Summer Tips for IT Services

Standard

The Parliamentary Digital Service has kindly offered some advice for maintaining consistent, simple and relatively secure access to your Parliamentary IT services over the summer recess.

Easier access to your services via Microsoft 365

Thanks to Microsoft 365, you can access your email and calendar in the following ways:

1.       On any Parliamentary supplied laptop or desktop connected to the internet, just open Outlook.

2.       On any computer or tablet, go to office.com, click ‘Sign In’ at the top-right corner of the screen, and enter your normal username, password and PINSafe code.

Is your password going to expire?

If you’ve not changed your password in the last month, please do so before going on leave – this will ensure that it doesn’t expire over the summer and impact access to your Parliamentary ICT services.

To change your password, you should be logged into your network account on a Parliamentary supplied laptop or desktop, press CTRL + ALT + DEL and select ‘Change a Password’.

Please ensure that you use a strong password – one that uses a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

Working away from the Parliamentary Estate and abroad

Avoid using Wi-Fi networks that are not password protected, especially those in public places.

If you do need to connect to publicly accessible Wi-Fi, avoid logging in (entering user names and passwords) to banking, social media and other sites containing sensitive information.

If you use a Parliamentary iPad abroad, please see the attached document for advice about security and data roaming. This advice is also useful for personal iPads and smartphones.

Please note that passengers flying into or out of the UK are advised to ensure electronic and electrical devices in hand luggage are sufficiently charged to be switched on (to comply with airport security checks).

 We also recommend you visit the cyber security ParliNet pages for additional guidance.

What it’s like to work for an MP: Video

Standard

Last November 2015 the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London hosted a Perspectives on Parliament event about the real life of MPs’ staff.

Janet Walker, Chief of Staff to Tom Tugendhat MP,  gave a candid insight into what it is really like ‘in the thick of it’, discussing the trials and tribulations faced by MPs staff and the vital skills they need to succeed.

Perspectives on Parliament events give an insight into Parliament’s people, processes, offices, history and culture. They will also give an insight into how Parliament scrutinises specific policy areas. These events are held at universities and higher education institutions across the UK.

PIL Survey

Standard
The Parliament and Constitution centre (PCC) of the House of Commons Library is currently undertaking a project to review the Parliamentary Information Lists (PILs).

PILs are compiled by the House of Commons Library to provide reference information/data on a number of topics including bills, committees, debates, divisions, the House of Commons, Parliament and procedure. The aim of the project is to see how relevant the lists are and how user friendly they are in light of the different technologies available to view and receive information about the lists.

Whether you use the PILS to support a query from your MP or are new to them, they would like to hear from you and they  would be really grateful if you could take a few moments to complete this quick survey to get your views and feedback regarding the PILs.

Please use this link to start the survey

Written questions and Departmental responsiveness

Standard

 The House of Commons Procedure Committee has published its latest report monitoring the timeliness of Departments in answering written questions from MPs.

Monitoring of performance

The Committee has found a general increase in the performance of departments across the board. Nine in ten standard questions for written answer are now answered within five sitting days, while over eight in ten priority questions are answered on the day the MP has specified.

The Committee acknowledges the general improvement in performance by Departments, but notes that some departments — the Home Office, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Energy and Climate Change — were performing well below expectations in the last Session.

The Committee is now able to monitor Departmental performance more regularly, and in the last session invited Home Office and DCMS Ministers to discuss the action taken by their Departments to reduce delays in answering questions tabled by MPs.

Sign up for Care Quality Commission Alerts

Standard

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest health and social care inspections in your constituency, then sign up for their email alerts, and they will send you an email once a week with the details of their activity in your area, including:

  • services they have started inspecting
  • new inspection reports they’ve published.
  • Where they’ve published a new report, you’ll be able to click on a link in the email to read it straightaway.

Sign up here: http://www.cqc.org.uk/cqc-subscriptions/subscribe/english-constituency

Commons Library EU referendum hub updated

Standard

The Commons Library has updated its EU referendum hub. The hub includes pre and post-Brexit briefing papers which set out the background to the EU Referendum as well as analysis and comment after the result.   There is also a comprehensive reading list bringing together relevant books, articles and think tank and parliamentary publications relevant to the subject.

 Brexit: What happens next

Now that the UK has voted to leave the EU, what will happen next? This Commons Library briefing paper looks at the immediate consequences of the vote and some of the longer term implications.

 Information includes:

  • Is the voting binding?
  • Will EU law still have effect in the UK?
  • Will the UK still contribute to the EU Budget?
  • Will immigration be affected?
  • Next steps: UK action
  • Next steps: EU action
  • Could Scotland stay in the EU?
  • Legal process

Other recent papers

Where to find these papers

Hard copy

You should be able to find many of these in displays around the Estate (including Norman Shaw North and South, 1 Parliament Street and Tothill Street Cafe)

 Digital

Remembering Jo Cox MP

Standard
Jo Cox MP

Jo Cox MP

Jo Cox was a great woman, an effective Parliamentarian, a committed constituency MP, a loving wife and mother, and a friend to so many people. Her murder has shocked us all, and our sympathy is with her family, staff, colleagues and friends.

The analysis and search for an explanation for what happened continues, with much reflection about the corrosive nature of our polarised political environment; the impact of a social media sphere where racism, sexism, homophobia and hate speech run unchecked; and of course the charged atmosphere around the European referendum.

None of these explanations will change the tragic reality that Jo Cox was killed doing her job. And this will have a special significance to readers of W4MP. Today, and next week, and the week after, many of you will be helping run constituency surgeries, playing your part in one of the most important aspects of our parliamentary democracy and keeping MPs involved in the lives of those they represent.

We all have the right to work without feeling threatened, and nobody involved in the work of Parliament should have to feel that they are taking a risk as they go about their job. Jo Cox was attacked on her way to her surgery, and whatever we may wish, it’s clear that MPs and their staff do face real risks of harrassment and potential violence.

It’s not enough to offer advice on office security, though the measures recommended by the Police and Serjeant at Arms are sensible and well-considered. Nor is it acceptable to say to people who work for MPs that such risks ‘go with the territory’ – because they don’t, and we can never allow them to be normalised.

Physical violence is one end of a spectrum that begins with insults and threatening language or behaviour, and we need to demonstrate that even this is unacceptable, that it will not be tolerated or normalised or ignored, but will be challenged and exposed and stopped.

At w4mp we can help to share stories, and perhaps begin to push back against the intolerance and anger that has infected political discourse and the lives of those engaged in politics – on whatever side of the debate.

One way to begin is to talk more openly about what happens in your job, and perhaps share ideas about how to deal with difficult situations. We invite you to share your stories with us (email editor@w4mp.org) and we can post them on the site, anonymously if you prefer. It is a small thing, but a start.

And we will remember Jo Cox and celebrate her life and achievement.