News
We have published course dates for staff training on the Training page.
Training offered by Learning and Development is free for Members’ staff to attend, the only cost from your end would be travel and accommodation. However these costs can be claimed back through IPSA.
Courses offered have been designed to develop and build skills in a range of core areas for Members’ staff.
“Should we be free to hate?” – ECPMF’s young writer competition ‘1000 words for freedom’
Darth Vader is a hater. For sure. Hate is where his strength and power comes from. His symbol is the death star.
Okay, it‘s fiction. Classic science fiction, actually.
In our world, the real world, most of the haters can be found in social media. There they hide behind a mask of anonymity. However more and more often they reveal themselves. Because they feel safe, because they think they have the right to say what they want to say.
Hate speech can be disturbing, embarrassing, frightening, destructive. So shouldn’t we just try to elimate it? By law? Or would that mean to eliminate also the freedom of expression? Isn’t it okay to express all our feelings? Should we be free to hate?
The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom is proud to announce this year’s competition for young writers. We ask you, young people under the age of 27, to write up to 1,000 words on the question: Should we be free to hate?
The contest is open for entries from 5th October 2017 to 31st December 2017.
For further information, please go to:
https://ecpmf.eu/news/awards/1000-words-ii-should-we-be-free-to-hate
The Retail Team have been in touch to tell us about some special offers for Members’ Staff in the House of Commons shops over the coming festive period.
They are offering 10% discount on Tue Nov 14th, 21st, 28th.
On Dec 6th There is a Christmas Fayre in Westminster Hall with chance to sample some of their products.
UK Parliament Week 2017 starts today!
Find out more at https://www.ukparliamentweek.org
If you’re in Westminster, there will be a lot of activity in Portcullis House and Westminster Hall throughout the week. Have a look at what’s happening near you, this year’s festival highlights, and don’t forget to tweet using the hashtag #UKPW17.
Every month Health Assured, who are the Parliamentary Health Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provider, send out a newsletter to staff.
This month’s is now online. In it you’ll find features about Movember -, a report on this year’s National Stress Awareness day, and an article about Armistice Day and its significance.
Read the November Newsletter (PDF)
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/
Or refer to the Mental Health Guidance and Toolkit on Parlinet
The Commons Diversity and Inclusion team has a very useful resource for MPs and their staff on dealing with disability and mental health issues encountered when conducting their work either at Parliament or in their constituencies.
In conjunction with RADAR, they have published a comprehensive guide, which can be found on the intranet
It contains information on:
There is also an MP and Staffers’ Guide to Mental Health which provides practical tips and advice on how Members and their staff can support constituents with mental health problems, and where to signpost them. Members and their staff often come into contact with constituents in distress either at surgeries or through emails and telephone calls, and this Guide provides information and guidance on how to deal with these difficult situations:
From The Guardian:
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have urged staff and researchers working in Westminster to come forward about sexual harassment or assault in parliament after reports emerged of allegations on a WhatsApp group.
The prime minister’s spokeswoman said reports of a WhatsApp group where female staff and researchers in Westminster shared information about MPs and ministers who have behaved inappropriately were “deeply concerning”.
The WhatsApp group of Westminster staffers is reported by the Sun newspaper to have named senior politicians they did not feel safe around.
The Table Office is replacing the current e-tabling application, which is reaching the end of its useful life.
We’re introducing a new way to submit questions online. This is the first of many easy-to-use services that will sit within the new digital Member hub.
The Member hub will allow Members and their authorised staff to submit parliamentary questions using their own secure logins.
They will also be able to search, track and review the progress of questions, as well as receive automatic alerts (for example, notification of cards or shuffle results).
Further services – such as tabling and adding names to motions – will follow, making the Member hub a central place to manage services online.
Keep an eye out for the drop-in training sessions in the Procedural Hub and Table Office.
Ask about pre-registration or find out more by contacting tableoffice@parliament.uk
Many staff will make regular use of theyworkforyou.com, the site developed by mySociety. They’ve just posted a detailed explanation of how they operate, as there have been some comments that the site is somehow biased or distorted.
It’s worth a read.
‘TheyWorkForYou strives to be unbiased, reliable and truthful. Here’s how‘.
Gresham College has hosted free public lectures for over four hundred years, on a wide range of topics, not just politics and economics, but also history, science, the arts, and much more.
Not only is it possible to attend the lectures in person, but the college has recorded all of the lectures since the 1980s, and over 1,900 of them are freely available on their website, in text, audio and visual formats.
This is a marvellous resource of fascinating information and definitely worth a look.
Their website is here: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/