The next three constituency events will be in Birmingham on 2nd February and Swansea on 9th February and are open to constituency staff.

To book your place please email constituencystaffopenday@parliament.uk at least a week before each event (preferably earlier).

Full details here.

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/

The new Serjeant  at Arms will be Mohammed Amal (Kamal) El-Hajji, who is currently Head of Front of House and VIP Relations at the Ministry of Justice. He will take over from Bob Twigger, who has been acting Serjeant at Arms since Lawrence War’s retirement last September.

Described in The Times as ‘a philosophy-loving Moroccan with a black belt in karate’,  Kamal told Commons Monthly “I am deeply honoured and privileged to be selected for this historic role, which dates from 1415. I look forward to taking up duty and following in the footsteps of previous illustrious Serjeants at Arms in serving Parliament.”

For more see Commons Monthly on the Parliamentary Intranet

The Institute For Government has released a new archive of interviews with former government ministers.

The project, Ministers Reflect, publishes interviews of ministers describing what their work is like – what the challenges are, how they make themselves most effective, and what more is needed to help them work productively towards their policy objectives. The Institute For Government aims to demystify for the public the roles and duties of ministers, in this way ‘promoting effective political leadership’ and helping the government function more effectively.

The archive currently contains interviews from 2010-2015 government with ministers who are no longer in office, and therefore so far has only Conservative and Lib Dem ministers. But this is an ongoing project, and more interviews will be added in the future.

Find the project here.

Other Institute For Government projects:

Contemporary History of Whitehall
The Challenge of Being a Minister

The latest version of the Members’ Personal Safety Leaflet is now available on the intranet. This is not just for Members; it’s vital that their staff read it as well. W4MP can’t emphasise strongly enough the importance of your reading this and taking appropriate action.

This 7-page leaflet provides detailed information for Members on personal safety and that of family and staff.

 

The Electoral Reform Society is calling on people to write to their MP calling for the extension of the franchise to 16/17 year olds in the EU referendum.

Here’s the email – you might see some correspondence as a result.

EMAIL FROM ELECTORAL REFORM SOCIETY

On Tuesday, MPs will decide whether to give 16 and 17 year olds a vote in the upcoming EU referendum.

The Scottish independence referendum showed once and for all that 16 and 17 year olds are more than capable of taking important political decisions. Three-quarters of them voted and 97% said they would do so in the future. They accessed more information than any other age group, and registered in their thousands. Find out more about their success.

Now we have the chance to extend that energy to the EU referendum. Please write to your MP today in support of votes at 16.

You may have missed it, but as things stand, 16 and 17 year olds will be able to take part in the EU referendum: last month, the Lords backed votes at 16 in the referendum.

But now the Bill is coming back to the House of Commons, so it’s down to MPs whether to keep or remove that decision. And it could be a close one.
ENDS

Bond, the UK network of NGOs has some new advocacy training courses that which are taking place in January. They have sent us this note:

Working with experienced campaigner and trainer, Jenny Ross, we’ve totally updated the material to make it as relevant and useful as possible based on feedback from previous trainings, and it’d be great to have any more researchers join us. They’re competitively priced and I’m confident they’ll help researchers help with work they’re doing, as they have in the past.

The Introduction to Advocacy course is taking place on Monday 18 January and is perfect for anyone who is new to advocacy and campaigning or works closely with advocacy colleagues, MPs or civil society. This course takes participants through the process of developing an advocacy strategy and how to make choices about the appropriate approach and tactics.

More information at https://www.bond.org.uk/learning/introduction-advocacy

How change happens: demonstrating the impact of your advocacy is a new 2 day course taking place on 19 and 20 January, and is for those responsible for design and delivery of campaign strategies or leaders of campaigns and advocacy work within an organisation. The course has been developed in response to lots of our members telling us they want to be equipped to develop a theory of change and integrate effective monitoring and evaluation as part of strategy development and planning.

More information at https://www.bond.org.uk/learning/how-change-happens-demonstrating-impact-your-advocacy

The next three constituency events will be in Liverpool (10 November), London, for staff in the south east region (17 November), and Bristol (8/9 December [tbc]) and are open to constituency staff.

To book your place please email constituencystaffopenday@parliament.uk at least a week before each event (preferably earlier).

The new ‘ten things the library can do for you leaflet’ is now on w4mp, with useful tips on getting the most from this amazing resource.

Read more

• Members and Constituency Etiquette
• What should you do if your MP is visiting another MP’s constituency?
• Which MP should deal with someone in prison?
• Who should deal with people living abroad?

The answers to these and other questions can be found in the House of Commons Library’s Standard Note on Members and Constituency Etiquette, which can be found here:

http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN02028

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

Precision Farming

Precision farming uses technology to improve efficiency. It offers benefits for yields, profits and the environment. However, uptake by farmers has been slow. This POSTnote describes precision farming methods, adoption and factors influencing it, and future practices.

Trends in Compulsory Education

This POSTnote focuses on trends in UK compulsory education and outlines where trends differ between individual nations.

Trends in Crime and Criminal Justice

This POSTnote describes crime patterns, and highlights issues with crime measurement and data. It also identifies key developments in the criminal justice system.

Deep Sea Mining

In March 2013, the Prime Minister said that deep-sea mining could be worth £40bn to the UK over the next 30 years. This briefing summarises the framework governing activity in international waters. It also describes the mineral deposit types being considered and the proposed extraction methods, potential environmental effects and mitigation options.

If you wish to leave feedback on any of our POSTnotes, please complete this short survey, which will provide us with valuable feedback for future publications.