wikipedian, has been asking people to record short voice samples for Wikipedia pages, so we can know what everyone sounds like.  It’s a worthwhile project and deserves support.

You can find all the details on Andy’s website, but the basic idea is simple:

Record the following, or a variation of their choice, with no background noise:

Hello, my name is [name]. I was born in [place] and I have been [job or position] since [year]

(but without mentioning Wikipedia!)

Then can convert the file to Ogg Vorbis using this free tool and then upload it to Wikimedia Commons, with an open-licence, with no “non-commercial (NC)” or “no derivatives (ND)” restrictions, (e.g. CC-By or CC-By-SA), and add the category “Voice intro project”.

Fancy a go?

No doubt yesterday’s Latest News (*) from W4MP involved an element of egg-sucking instruction to some of you know-alls out there.

So, to keep the theme of the week consistent, here’s a PQ from last week:

Procurement of Eggs

9. Thomas Docherty: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, what recent discussions he has had with the British Egg Council on the procurement of indigenous eggs for all catering purposes in the House of Commons. [900297]

John Thurso: None. However I understand that following representations from the hon. Gentleman and other members of the Administration Committee the Clerk of the House directed that from the return of the House fresh British eggs from vaccinated flocks be used to prepare omelettes and scrambled eggs in ‘to order’ outlets. For large-scale production of egg-based dishes, liquid pasteurised egg is used in line with industry best practice; this pasteurised egg will now be sourced from British producers.

From Hansard 12 Sep 2013 : Column 794W

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130912/text/130912w0001.htm#13091237000014.

* The one about Rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House

Just in case the boss isn’t up to speed on this, you – her/his minder – ought to know the rules. Updated in July 2013.

Click here to read the rules. This is a PDF (531KB).

 

Open Lectures are a series of free events taking a more in-depth look at Parliament and designed to build on people’s knowledge of how Parliament works.   You can read more about it here.

The first four are:

1. The Day Parliament Burned Down by Dr Caroline Shenton, Parliamentary Archives
   2.30pm, 16 October 2013 at Houses of Parliament, Westminster
2. Rt Hon John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons
   6.30pm, 31 October 2013 at University of Edinburgh
3. Rt Hon Baroness D’Souza, Lord Speaker
   4.30pm, 20 November 2013 at Houses of Parliament, Westminster
4. Public Bill Open Lecture by Various speakers examining the passage of legislation
   6pm, 21 November 2013 at  Queen Mary University of London

These lectures are part of a new package of services tailored for university staff and students but are open to anyone to attend. The lectures are made available by the Houses of Parliament’s Outreach Service, which seeks to spread awareness of the processes and relevance of the institution of Parliament.

Spaces at each Open Lecture are allocated on a first come first serve basis, so booking in advance is essential.

Contact details

If you are interested in attending an Open Lecture, please contact Parliamentary Outreach:
Tel:    020 7219 1650
Email: parliamentaryoutreach@parliament.uk

Full information and links: http://www.parliament.uk/open-lectures.

Please note that links to the old Parliamentary intranet have been removed as of October 2023. Please use search on ParliNet to find relevant current details, if available.

https://parlinet.parliament.uk/house-of-commons-members-staff/

---

A new section called Information Management has been added to the intranet to help Members and staff find useful resources about managing parliamentary information. It’s here.

The new Information Management section contains the following sub-sections:

• Managing Current Business Information – information and guidance on records management in Parliament, including the SPIRE system
• Information Security, Data Protection & FoI – here you will find guidance on Information Security, Data Protection and Freedom of Information
• Web and Intranet Services – information about how to edit the website or intranet, how we develop new features and the policy and strategy documents for Parliament’s online channels
• Archives – read about the Parliamentary Archives, Parliament’s collections of drawings and photographs, collections of books and official publications.
• Broadcasting – where to find archived coverage of debates, information on annunciators, rules on filming in the Palace.

Please send any feedback or questions to the Web and Intranet Service (x2010).

Here are the dates for the three major parties and some others in the period 8 September to 20 October:

• Trades Union Congress – 8 to 11 September, in Bournemouth
• Green Party of England and Wales – 13 to 16 September, in Brighton
• Liberal Democrats – 14 to 18 September, in Glasgow
• UKIP – 20 to 21 September, in London
• Labour– 22 to 25 September, in Brighton
• Conservatives – 29 September to 2 October, in Birmingham
• Plaid Cymru – 11 to 12 October, in Aberystwyth
• Scottish National Party – 17 to 20 October, in Perth

With acknowledgements to Wikipedia.