News
Members’ offices are offered an opportunity to join an in-person briefing in Bristol with representatives of relevant services from across the House Administration and IPSA to find out more about the Dissolution Guidance and ask any questions they may have.
To register to attend, please email [email protected]
The Vote Office’s Publications Enquiries Team has launched a new weekly bulletin summarising all reports and papers published and available in the Vote Office.
Paper Trail features links to the week’s bills, government papers, select committee and NAO reports.
Paper Trail is available on ParliNET as well as in hard copy from the Vote Office outlets in Portcullis House and the Palace.
You can find Paper Trail here: ParliNet | Paper Trail (parliament.uk)
If your office receives a ‘copyright infringement notice’, please inform Tara Cullen in the Members’ and Members’ Staff Services Team immediately, and do not respond to the notice until you have discussed it with her.
MMSST is aware that there are also some scams going around at the moment, and it’s important to get them checked out. No genuine organisation will ask for payment in cryptocurrency. All scams and phishing attempts should be reported to PDS.
It’s very easy to find pictures on the Internet and copy them to use on your own website. However, in doing so, you could easily be infringing copyright, and the owner might seek compensation.
Paul Clarke has written a useful guide especially for w4mp on publishing pictures and avoiding rights issues, which you can find here: https://w4mp.org/w4mp/w4mp-guides/support-in-your-job/publishing-pictures-and-avoiding-rights-issues/
All MPs are covered by employers’ liability insurance and a copy of the certificate should be printed and displayed in your office. The insurance renews on 1 April every year.
You can find more information here: https://w4mp.org/w4mp-guides/your-office/insurance-for-mps/
A new series of podcasts has been launched, featuring Members’ staff and Teams across the House of Commons discussing different issues that affect Members’ Offices.
To find out more, please see here: https://parliament.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=2184
During the Easter recess, the Official Report (Hansard) is offering Members’ staff an opportunity to learn how parliamentary proceedings are edited in the Official Report
Spend an hour and a half with us and find out:
We finish with a tour of the Hansard offices and the Press Gallery.
We will be holding sessions on the parliamentary estate during the Easter recess on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 April.
We welcome all Members’ staff and any questions they may have!
For more information, to book a place or to join our mailing list for future sessions, please reply to this email or contact [email protected]
It’s that time of year, when IPSA Proxies lock themselves in their offices, set their phones to ‘do not disturb’ and bury their heads in spreadsheets. Yes, it’s year end! But don’t worry, IPSA has made things much simpler and, assuming you’ve been reasonably well-organised, sorting out your year-end documentation shouldn’t be too stressful.
Don’t put it off until the last minute, do it now, then if you have any queries, you have time to sort them out.
Key dates:
You no longer need to submit a year-end for payroll.
It’s a good idea to log into the website regularly to check that there are no tasks outstanding in your task manager.
You can find all of IPSA’s year-end guidance here: https://www.ipsaonline.org.uk/year-end-2023-24 and the staff are really helpful and patient, so give them a call if you’re stuck or unsure about anything.
Already submitted everything? Great! Go and get a brew, then sit down and prepare your paperwork for 2024-2025. Why not make a list of your regular outgoings and work out a forecast, which you can update as you go along throughout the year? You could set up a simple spreadsheet to do this, and then you will always know the current state of your budget and can adjust your spending accordingly.
The WWG has published the results of this year’s annual survey of staff undertaken on behalf of the WWG by Dr Ashley Weinberg from Salford University.
You can find the results and the WWG response on the WWG Wellbeing Hub:
https://hopuk.sharepoint.com/sites/hct-wellbeinghub
The recent announcements about cyber campaigns against the Electoral Commission and MPs from Deputy PM Oliver Dowden have been widely reported, and should concern everyone in Parliament.
There is an extensive guide to cyber security on ParliNet, and we suggest reviewing the guidance there and ensuring that your office and personal systems are properly secured.
The new online system for registering MPs’ Interests went live on Tuesday 19 March 2024.
In order for staff proxies to use the new service, the Member must first log in and set up the correct permissions for them.
To find out more, please see here: https://parlinet.parliament.uk/information-resources/news-newsletters-notices/news/2023/october/new-registration-of-interests-system/
or drop in at one of the information stalls or virtual sessions: https://parlinet.parliament.uk/information-resources/news-newsletters-notices/news/2023/november/register-of-interests-stalls-in-portcullis-house/
You can find the FAQs here: https://parlinet.parliament.uk/information-resources/programmes/transforming-digital-programme/new-register-of-members-interests-system—frequently-asked-questions/