The LSE Parliamentary Intern Scheme was started five years ago by the LSE Public Policy Group together with Barry Sheerman MP. It provides a means of offering masters students across all the social science disciplines at the London School of Economics valuable work experience in Parliament. And it gives Members of Parliament high quality research assistance without tapping into their office costs.

Last year we successfully placed nearly sixty graduate students with Members of Parliament, peers and related political organisations. The students contributed to the work of these offices in a variety of ways, from writing press releases and speeches, to organising briefing notes and representing their MP at meetings and functions. The students are selected from a large pool of applicants and are vetted for their skills and previous experience. Many of them have prior experience of working in legislatures and political organisations here or abroad.

The LSE Public Policy Group will be recruiting new students for the 2002 - 2003 academic year, beginning in September 2002. The students must commit to a minimum of one day per week and are permitted to work up to a maximum of one and a half days per week. The internships are undertaken on the understanding that they are completely unpaid. Most of the work that students are given is research, rather than administrative based, but all the interns are able to adapt to a variety of office environments and tasks. Once we have compiled a shortlist of students, we then pass on the CV(s) to particular offices for approval and so that meetings and interviews can be arranged.

If you are interested in signing up for an intern, or require more information, please contact the LSE Public Policy Group by email: lse-ppg@lse.ac.uk or telephone Dr Françoise Boucek at 020 7955 6731, or look at our website: http://www.lse.ac.uk/depts/ppg/interns