Essential
New Information
Archive - Bulletins 1
to 50 (1 June 2001 to 25 Jan 2002)
This page
features new information - as we receive it. How
to find your way about, where you can get help and advice, details of briefing events,
etc.
If you have discovered any
new information which you feel other staff could use, let us know by using the website's Feedback Form.
Bulletins
1-50 Bulletins 51-100
Bulletins 101-150
Bulletins 151-200
Bulletins 201-250 Bulletins
251 onwards
Information Bulletin
50
The
House of Commons Commission, Audit Committee and the Board of
Management have new pages about their work on the PDVN.
These
include useful links and contact information.
The PDVN address is http://intra1.parliament.uk/bb/corporate/commission.htm
This is not available on the World Wide Web at present so if you
are a "remote" user of PDVN....keep trying. It can
be beaten into submission if you are persistent!
Posted 25 January
2002 |
Information Bulletin
48
Information
about MPs
Looking
for information about an MP? Click here
for a selection of websites to help you. Please tell us if
you know of a better website; use the Feedback
Form.
Posted: 14 January 2002
Revised: 28 January 2003 |
Information Bulletin
47
Webcasting
coverage begins on the internet of some debates
On
Monday January 14th
the House of Commons and House of Lords start 'webcasting' coverage
of some debates on the internet. This is a one-year pilot project
aimed at making the work of Parliament more accessible to people
unable to visit Westminster. The webcasts largely duplicate the
coverage already available on the Annunciator internal television
system and during this experimental period will not be accessible
via the PDVN.
However, viewing facilities are being installed in the
e-library of the House of Commons and the Queen's Room in the
Library of the House of Lords. These should be in place shortly.
Posted: 11 January 2002 |
Information Bulletin
46
Library
Courses for January and February 2002
Click
here for full details of
courses run by the Library for January and February 2002.
These include:
-
POLIS
Intranet,
-
Parliamentary
Sources on the Internet,
-
Library's
Intranet Pages,
-
Media
Sources,
-
Searching
the Parliamentary Intranet and
-
Searching
the Internet (WWW).
Posted:
4 January 2002
|
Information Bulletin
45
MAIL
ALERT
Message
from Serjeant at Arms Dept. Sent
2.14pm Thursday 3 January 2002
"In
the past 24 hours, we have had two incidents of a white, powdery
substance inside
envelopes addressed to The House of Commons.
(These have turned out to be a hoax).
However, Members and staff should be alert for any
envelopes, particularly with a Glasgow postmark with an address
label that has been hand-made and then stuck on.
The font style on the envelope is Arial, size 12, block
capitals.
"Any
envelopes of this type should be put to one side and Security
Control informed on extension 5311.
"In
addition, Royal Mail will be taking all steps to ensure that these
envelopes are separated from Parliamentary Mail before they
arrive on the Parliamentary Estate.
"Please
pass on this message to colleagues as appropriate." Posted: 3 January 2002
|
Information Bulletin
44
The
"despatch box" is open
If you work at Westminster you have probably
already visited the recently opened new coffee bar called 'the
despatch box' in the courtyard area of Portcullis House, which
offers a range of espresso based drinks such as latte, cappuccino
etc. in addition to tea and hot chocolate, and a limited range of
cold drinks. A limited range of snacks will also be available.
There's a small seating area for 'despatch box' customers to use.
The opening times from Return of
House on Tues 8th Jan will be: Mon to Thurs 8am - 6pm and Fri 8am -
5pm
If you are visiting from a
constituency office, this new facility provides a useful quick
alternative to The Debate self-service restaurant. While you
are visiting, don't forget to check out the excellent facilities in
the eLibrary, the Post Office and the Vote Office which are all
nearby on the Ground Floor of Portcullis House.
Posted: 3 January 2002 |
Information Bulletin
43
Parliamentary
Education Unit
The Parliamentary Education Unit provides the following
services for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords:
- The answering of enquiries from teachers and young
people
- Liaison with educational bodies and organisations
- Occasional visits to schools, teachers' conferences,
etc.
- The provision of resources about Parliament's work
Click
here for a preview of their page on the
World Wide Web or here
to go live to the page. It can also be accessed via PDVN; go to
Site Index, letter 'E' for Education Unit.
Have
a look, too, at the Explore
Parliament website. This is also an excellent resource to
give schools, teachers, young people etc.
Posted 31 December 2001 |
Information Bulletin
42
Modernisation
of the House of Commons
Click
here to see the full text of
the consultation paper presented to the Modernisation Committee by
Robin Cook MP on 12 December 2001. Responses are due by the
end of January 2002.
Posted 15 December 2001 |
Information Bulletin
41
LINE OF ROUTE
The Line of Route will be closed to
visitors from Thursday 20th December and will re-open
on Wednesday 2nd January 2002.
Posted 14 December 2001
|
Information Bulletin
40
Big Ben
Clock Tower Visits - new arrangements
Members
and staff are reminded of the following arrangements for visits to
the Clock Tower and should
note the new assembly and departure points.
Contact
extension 4862 to arrange a visit of up to 16 in number.
Children under 11 are not permitted. Tours run at 10.30am,
11.30am and 2.30pm Monday to Friday. Visitors should assemble at the
North Door of Westminster Hall (that's the end nearest Big Ben and
New Palace Yard) at 25 minutes past the hour.
Visitors who arrive any later will miss their tour.
Please note that visitors will be returned to the North Door
at the end of their tour.
Visitors
should be made aware they will have to climb 334 stone spiral steps.
Visitors should be confident about making the ascent/descent
and sensible, flat shoes are needed. Members should ensure that any
group they sponsor has a letter confirming the visit.
Clear access instructions and the new assembly point at the
North Door of Westminster Hall must be included in the letter.
Please inform extension 4862 of any cancellations in order to
reallocate spare capacity.
Posted 7 December
2001
|
Information Bulletin
39
Serjeant
at Arms Information Leaflets
Around 20 leaflets, covering everything from "Accommodation...."
to "Use of the House Emblem...", were updated in
Spring 2001 and can be obtained from the Serjeant at Arms'
Office. Members' staff will find these helpful in their
everyday tasks. Click here
for a full list and how to obtain copies. One was further updated in Summer 2001.
Posted 26 November
2001
Revised: 17 December 2001
|
Information Bulletin
38
DWP
Briefings on CSA Reforms
These briefings, to be held on Tuesday 27th and
Wednesday 28 November are designed for MPs and for their
staff. They will be of particular interest to staff dealing
with casework. Click here
for more details.
Posted 22 November
2001
|
Information Bulletin
37
"Members'
office costs - the new system"
This is the
title of an excellent and comprehensive new Research Paper (number
01/88) from the House of Commons Library. Not only does the
paper set out the details of the new arrangements, but it also gives
some interesting history on the OCA. If you are struggling to
grasp the new set-up you need this research paper. It is
beautifully clear. Click here
for a summary of the main points.
You will also find helpful the related papers on "Parliamentary Pay,
Allowances and Pensions: the Reviews of 2001" (RP 01/86) and
"Parliamentary Pay and Allowances: the current rates" (RP
01/87). All these Research
Papers are available from the Library as well as the eLibrary.
Research Paper are not
substitutes for information and guidance direct from the Fees
Office. If you have access to the Parliamentary Intranet
check out their guidance which is available on the intranet at: http://cfinw01/fanda/payrollm.htm
and at http://cfinw01/fanda/greenbk/newbk/oca.htm
Posted 20 November
2001
Revised 21 November 2001
|
Information Bulletin
33
Keeping
track of legislation.
Click here
for details of three useful websites which will help you keep
track
of the progress of legislation.
Posted 9 November
2001 |
Information Bulletin
31
Press
Association's NewsFile service
Press
Association staff will be demonstrating their NewsFile service in
the e-Library in Portcullis House on Wednesday 31st October.
Details.
Posted: 26 October 2001 |
Information Bulletin
30
Parliamentary
Office of Science and Technology - "POST"
POST provides Parliamentarians
with information and analysis to enhance their understanding of
current scientific and technological issues. It responds to such
Parliamentary needs, whether they reflect a general requirement of
all Members, or the specific interests of Select Committees. POST
also tries to anticipate forthcoming policy issues whose handling
will require understanding of their scientific and technological
aspects.
Drawing on the knowledge,
expertise and talents of the science and engineering community,
within the UK and globally, POST acts as a totally independent and
objective source of information and analysis. It is politically
neutral, serves Parliament as a whole and tailors its work to
specific Parliamentary needs.
POST has its own mailing list,
which any parliamentarian may request to be on, sending out
regular mailings of POSTnotes - briefings and short/medium length
reports on science and technology issues that are currently highly
relevant to parliamentarians in their work.
Click here
for a preview of the Welcome page of POST.
Posted: 25
October 2001 |
Information Bulletin
29
Suspected
contaminated mail or parcels
Click
here for recent advice from for Serjeant
at Arms. Please make sure that this important information and
advice is passed to colleagues who may not have seen it yet.
Posted: 17 October 2001 |
Information Bulletin
28
House
of Commons Library courses for Oct to Dec 2001
Click here
for the list of Library Networked Services courses for the next
three months. These courses, which are available to MPs'
staff, include the following:
-
using
the browser interface to POLIS
-
looking
at the material available on the Library’s Intranet pages
-
looking
at sources of media information that are available via the
Parliamentary intranet
-
searching
the Parliamentary Intranet and the Internet
-
looking
at the sources of information about Parliament that are
available on the Internet, particularly on the internal mirror
of Parliament’s external web site.
Posted: 16 October 2001 |
Information Bulletin
27
New
2001 Parliamentary Telephone Directory out - at last!
Your
patience has been rewarded. Copies of the new post-June 2001
Election telephone directory are now being distributed and the pdf
version is already available on the Parliamentary Intranet.
You can access it via several links from the PDVN homepage: Guidance
& Information, the Site Index (letter T) and Useful
Telephone Numbers.
The
hardcopies should be distributed to offices at Westminster by 12
October and to those on the mailing list (probably including the
constituency offices) by 19 October. If you have not received a copy
by 19 October, ring the Operator Bureau on 020 7219 0255 and ask them
to send you one. Remember that
this directory is not publicly available and the contents should be treated as
confidential.
The
latest version is April 2002.
Posted: 5 October 2001
Revised 19 August 2002
|
Information Bulletin
26
Short-term
contract for new staff of Members.
We
understand that the new standard contracts will be
available later this month or in November. As soon as
they are available we will post them here. Meanwhile,
Members taking on new staff are being advised to use the
short-term temporary contract available from the Finance and
Administration Department; copy
here.
For salary scales and
brief job descriptions, click here.
And for general
background information which was sent to Members in late July, click
here.
Posted: 2 October 2001 |
Information Bulletin
25
Security
- revised access arrangements.
For security
reasons, with effect from Monday 1 October, access through
Carriage Gates will be for Members only. Other passholders will no
longer be permitted to enter through Carriage Gates and will
revert to entry through St Stephen's Entrance.
Posted: 26
September 2001
|
Information Bulletin
23
"Business
of the House and its Committees:
a short guide"
This
helpful guide, revised in January 2003, is available in printed form
or via PDVN. More info.
Posted: 7 September 2001
Revised 27 January 2003 |
Information Bulletin
22
Hansard's
new website can be found at: http://hansard-westminster.co.uk
It's available on the
Internet as well as on the Parliamentary Intranet. Click here
for a preview of the homepage of
the House of Commons Department of the Official Report
("Hansard").
Posted: 4 September 2001
Revised: 4 October 2001 |
Information Bulletin
21
P.D.V.N.
"Guidance and Information" page
For
those few of you who haven't seen it, try the PDVN
(Parliamentary Intranet) "Guidance and Information" page
with its links to several good sources of information both for
researchers and for caseworkers. It's on the PDVN homepage
Menu. To see what it looks like, click here.
If you
haven't done the PDVN course yet, you SHOULD! Details are
also on this link.
Posted
29 August 2001
|
Information Bulletin
20
Palace
of Westminster Telephone Directory
Oct
2001: New version out now - click
here for more information
The
new revised version is now due out, we hear, at the end of
September. There has been no revision since December 2000
and the new copy will, therefore, be the first with full details
for the new Parliament.
It is
likely that it will be available first on the Parliamentary Intranet
(PDVN) so keep looking in there; it's listed as Telephone Directory, Parliamentary
under letter 'T' in the Site Index and the old (December
2000) version is still there at present.
Meanwhile,
there's a much abbreviated version, which you should have had some
time ago; it's listed as Telephones, Interim House of Commons Members Directory (post-General Election)
- also under
the letter 'T' on the Site Index. If you haven't got
access to PDVN you can get hard copies from the Vote Office (020
7219 3631) or by ringing 020 7219 5270.
Posted
28 August 2001
Revised 5 October 2001
|
Information Bulletin
19
Here's
another excellent website which has resources you need every day:
Vacher
Dod Publishing's Political
Links
You can take out a
subscription for Vacher's Parliamentary Companion (over 700 pages)
which also gives you access to the website's pass-worded area and
their in-depth political biographies.
Posted: 22 August 2001
|
Information Bulletin
18
Summer
Recess 2001 Line of Route Arrangements for Members and others who
work in the Palace of Westminster.
Click
here for information
from the Serjeant at Arms Dept.
Posted:
17 August 2001
|
|
Information Bulletin
17
New
Salary Scales and Job Descriptions for staff.
Here's
the information you have been waiting for:
-
Click
here for information on job
descriptions and salary scales
-
Click
here for details from the
explanatory letter sent to MPs at the end of July.
Posted:
9 August 2001 |
|
Information Bulletin
16
Hotlines are available for
MPs and MEPs and their staff to ease
communications with various national agencies.
Provided
you work for an MP or MEP, you can access the hotline numbers by
clicking here.
The lists are updated
every month or more frequently.
We
have been asked to encourage MPs and MEPs and
their staff to be sure to use the Hotlines and NOT the General
Public Enquiry telephone numbers. Using the Hotlines will
ensure you a prompt and efficient response.
Posted: 2 August 2001
Latest revision: 18 October 2002 |
|
Information Bulletin
15
National
Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux
Another
indispensable resource for caseworkers and researchers
alike. Click here for the link.
[This was revised in January 2003. Click here
for more information.]
Posted: 31 July 2001
Revised: 24 February 2003 |
|
Information Bulletin
14
Houses of
Parliament - Summer Tours
6th August to 29 September 2001
For details of
the scheme, run by Ticketmaster, click
here.
For information,
from the Serjeant at Arms Department, about the arrangements for Members and others who work in the
Palace of Westminster, click here.
Posted: 29 July 2001
Revised: 17 August 2001 |
Information Bulletin
12
Access to
the Terrace during the Summer Recess.
Click here to see if you are one of the
lucky ones.
Posted 24 July 2001 |
Information Bulletin
11
To see the
latest Fees Department guide on the "The Data Protection Act
1998 - A Guide for Members' Staff" (Published July 2001), click here.
Posted 16 July 2001 |
|
Information Bulletin
10
For a
complete list of Strangers' Gallery Allocation dates for every
Member of Parliament until 20 December 2001. [Out of date -
now removed].
Posted 11 July 2001 |
|
Information Bulletin
9
For an
up-to-date list of Parliamentary Private Secretaries for all
Ministers, click here.
A revised
list was issued on 26 June 2002. Click here
to view it.
A revised
list was issued on 17 July 2003. Click here
to view it.
Posted 10 July 2001
Revised 21 July 2003
|
|
Information Bulletin
8
Click here
for information about the Commons debate (Thursday 5 July) on the
recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body...including
radical changes for the pay of MPs' staff.
Click here
to see the pay rates and short job descriptions used in the SSRB
report.
Posted 8 July 2001
Revised 18 July 2001 |
Information Bulletin 7
On our "Links"
page we have revised the links to Government Department on the Web to reflect the
changes made after the Election.
In a nutshell the following Departments have
changed their names and (some of their) responsibilities:
- Department for Education and Employment
- Department of Social Security
- Department of the Environment, Transport & the
Regions
- Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
These are replaced by:
- Department for Education and Skills
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Department for the Environment, Food & Rural
Affairs
- Department for Transport, Local Government &
the Regions
Click
here to go to our Links page
Posted 29 June 2001 |
Information Bulletin 6
The publication "List of
Ministerial Responsibilities", which is an essential requirement if you are handling
casework etc, is published by the Cabinet Office and is also at:
http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/central/2002/lmr09.pdf
You can also
order it from the Cabinet Office Secretariat by ringing 020 7276 2474 or you can collect
it from one of the Vote Offices on the parliamentary estate (020 7219
3631).
Update
October 2002. The newest version was published in October 2002.
It's yellow and you can get it from the usual places.
Posted: 26 June 2001
Latest revision: October 2002
|
Information Bulletin 5
MPs' staff need to register any relevant paid
employment they are involved in outside Parliament and gifts or other benefits which
relate to their work in Parliament.
For more information see our Guide Setting up the Office (section 2.8 Registering
Interests).
Posted 21 June 2001 |
Information Bulletin 3
For complete lists of the Cabinet as
well as all Ministerial posts and details of the major changes to the machinery of
Government, click here. This
information is taken verbatim from the website of 10 Downing Street.
See Bulletin 6
above for an alternative source of this
information.
Posted: 12 June 2001
Revised: 26 June 2001
|
Information Bulletin 2
Just starting?
You've landed a job with an MP and nobody's telling you how
to do the job? First stop is our guide: "Exploring
Westminster - How to Survive your First 10 Days Working for an MP". Then
explore the rest of the website; it's packed with information, guidance, helpful letters,
forms.....everything you will need. Go back to the home page
for starters and click on the links to get to know the site.
Following on the successful previous Induction Days, details of
forthcoming Induction Days for new staff of MPs
at
Westminster can be found here.
Lost your job? Keep an eye on our Jobs pages. Click
here to find a job. Only a few at present but we confidently predict this will
become the place to look.
Looking for staff?
Why not advertise on our Jobs pages. This free facility is
available for MPs, MEPs, Peers, lobbying companies, voluntary
organisations; indeed,
anyone wanting to recruit new or experienced staff. Click here to advertise.
Thinking about working for an MP?
Here's some general
advice. about looking for a job with an MP.
Posted: 8 June 2001
Revised: 13 June 2001
Revised: 4 July 2001
Revised: 24 July 2001
Revised: 9 November 2001
|
Information Bulletin 1
There will be a reception area for new
Members in the Upper Waiting Hall for two weeks from Monday 11 June (open 9.00am to
5.00pm) where staff from each House department will be available to provide information
for new Members and their staff about all House services, including pay and allowances and
the PDVN.
Details of this and booklets about House services (including the Members'
handbook) will be available for collection by new Members in the Members' Post Office from
Monday 11 June. Also, during the first weeks of the Parliament briefings about various
aspects of the work of the House are being arranged by the Clerks Department. Details will
be sent to all new Members and publicised including in the all-party whip.
The Upper Waiting Hall is, reassuringly,
above the Lower Waiting Hall. See our map of the
Principal Floor.
Posted: 1 June 2001
|
Bulletins
1-50 Bulletins 51- 100
Bulletins 101- 150
Bulletins 151-200
Bulletins 201-250 Bulletins
251 onwards
Home | Help
| Feedback | Site
Map | About Us
 |
