News
The BBC Two documentary ‘Meet the Lords’ is broadcast at 9pm on Monday 27 February.
With exclusive access to the members and precincts of the House of Lords, the BBC Two documentary Meet the Lords presents a unique look at the work, role and membership of the second chamber of Parliament.
For more behind the scenes information and access to members of the Lords, follow the House of Lords on Twitter and Facebook.
The Helplines Partnership website lists hundreds of helplines on many different topics, including:
Cristian Lorini [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
https://parlinet.parliament.uk/house-of-commons-members-staff/
Work on Parliament’s new website is progressing and a simple first cut of Member information will be live in March 2017 on their prototype site: beta.parliament.uk.
This very basic information will be tested by external users of the website and the feedback will help move on to the next phases of the project. This will include a new visual identity, a style guide and design approach, a dynamic publishing service, and a data-driven service built on a new unified data platform.
Colleagues in Parliament will get a preview of this prototype on 17 February. The new website will be quick and easy to update and it will be more resilient as it will be hosted on cloud infrastructure.
The team works in the open and shares their work on the Digital Service blog, on Twitter using #ukparlibeta and through regular show and tells which are open to everyone.
To read more, click here.
By Elliott Brown from Birmingham, United Kingdom (Witton Station – Mind the Gap Uploaded by Oxyman) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The project is designed to answer important questions about eight different topics which include crime, immigration, education and housing. Full Fact want to fill the gaps in data to produce reliable and well-communicated information. This will help ensure that public decisions and debate are based on the best information available and will help prevent people from making claims that will need to be corrected later on. To find out even more about this project, click here.
Full Fact are also looking for your examples of data and analysis gaps for their eight topics. To view these topics and find out how to get involved, click here.
By Bicheesh (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
It discusses the definition of environmental crime and its links to other serious crime, including the drugs and arms trade, human trafficking and the funding of terrorist organisations. It identifies two primary categories of environmental crime in Europe: waste crime and wildlife crime.
These primary crimes tend to be low risk and high profit to criminals as they are often difficult to prosecute. This report highlights particular incidences of these crimes, current EU law pertaining to them and ways in which they are enforced and the crimes prosecuted in the UK and abroad.
Importantly, the report discusses how to improve enforcement of these laws, whilst also exploring the challenges faced when tackling this type of crime.
To read the full report, click here.
By Jonathan Joseph Bondhus (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
This report focuses on how well Whitehall is performing, its preparations for Brexit, and government openness and the use of data.
The report makes the argument that government is trying to do too many things in the run up to Brexit and that this poses challenges for public services and Whitehall departments. It also calls for ‘clear, sensible and transparent plans and measures’, in order to understand how well government is doing, or to hold it to account.
Preparation for Brexit features prominently in the report: it suggests that the creation of new departments resulted in some initial fragmentation and was not a good use of time and energy, but notes that these departments are beginning to settle down. It also points out that existing departments facing the biggest challenges around Brexit are some of those that have experienced some of the deepest budget and staffing cuts and this will
In regards to openness and the use of data, the report suggests that the government has become less responsive to requests for information and is not using its own data as effectively as it could. Many departments are not publishing their data as frequently as they should and this, coupled with the difficulty of measuring government performance, suggests that the government is becoming less open.
To read the report in full, click here.
Image by The original uploader was Yugiz at French Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
https://parlinet.parliament.uk/house-of-commons-members-staff/
Planning for the next general election is already well underway. This preparation is essential to ensure an efficient and effective service is provided to hundreds of MPs and with a fixed deadline there is no margin for error. There will be lots of opportunities to get involved in this intense and rewarding project, for now you can read more about preparing for the general election here.
Or, for those new to the House, you can read more about the planning for the 2015 General Election for a better idea of what happens during this time.
Photo: Harland Quarrington/MOD [OGL (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/1/)], via Wikimedia Commons
https://parlinet.parliament.uk/house-of-commons-members-staff/
Throughout February, the Digital Service and a line-up of industry expert guest speakers will be on hand to answer all of your cyber security questions.
As well as speakers, there will be a number of drop-in sessions and events taking place at various locations across the Parliamentary Estate.
For more information click here.
Or see the full list of events and talks taking place throughout Cyber Month here.
CSIRO [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The POST Board is looking for contributions to its new POSTnotes on a variety
of research topics. If you have an interest or expertise in one of these topics, please contact [email protected] for further information.
The following research topics have been selected for upcoming POSTnotes:
Social sciences
Environment and Energy
Physical sciences
Biological Sciences and Health
Image by Lubunya (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The Houses of Parliament are in the process of writing a Transitioning at Work Policy, to support individuals that have undergone, are undergoing, or are thinking about undergoing a change to their gender identity.
The aims of the policy are to ensure that staff are aware of the support they can expect to receive and that line managers understand their responsibilities, and the resources available to them, in supporting their staff. Both Houses will be following recommended good practice from Stonewall.
The Diversity & Inclusion team in both Houses are looking for feedback from staff with experience of transitioning, and line managers who have supported staff with transitioning in the workplace. Please click here to find out how to get involved.