Members’ offices are offered an opportunity to join an in-person briefing in Bristol with representatives of relevant services from across the House Administration and IPSA to find out more about the Dissolution Guidance and ask any questions they may have.
To register to attend, please email MST@parliament.uk
If your office receives a ‘copyright infringement notice’, please inform Tara Cullen in the Members’ Services Team immediately, and do not respond to the notice until you have discussed it with her.
MST is aware that there are also some scams going around at the moment, and it’s important to get them checked out. No genuine organisation will ask for payment in cryptocurrency. All scams and phishing attempts should be reported to PDS.
It’s very easy to find pictures on the Internet and copy them to use on your own website. However, in doing so, you could easily be infringing copyright, and the owner might seek compensation.
Paul Clarke has written a useful guide especially for w4mp on publishing pictures and avoiding rights issues, which you can find here: https://w4mp.org/w4mp/w4mp-guides/support-in-your-job/publishing-pictures-and-avoiding-rights-issues/
Did you know that the Members’ Services Team runs discussion forums on Teams for Caseworkers and those who have a management role in an MP’s office?
The Members’ Office Management Forum has a weekly meeting at 11:00 every Wednesday which is full of useful information and gives the opportunity to raise queries with representatives from the Parliamentary Digital Service, the Parliamentary Security Department, the Human Resources team, the House of Commons Library, the Vote Office and more. There are weekly guest speakers, including regular visits from IPSA. It also has a text chat facility for when you have quick questions to ask.
The Caseworker Discussion Forum hosts a monthly All-Staff Q&A which you can sign up for on ACT, and the text chat is always active.
If you would like to be added to either (or both) of these forums, please email MST@parliament.uk from your parliamentary network account, stating which MP you work for and your role in the office.
The PDS Local Engagement Team will be holding a 30 minute briefing on the importance of setting up Multi Factor Authentication on your personal accounts.
This is open to all Members and their staff.
It will be held on Thursday 27th April at 13:00
To book a place, please email localengagement@parliament.uk
The earlier issue with Internet access in Parliament has now been resolved. Please reboot your machine. If you are still having difficulties after rebooting your machine, please contact PDS.
| Date | Topic | How to sign up |
| Thursday 28 July 2pm | Cyber Security Briefing essential to understanding the risks and mitigations around cyber security for us all, both in and out of work | Registration form for webinar here |
| Friday 29 July 10am | Introduction to Microsoft Teamstips on using Teams as a tool to organise and communicate. Learn about chats, channels, calendar, calls and files | Registration form for webinar here |
| Tuesday 2 August 11am | Accessibility features demonstration from Microsoft Microsoft are running a session on how to use the inbuilt accessibility features on your Windows device and Microsoft365 applications | Email the Digital Service Accessibility Champions |
| Thursday 4 August 2pm | Introduction to SharePointtips on how to use SharePoint as a tool for creating, saving and collaborating on shared documents | Registration form for webinar here |
| Friday 5 August 10am | Introduction to OneDrivetips on how to use OneDrive as a tool for individual work, document storage and remote access to personal files | Registration form for webinar here |
| Thursday 11 August 2pm | Using Microsoft Outlook effectivelytips for managing your mailbox and getting the best out of available features | Registration form for webinar here |
| Friday 12 August 10am | Microsoft Plannerhow to use Planner to work collaboratively and manage team tasks, projects and work streams | Registration form for webinar here |
| Thursday 18 August 2pm | Introduction to Microsoft Teams tips on using Teams as a tool to organise and communicate. Learn about chats, channels, calendar, calls and files | Sign up for webinar here |
| Friday 19 August 10am | Cyber Security Briefingessential to understanding the risks and mitigations around cyber security for us all, both in and out of work | Registration form for webinar here |
| Thursday 25 August 2pm | Introduction to OneDrivetips on how to use OneDrive as a tool for individual work, document storage and remote access to personal files | Registration form for webinar here |
| Friday 26 August 10am | Introduction to SharePointtips on how to use SharePoint as a tool for creating, saving and collaborating on shared documents | Registration form for webinar here |
| Thursday 1 September 2pm | Microsoft Plannerhow to use Planner to work collaboratively and manage team tasks, projects and work streams | Registration form for webinar here |
| Friday 2 September 10am | Using Microsoft Outlook effectivelytips for managing your mailbox and getting the best out of available features | Registration form for webinar here |
Your mailboxes have a maximum size limit of 80gb. If you go over this, then you will no longer be able to receive incoming messages and the senders will get bounce messages.
To prevent this from happening, PDS is asking MPs and their staff to either delete or archive old messages. If you choose to archive them, then they will still be accessible to you; the archive size is unlimited.
To see how much of your mailbox you have used, right-click on your inbox folder and select ‘properties.
When the properties box appears, click on ‘folder size’ and then wait a few moments to calculate it. Look at the total size including subfolders and divide it by 1,000,000 to get the size in gb.
Even if you are not nearing the 80gb limit, it is good practice to delete unwanted emails or archive older ones that you may wish to refer to in future – it makes searching your inbox quicker, and archived emails take up less space. If you get into the habit of regular housekeeping – deleting or archiving emails as you go along – it makes your inbox much easier to manage, so go on, give it a go!
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/
PDS are offering virtual IT coaching sessions to MPs’ staff
PDS local engagement officers would normally travel to visit constituencies to assist MPs and their staff with training and general IT concerns but during the Covid 19 crisis their focus has changed to offer this support remotely.
You can now book a remote coaching session on a variety subjects including: Cyber Security, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and OneNote. Sessions are open to all, you can book for your team or take advantage of a 1-2-1 coaching session. Sessions last 45 minutes and are delivered at your own pace, no previous technical knowledge is required.
To find out more and book a session click here:
The extremely popular regional roadshows were suspended because of COVID-19. However, worry not, for the Customer Team has taken them online instead.
Rather than full day events, they have been broken down into 90-minute sessions, giving you a chance to learn about the range of services available, to influence future service provision and to share experience and knowledge with other staff working in your Region.
For full details, please go to the intranet page here: https://intranet.parliament.uk/business-news/news-current-issues/events/regional-constituency-events/
The current schedule is:
More dates will be added later.
There is no longer a Coronavirus Hub on the parliamentary intranet.
It contains everything you need to know about Parliament’s response to coronavirus, including how to work remotely, what services are available and how access has been affected. It is for Members of both Houses, staff in the Lords, Commons and PDS and people who work for MPs and Members of the House of Lords.