News

News

6-week Mindfulness Course for MPs’ staff

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The world we live in is fast paced and dynamic – while this can feel exciting it can also become overwhelming, so how do we navigate our lives skilfully?  Mindfulness supports resilience and well-being. It is particularly valuable at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, equipping you with tools to relate to challenging situations, and to form helpful daily habits.

The Working Mind mindfulness programme – new to Parliament this year – is designed specifically for the workplace and is suitable for beginners as well as those who have some familiarity with mindfulness.

This 6-week online mindfulness programme will be interactive and experiential. Between classes you will be invited to practice guided meditations using an app, and to explore ‘mindfulness in action’.

Please note that this programme is only open to Members’ Staff of the House of Commons

For further details and to sign up, please go to this ACT page: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?f=1899

New rates for National Living Wage/ National Minimum Wage come into effect April 1

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These rates are for the National Living Wage (for those aged 23 and over) and the National Minimum Wage (for those of at least school leaving age). The rates change on 1 April every year.

23 and over 21 to 22 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice
April 2021 £8.91 £8.36 £6.56 £4.62 £4.30

Apprentices

Apprentices are entitled to the apprentice rate if they’re either:

  • aged under 19
  • aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

 

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