Author: W4MP Editor

Advice and Support from Customer Services

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For those of you who are new to working for a Member of Parliament, or who are continuing to work for your newly re-elected Member, you might like to know that Chris Sear, Head of Customer Services for the Customer Team, is very happy to discuss any issues you might have.

Chris can be contacted by email at searcm@parliament.uk.

You might also like to know that two events for Members’ staff are planned and more will be set up shortly. There is an event in Westminster – in the Attlee Suite in portcullis House – on 7 July and in Scotland (location to be confirmed) on 11 July. The programmes are varied and will cover a number of different services that will help you with your work, and are a great opportunity to meet House staff and each other. If you are interested in attending these please let the Customer Team  know. We will post full details on w4mp as soon as we have them.

Is your data correct on Wikidata?

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We’ve had a note from Andy Mabbett about MPs and Wikidata:

The days after a general election are a good time to remind MPs and their staff that Wikipedia has a biography of every MP. I’ve written before about how MPs can work with Wikipedia  and its sister projects, to ensure that those articles are complete and up-to-date.  Several items of data about MPs, such as their website, Twitter name and Facebook profile, and whether Wikipedia has an openly-licensed image of them, are stored in one of those sister projects, a central database called Wikidata, so that they can be accessed not only by Wikipedias in many languages, but by anyone wanting them, as linked, open data, for reuse in other websites or apps.

Wikipedia volunteers are currently busy ensuring that the recent election results are accurately reflected – noting former MPs, updating data about those who continue, and, of course adding new ones. Nonetheless, it would be great if  staff could assist this process to check the details held about their members is complete.

Accordingly these two Wikidata pages show:

data about new MPs


data about all MPs in the new parliament. (where that is shown in
their entry)

And we’d be very grateful for your effort in ensuring it is accurate.

Hung Parliaments: Hansard Society report

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With the country facing a hung Parliament, how will a government be formed and then sustained in office? Plotting a roadmap through the constitutional issues, this paper highlights and explains key parliamentary dates and events that will shape the process and the impact it may have on the way Parliament works.

A new Hansard Society report will give you more background

Read the report.

New w4mp archive launched

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We’ve been running w4mp since 2010 and in that time have written hundreds of guides to good practice. The world has changed a lot since then (you may have noticed) and some of the guides are no longer relevant. Others have been superseded by new and improved services, including the House of Commons Library and the Parliamentary intranet.

We’re therefore ‘retiring’ all of the older guides and will maintain a smaller selection of relevant (and updated) material on this site in the Guides section.

Most of the older material can be found on our new archive website, at http://archive.w4mp.org/ – clearly marked as ‘archive’ and for research purposes only.

Archive site

Archive site

Portcullis House Access Changes

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It’s worth noting that Portcullis House search and screening will be closed from Monday 8 May until Tuesday 6 June, inclusive. 

Between 8.00am-6.00pm passholders can still access the estate via this entrance and passholders and visitors will be able to exit in the usual way.

The nearest alternative visitor access points are 1 Parliament Street and Cromwell Green Entrance.

Further information

For more information please contact the Serjeant at Arms Office (SAAaccessteam@parliament.uk) or on x0145.

Electing a New Parliament

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Taken from the Parliament Website

Wednesday 3 May 2017 – Dissolution of Parliament

A proclamation will be made announcing when Parliament will meet after the general election and setting the date of the Queen’s Speech at State Opening.

Writs will be issued for elections in the UK’s 650 constituencies.

Thursday 11 May 2017 – Deadline for the delivery of nomination papers

Deadline for candidates to deliver nomination papers to Returning Officer (4pm) and deadline for candidates to withdraw (4pm).

Monday 22 May 2017 – Voter registration deadline

This is the cut-off date for UK citizens aged 18 or over to register to vote in the general election.

It also marks the deadline for voters to apply for a postal or a proxy vote.

Candidates’ nomination papers must be delivered to the local returning officer. Any candidate wishing to withdraw must do so on this date.

Election agents, who ensure the proper management of each candidate’s campaign, must also be appointed.

Tuesday 23 May 2017 – Deadline for postal vote applications

5pm on this day marks the deadline for receiving new postal vote and postal proxy applications, and for changes to existing postal or proxy votes.

Wednesday 31 May 2017 – Deadline for proxy vote applications

Deadline for applying for a proxy vote (except for emergency proxies) at 5pm.

Thursday 8 June 2017 – Polling day

Polling booths will be open between 7am and 10pm. Counting of votes will begin when the polls close.

Tuesday 13 June 2017 – Parliament is expected to return for the election of the Speaker

Election of the Speaker of the House of Commons

The Speaker is elected on the first day that the House meets after the General Election.

Swearing in of MPs will take place on subsequent days

When Parliament returns, MPs start swearing the Oath of Allegiance or making an Affirmation in the Commons.

Members of the House of Lords start swearing the Oath of Allegiance or making an Affirmation in the Lords.

Monday 19 June 2017 – The Queen’s Speech 2017

The Queen’s Speech is delivered at the State Opening of the new Parliament.

Checklist of Actions for Dissolution

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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/

So, dissolution is upon us.  Have you done everything you needed to?  There is a very helpful checklist on the intranet, which we suggest you consult, just to make sure:

Checklist of actions for Members who are standing at the 2017 General Election

Checklist of actions for Members standing down at the 2017 General Election

Dissolution – are you ready?

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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/

Hopefully, all Members’ offices will now have prepared everything they need for dissolution. Please have a look at the guidance on the intranet to make sure you’re up to date:

Dissolution Homepage

Impact of Dissolution on Justice Committee

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The Justice Committee has issued a short report explaining the impact of the dissolution of Parliament on its work, setting out what the Committee had done in each of its current inquiries and other work, and what the Committee was planning to do in the near future.

Chair’s comment

Bob Neill MP, Chair of the Committee, said:

“We hope this brief report will be of interest to our stakeholders and the wider public, as well as to our successor Committee in the next Parliament, in setting out what plans we had before our work was interrupted by the general election. It will be for the new Justice Committee in the next Parliament to decide whether to pick up where we have left off on our inquiries and other work on matters such as prison reform, disclosure of young people’s criminal records, Transforming Rehabilitation, and personal injury claims.

I also stress the Committee’s thanks for the assistance it received in its work in the 2015 Parliament from all those who have given written and oral evidence or helped the Committee in other ways.

More details on the Parliament website