Welcome to Parliament (Members’ Staff Induction)

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Welcome to Parliament.

The new joiner induction sessions are now available to book via the ACT portal if you have a new joiner in your office, please share with them.

This session will welcome you to being part of the Parliamentary community and cover essential information from key House services that will help you to settle in and get off to a good start in your new role.

If you have not yet obtained your parliamentary network access and would like to book, please contact MST@parliament.uk


Time: 10:00 – 11:30
Date: 4 April 2024
Location: Online via MS Teams
Booking: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3240


Time: 10:00 – 11:30
Date: 9 May 2024
Location: Online via MS Teams
Booking: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3240


Time: 10:00 – 11:30
Date: 4 June 2024
Location: Online via MS Teams
Booking: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3240

The price of postage stamps will rise on 2 April 2024

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The price of Royal Mail postage stamps will rise on 2 April 2024 as follows:

  • A first-class stamp for a standard letter will rise to £1.35
  • The price of a second-class stamp for a standard letter will rise to £0.85

You can see the full details of these and other services here: https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2024-03/our-prices-april-2024-v1-ta.pdf

Constituency Casework Data and Dissolution

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The ICO is hosting a webinar for Members’ staff on Constituency Casework Data and Dissolution on Thursday 7 March from 2pm.

There will be an open Q&A session where you can ask any questions on this subject.

To attend, please visit this page and then follow the link to register:

https://parlinet.parliament.uk/information-resources/news-newsletters-notices/news/2024/february/preparing-casework-for-dissolution/

Taylor Bennett Foundation PR & Communications Training Programme

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The Taylor Bennett Foundation is a charity that exists to encourage people from a black, Asian and minority ethnic background to pursue a career in communications. Their award-winning PR Training Programme is a paid, full-time, eight-week training programme in Public Relations (PR) and Communications designed to equip participants from a Black, Asian & minority ethnic background with the relevant knowledge, insights and skills to work in the PR and communications industry.

They are now looking for applications for their latest round of traineeships, run in partnership with HSBC UK. The programme runs from May 20th – July 10th 2024.

To be eligible

  • You must be from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background.
  • You must be a graduate or graduated within the last three years. We accept applications from graduates who have studied any subject.
  • You must be strongly interested in pursuing a career in Public Relations (PR) and communications.
  • You must be a British national or have an immigration status that allows you to be employed in the UK at the end of the programme.

Full details can be found here: https://www.taylorbennettfoundation.org/pr-training-programme-candidates

Closing Date: 15 April 2024

CV Writing for Members’ Staff

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House of Commons Training Session

Course Overview

  • Explain what makes an effective CV
  • Structure and format their CV for maximum impact
  • Eliminate unnecessary information and material
  • Project confidence and a positive mindset through the words used
  • Amend and update their own CV to meet a Job or Person Specification
  • Enable participants to take a structured approach to writing job applications and build confidence in applying for roles

Sessions available on:

  • 4 March 2024 – 09:00 – 11:00
  • 11 March 2024 – 09:00 – 11:00
  • 21 March 2024 – 09:00 – 11:00
  • 26 March 2024 – 09:30 – 11:30
  • 5 April 2024 – 09:30 – 11:30
  • 10 April 2024 – 13:30 – 15:30

To book, please go here: https://parliament.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=2109

MPs’ Staff Survey on Wellbeing

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All MPs’ staff should have received an email inviting them to complete the Wellness Working Group annual survey on wellbeing.

If you haven’t already completed this important survey, w4mp strongly encourages you to do so as soon as possible – the closing date is Friday 19 January 2024.

If you are a member of staff and have not received the invitation, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk from your parliamentary network account and they will send you a link.

Navigating the new constituencies

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As we all know, the current set of parliamentary constituencies is being replaced for the next election and the borders of constituencies will change substantially.  And because boundary reviews are carried out by separate organisations for each nation that no-one officially produces a single dataset of all the new constituencies covering the whole UK.

However MySociety has done some great work pulling it all together and has created:

See their blog post for full details.

Boundary changes – how to find data about new constituencies – Caseworker Discussion Forum

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Time: 10:30 – 11:30
Date: Thursday 18 January 2024
Location: Virtual via Microsoft Teams

The January 2024 forum will be on the topic of Boundary changes: how to find data about new constituencies. We will be joined by staff from the Library’s Social and General Statistics Section.

To sign up, please go here: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/signup.php?s=16606

All-Staff Q&A Session December: Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Q&A

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Please join the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Advocacy Team, who will raise awareness of Disability Services, to support your constituents. The Team will cover the Access to Work (ATW) grant which supports people with a health condition or a disability to get into and retain work.   If you have a question you would like to pre-submit for the DWP please email MST@parliament.uk 

Time: 14:00 – 15:00
Date: Wednesday 20 December 2023
Location: Online Via Teams

For further information and to register, please go here: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=6017