Author: W4MP Editor

Re-launch of the Women’s Parliamentary Cricket Team

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Two years ago today, Meg Williams organised the successful inaugural event which took place at Lord’s Cricket Ground, and later that summer a small team took part in their first soft ball cricket tournament.  Needless to say, the last two years have been particularly busy, but with the light at the end of the tunnel in sight, this month will see the re-launch of the team.

With this in mind, the WPCT would be delighted if you are able to attend the first event on Monday 12 April, at 15h00 with Clare Connor, incoming President of the MCC, Managing Director Women’s Cricket, ECB and Former England captain for our virtual Cricket and Coffee event.

The team is for all abilities, whether you are new to the game, a professional or just have a passion for the sport and would like to get involved and learn more – open to MPs, Peers and staff of both.

The aim of this event is recruit members of the Women’s Parliamentary Cricket Team, with the aim of setting up a regular training schedule, ready for some fixtures, as well as social events throughout the year.

To RSVP to the event, or if you would like to get involved with the team please email [email protected].

Workshops from the Registrar of Members’ Financial Interests

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The Registrar of Members’ Financial Interests runs workshops for Members and their staff on the following subjects together with the next available dates.  The workshops will be run remotely via MS Teams.

A. Openness and Registering Members’ Financial Interests, covering:

  • How to help your Member register and declare interests
  • The rules on paid lobbying by MPs
  • How and when to register your own interests

Dates:

  • Thursday 18 March at 14.00

 

B. How to Support an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), covering

  • Register entries
  • APPG Secretariats (volunteers, Members’ staff, outside organisations)
  • Members and Officers
  • Meetings (including AGMs, inaugurals and other formal meetings)
  • Transparency and records, including APPG websites
  • Income and expenditure statements

Dates:

  • Thursday 18 March at 11.00

Booking required. Please contact [email protected] to book a place.

New ‘What’s On’ pages on UK Parliament website

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News from the Parliamentary Digital Service:

From Friday 5 March, the calendar page on the UK Parliament website will be replaced by a new What’s On section.  These pages show a day by day view of what’s happening in the Commons, Lords and committees.

The new pages still provide comprehensive detail about what’s happening across Parliament, but with a fresh new look and additional features.

From the What’s On pages, you can:

• View events for specific days or across a whole week
• Access recess and non-sitting date information
• Add events to your calendars

From tomorrow, you won’t be able to access the old calendar page and will instead be automatically redirected to the What’s On pages.

New procedural guides to the Budget and Finance Bill

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We’ve received an email from our friends over at the Hansard Society, with links to New procedural guides to the Budget and Finance Bill.

Here’s what they wrote:

If you are watching the Chancellor’s Statement this afternoon, and keeping an eye on the Budget debate over the next week and then the Finance Bill, our new procedural guides to the Budget and  the Finance Bill will help you navigate your way through the parliamentary proceedings.

Why does the Deputy Speaker chair the debate on Budget day? Why does the Chancellor move a Provisional Collection of Taxes motion? What is a Ways and Means motion? Can MPs amend Budget motions? What is a ‘Bill of Aids and Supplies’? Is the scrutiny process for the Finance Bill any different to that for other Bills? Why does the House of Lords not conduct detailed scrutiny of the Finance Bill?

The answers to these and many more questions are set out in the guides.

The Budget

The Finance Bill

Search for charities in your constituency

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The Charity Commission register of charities displays information about how charities are run, and how they manage their finances, including information about salaries paid to senior staff members (in bands, upwards from £60k), whether a charity’s trustees are remunerated and its income, if any, from government contracts.

You can search for charities in your constituency here: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/constituency-search

British Psychological Society – Cognitive Strain in Parliament

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Time: 11:00 – 12:00
Date: Friday 19 February 2021

The relationships between well-being and work have long been recognised, however the role of these in the fields of politics and government have not historically received the attention they deserve.

Research conducted by psychologists within the UK Parliament has been the focus of a recent report published by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

It highlighted potential sources of psychological pressure and developed recommendations to help the political workplace foster improved well-being for all its staff. Two members of the team Dr Ashley Weinberg, Chair of the BPS Political Psychology Section, and Andrew Baldwin, BPS Policy Advisor (Work), will present the report’s findings and its implications for political staff.

To join, please email [email protected]

Business Banking Resolution Service

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The BBRS is a new, independent organisation that seeks to resolve disputes between larger SMEs and participating banks.  It is free for businesses to use and offers an alternative to litigation, which for many SMEs is not a realistic option.

The service is now fully live and open to thousands of potential customers around the UK.

The BBRS is a voluntary undertaking by the seven participating banks, who have worked in partnership with SME and business representatives in its development: Barclays Bank PLC and Barclays Bank UK PLC; Danske Bank; HSBC UK Bank plc; Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds Bank plc and Bank of Scotland plc); NatWest Group (including The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, National Westminster Bank plc, Coutts & Company and Ulster Bank Limited (Northern Ireland)); Santander UK plc; and Virgin Money (including Clydesdale Bank PLC and Yorkshire Bank).

See their press release here: https://thebbrs.org/news/boost-for-small-businesses-as-free-and-independent-service-for-unresolved-bank-complaints-goes-live/

and their information poster here: https://thebbrs.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BBRS-Intro-poster.pdf

 

Law Training Sessions from the Learning and Development Team

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The Learning and Development has arranged some new law training sessions in March.  Please book yourself onto them using the intranet links below.

Introduction to housing law: Homelessness
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3874

Introduction to housing law: Security of tenure 
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3876

Introduction to housing law: Social housing
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3877

Introduction to housing law: Disrepair
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3875

The Law and Special Educational Needs
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3878

Introduction to Anti-Social Behaviour and the Law
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3879

 

Places still available for February.

Universal Credit Overview
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3036

Office Manager- Getting started
https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=3492

 

Please note that the waiting list function is not available at the moment, therefore, please go to the Act pages regularly to check the availabilities.  Please also note that these courses may be arranged in the future but we do not have the dates yet.