Author: W4MP Editor

Free summer term school visits

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From 23 January schools can apply online for a free school visit to UK Parliament

From 10am on Thursday 23 January, schools in each constituency will be able to request a free school visit to UK Parliament this Summer Term (April to July).  Eligible schools visiting from outside London and the South East of England could claim up to 85% (up to £2,400) of their receipted travel costs back with our travel subsidy.

Each term, the Education Centre has a very high number of applications from schools. We try to ensure as many schools as possible can visit us, but with over 33,000 schools across the UK and around 1,000 slots available, demand outweighs capacity. To ensure fair access, we will be processing applications on a first come, first served basis and a queue management system will be in place on the day.

For full details, please see here: ParliNet | Free summer term school visits

LWPSN – Online Q&A with the Rt. Hon. Lucy Powell M.P.

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Join the Labour Women’s Parliamentary Staff network in an online Q&A with the Rt. Hon. Lucy Powell M.P. on Tuesday 4 February 2025.

For further information and to learn more about the LWPSN, please see here: https://w4mp.org/w4mp-guides/groups-which-staff-can-join/representation/labour-womens-parliamentary-staff-network/lwpsn-whats-on/

Meet the Director drop-in: Customer Experience and Service Delivery

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Time: 11:30 – 14:00
Date: Tuesday 14 January 2025
Location: Portcullis House Hub

Members and Members’ staff are invited to join us for the first session of our new monthly ‘Meet the Director’ drop-ins in the Portcullis House Hub.

Directors from key House Administration teams that provide services to Members will be available to answer your questions, listen to your feedback, or if you just want to learn more about how their teams can support you in carrying out your parliamentary duties.

This first session will take place from 11.30am-2pm and is hosted by Customer Experience & Service Delivery (CE&SD), comprising eight teams delivering services to Members, passholders and the public to keep Parliament clean, safe and operational. You can find out more about the work of the team on ParliNet.

Please see here for further details:

https://parlinet.parliament.uk/events/2025/january/meet-the-director-drop-in-customer-experience-and-service-delivery

Full Fact: January Caseworker Discussion Forum

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The guest speakers at the January Caseworker Discussion Forum will be from Full Fact, the fact checkers and campaigners who find, expose and counter the harm done by bad information.

Time: 10:30 – 11:30
Date: Thursday 16 January 2024
Location: Online via MS Teams
Booking: https://parliament.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=1953

Read more about Full Fact here: https://fullfact.org/about/

Training:  Staying safe and secure across Meta technologies

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Meta are hosting a virtual training for MPs and their staffers to showcase the tools they can use to stay safe and secure across Meta technologies next week Friday 6th Dec at 10h00.  As part of this training, they will also cover Meta Support Pros, a dedicated support service to address operational and technical issues as well as address product questions.  

  • Time: 10:00 – 11:00
  • Date:  Friday 6 December 2024
  • Format: Virtual

To book please RSVP to this event link

Behaviour Code Training for MPs’ Staff

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This training is essential for all MPs staff, and it is booked up many weeks in advance.

Please do book on to the first available course here: Course: Behaviour Code – Why it matters for all new Members’ Staff.

The Behaviour Code outlines clear guidelines on how you should be treated, and how you should treat others.

These guidelines apply to everyone who visits and works in Parliament.  

You should:

  • Respect and value everyone – bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct are not tolerated
  • Recognise your power, influence or authority and don’t abuse them
  • Think about how your behaviour affects others and strive to understand their perspective
  • Act professionally towards others
  • Ensure Parliament meets the highest ethical standards of integrity, courtesy and mutual respect
  • Speak up about any unacceptable behaviour you see

Unacceptable behaviour will be dealt with seriously, independently and with effective sanctions.

Refugee Resettlement to the UK: How does it work?

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A training session provided by the House of Commons, aimed at Member’s staff caseworkers.

Time: 15:00 – 16:30
Date: Tuesday 10 December 2024
Location: Online
Booking essential – https://parliament.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=1918

Casework and correspondence to MPs from resettled refugees in constituencies across the UK has grown in recent years as the number of resettled refugees arriving in the UK has increased, as has the number of constituencies hosting them. This increase was primarily a result of the launch of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) that ran from 2014-2021 and resettled over 20,000 refugees across the UK. The first large scale resettlement programme to the UK in decades.

The VPRS’ successor: the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) continues to resettle refugees across the UK, and Pathway 2 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) has also been established.

An understanding of what refugee resettlement is, how it works and the rights refugees arriving will enjoy will be of crucial importance to MP’s offices when responding to correspondence. This training is intended to support caseworkers and parliamentary researchers with significant experience already, as well as those who are new to this policy area.

The training will cover:

  • Introduction to refugee resettlement and the global context
  • Step by step run through of resettlement to the UK
  • UNHCR procedures abroad
  • Resettlement Submission Categories
  • The UK’s resettlement programmes: The UK Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme
  • Key differences between resettlement and other pathways for refugees like family reunion.

Men’s Health Awareness stall

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10:30 – 15:30 on Tuesday 26 November 2024

To mark Men’s Health Awareness Month, the Parliamentary Health and Wellbeing Service (PHWS) and Parligender have partnered together with Andy’s Man Club and Prostate Cancer UK.

Andy’s Man Club are a charity who raise awareness for men’s mental health by facilitating groups all across the UK and Prostate Cancer UK are one of the UK’s most well-known charities who raise awareness for Prostate Cancer. 

Visit the stall in Portcullis House between 10:30am – 3:30pm to meet representatives of Andy’s Man Club and Prostate Cancer UK along with PHWS staff. 

There will also be a Men’s Health Awareness workshop at 1pm. 

For further information please visit this page on Parlinet: https://parlinet.parliament.uk/events/2024/november/mens-health-awareness-stall/