UK Parliament Week 2017 starts today!

Find out more at https://www.ukparliamentweek.org

If you’re in Westminster, there will be a lot of activity  in Portcullis House and Westminster Hall throughout the week.  Have a look at what’s happening near you, this year’s  festival highlights,  and don’t forget to tweet using the hashtag #UKPW17.

Every month Health Assured, who are the Parliamentary Health Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provider,  send out a newsletter to staff.

This month’s is now online. In it you’ll find features about Movember -, a report on this year’s National Stress Awareness day, and an article about Armistice Day and its significance.

Read the November Newsletter (PDF)

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/

Or refer to the Mental Health Guidance and Toolkit on Parlinet

The Commons Diversity and Inclusion team has a very useful resource for MPs and their staff on dealing with disability and mental health issues encountered when conducting their work either at Parliament or in their constituencies.

In conjunction with RADAR, they have published a comprehensive guide, which can be found on the intranet

It contains information on:

• Access
• Meetings, events and surgeries
• Information and Communication
• Communication Aids
• Meeting disabled constituents
• Common courtesies
• Language
• Disability Discrimination Law
• Who is affected by the law?
• How the law affects MPs
• The Equality Duty
• Useful contacts

There is also an MP and Staffers’ Guide to Mental Health which provides practical tips and advice on how Members and their staff can support constituents with mental health problems, and where to signpost them. Members and their staff often come into contact with constituents in distress either at surgeries or through emails and telephone calls, and this Guide provides information and guidance on how to deal with these difficult situations:

• Quick-reference guide
• An overview of mental health
• How much help should you give?
• How to help someone in distress
• Handling difficult emails and phone calls
• Signposting and local information

 

From The Guardian:

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have urged staff and researchers working in Westminster to come forward about sexual harassment or assault in parliament after reports emerged of allegations on a WhatsApp group.

The prime minister’s spokeswoman said reports of a WhatsApp group where female staff and researchers in Westminster shared information about MPs and ministers who have behaved inappropriately were “deeply concerning”.

 

The WhatsApp group of Westminster staffers is reported by the Sun newspaper to have named senior politicians they did not feel safe around.

Full story.

The Table Office is replacing the current e-tabling application, which is reaching the end of its useful life.

We’re introducing a new way to submit questions online. This is the first of many easy-to-use services that will sit within the new digital Member hub.

The Member hub will allow Members and their authorised staff to submit parliamentary questions using their own secure logins.

They will also be able to search, track and review the progress of questions, as well as receive automatic alerts (for example, notification of cards or shuffle results).

Further services – such as tabling and adding names to motions – will follow, making the Member hub a central place to manage services online.

Keep an eye out for the drop-in training sessions in the Procedural Hub and Table Office.

Ask about pre-registration or find out more by contacting [email protected]

Gresham College has hosted free public lectures for over four hundred years, on a wide range of topics, not just politics and economics, but also history, science, the arts, and much more.

Not only is it possible to attend the lectures in person, but the college has recorded all of the lectures since the 1980s, and over 1,900 of them are freely available on their website, in text, audio and visual formats.

This is a marvellous resource of fascinating information and definitely worth a look.

Their website is here: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/

 

Living Wage Week, Sun 5 Nov- Sat 11 Nov, is the annual celebration of the Living Wage movement in the UK.

Our movement is made up of Employers, Experts, Organisations and People who all believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.

On the Monday of Living Wage Week – Monday 6th November – the new Living Wage Rates are announced at a ceremony. These rates apply to all Living Wage accredited employers.

The real Living Wage is annually calculated to reflect the cost of living in the UK and there is a separate, higher, rate in London. It is voluntarily paid by thousands of employers in the UK and applies to all workers over the age of 18 included contracted and subcontracted staff.

For more information on Living Wage Week 2017 – please email: [email protected]