Time: 12:4pmDate: 30 June 2022Venue: Railway Museum, York Join the Member Services Team (MST) for the next regional roadshow for Members’ staff. The session will start with lunch and with specialist input from the library. You will also have the chance to hear from House Services, IPSA and the Home Office. If you are based…

Have you heard of the Civil Service Sports Council? It’s a fantastic organisation which supports its members with physical, financial and mental wellbeing, as well as providing hundreds of other benefits. Staff of MPs and Peers are eligible to join. See our page here for further information: https://w4mp.org/w4mp/w4mp-guides/groups-which-staff-can-join/cssc/

With most of the scaffolding now removed from the Elizabeth Tower, the intricate conservation work on the exterior of the building is revealed in all its glory. On Wednesday May 4 at 1800 you can join the next of these regular talks to hear how teams of experts have been working to restore the original…

It has been a year since Alison Stanley wrote her 18 month independent review of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), and 28 of her 33 recommendations have now been implemented. This is in large part due to the hard work of the ICGS team. We have created the new ICGS Hub, we are…

The State Opening of Parliament will take place on Tuesday 10 May 2022.Further details here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/state-opening-of-parliament-may-2022 Click here to find out what happens at the State Opening of Parliament: https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/occasions/stateopening/

PolicyMogul is rolling out a free political monitoring and research platform to all parliamentarians and staffPolicyMogul is a political monitoring and research platform that helps MPs and their staff stay on top of political developments and avoid missing important information from constituents and others. Many MPs and their staff are actively using the free service.…

The new Certificate of Employer’s Liability Insurance, which should be displayed in all MPs’ offices, is now available to download from the intranet here: https://intranet.parliament.uk/finances/insurance/mps-insurance/employers-and-public-liability/

To view information about the changes to vehicle access, including for bicycles, to the parliamentary estate, please see this intranet page: https://bit.ly/3KSMcT0

There’s no longer any need to book calls to IPSA in advance, you can just call them directly on 020 7811 6400. Your call will be answered by a member of the team, not necessarily your Account Manager or Payroll Officer, who will try to resolve your issue or will forward to a member of…

The List of Ministerial Responsibilities was updated on 3 March 2022 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-ministers-and-responsibilities

The prices of Royal Mail postage stamps will rise on 4 April 2022 A first-class stamp for a standard letter will rise from 85p to 95p A second-class stamp for a standard letter will rise from 66p to 68p See here for full details: https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/royal-mail-group/first-and-second-class-stamp-prices-2022/ If you intend to stock up on stamps before the…

03 March 2022 The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) has published its first annual report.  The IEP decides appeals and determines sanctions in complaints against MPs of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS). It decided six cases last year, upholding complaints against two current and three former MPs. Three were for sexual misconduct and…

From 2 March to 11 March, there will be a dedicated walk-in surgery for MPs and caseworkers in the Customer Hub in Portcullis House, run by the Home Office. It will be open from 10am to 5pm. Officials will be available to provide advice on the Ukrainian refugee situation and answer questions on the government’s…

IPSA has confirmed the budgets for MPs’ offices for 2022-2023 and you can read the bulletin here: https://assets.ctfassets.net/s90k6prbkeee/3Qh3dqtF4hBC3WpZ2ADrMi/65f374248b72727a3154424b2a77f5e3/Bulletin__2_March_2022.pdf and the finer details here: https://www.ipsaonline.org.uk/guidance/reports-and-budgeting#summary-of-2022-23-budgets You can find an updated monthly and yearly salary calculator here: https://www.ipsaonline.org.uk/guidance/reports-and-budgeting#document-downloads

Good Things Foundation and Nominet have announced a new research scheme to help end data poverty and reduce the cost of living. The three research fellowships – part of the pioneering Data Poverty Lab – will each provide £12,000 funding to enable people to explore interventions with the aim of designing effective solutions to tackle…

Please see the intranet for details of events taking place this week: https://intranet.parliament.uk/business-news/news-current-issues/news/2022/february/events-in-parliament-in-support-of-ukraine-/

Join us for an online webinar on Understanding the Menopause. The session will be delivered by menopause specialist, Dr Wai Tze Cheng, who will offer expert knowledge on the menopause, challenge common myths, and suggest how we can better support people going through the menopause. The talk will be useful to anyone going through menopause…

The Information Commissioner has issued updated guidance on video surveillance. Please click the link below to be take to the ICO website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-dp-themes/guidance-on-video-surveillance/

Commons Library Briefing This new briefing describes the potential effect of the conflict in Ukraine and the possibility of a refugee crisis, alongside what aid the UK and others have pledged in 2022. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9467/

The Commons Library has put together a page featuring Commons Library publications relevant to the current crisis in Ukraine. You can view it here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9455/

Please see the details here:  https://hopuk.sharepoint.com/sites/hct-mstinfo/SiteAssets/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2Fhct%2Dmstinfo%2FSiteAssets%2FSitePages%2FBulletins%2Dand%2Dnotices%2F2511518054GDPR%20Surgery%20Flyer%20March%202022%2Epdf&parent=%2Fsites%2Fhct%2Dmstinfo%2FSiteAssets%2FSitePages%2FBulletins%2Dand%2Dnotices

Tuesday 8 March, 1.30 – 2.30pm Book your place via ACT here For this session we will be joined by Rachel Winder who will discuss her own experiences of Autism and talk about the differences between Autistic and the Predominant Neuro-Type (non-autistic brains). You may find it interesting ahead of the session to read the…

You can now book a one-hour, fully-accessible tour of the State Apartments of the Speaker’s House, which includes the Grand Staircase, the Crimson Drawing Room, the State Dining Room, and the State Bedroom. The tour starts and finishes in Westminster Hall which you are welcome to explore afterwards. See here for full details and booking:…

New six-week online mindfulness course for Members starts next Wednesday 23 February, 8.30-9.30am. Sessions will take place every Wednesday 8.30-9.30am for six weeks (from Wednesday 23 February to Wednesday 30 March). The course will be delivered by Awaris, leading mindfulness training provider and sessions will take place online via Zoom. To book your place email…

The House of Commons Members’ HR Service has produced a Best Practice Guide to Grievances. This best practice guide aims to enable Members and their HR proxies to respond to and investigate grievances fairly, consistently and effectively. You can find the guide here: https://intranet.parliament.uk/images/intranet/Employment/Best%20Practice%20Guide%20-%20Grievance%20v1.pdf This is one of a series of guides, and you can…

This is the fortnight training information from the Commons Learning and Development Team for you to be able to find the available courses for the following two weeks. We are including some law sessions recently arranged for March. Please click the links to book if you are available to join. W/C 21 February Vicarious Trauma…

You may have read in the news that the Royal Mail is bringing in a new style of postage stamp which will feature a barcode. You can read about it here: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps The current style of stamps, which do not feature a barcode, will be phased out gradually, and will cease to be valid on…

It’s that time of year when MPs’ proxies start to gather together all of the information required to finalise their accounts. There’s forms to fill in, accruals and prepayments to check and whilst it’s usually plain sailing, there’s sometimes a few furrowed brows. Never fear, though – IPSA is on hand to help. From 14…

Information about Constituency Office Risk Assessments and Public Access to the Parliamentary Estate have both been added to the Members’ Services Team SharePoint site https://hopuk.sharepoint.com/sites/hct-mstinfo/SitePages/Bulletins-and-notices.aspx

This new briefing from the Commons Library provides an overview of equality law, summarising the main concepts and the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. You can find the full briefing here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9448/ The Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 consolidates most equality law into one Act. It prohibits conduct and creates…

Closing date for applications is 27 February 2022. Applications are open for the 2022 Nuffield Foundation POST Fellowship scheme. Open to any PhD students in a scientific or quantitative social science field who are undertaking or have recently finished their PhD studies. Please see the POST website for further information: https://post.parliament.uk/nuffield-foundation-post-fellowship-2022/

To mark Time to Talk day this year, we will be running a series of events from Thursday 3 February. Over five days we will hear from colleagues across Parliament, who will share their experience of living with a mental health problem. Join our Time to Talk Day campaign and let’s start talking about mental…

Please find below information on training courses from the Commons Learning and Development Team which will take place in the next two weeks. Please click the links if you are available to join. W/C 31 January (this week) Mental Health awareness on 2 & 3 February (both sessions required to attend): Mental Health Awareness W/C 7…

Many Members of Parliament are dealing with a lot of enquiries from constituents asking how relatives or friends in Afghanistan might be able to come to the UK. Read the Commons Library Research Briefing here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9307/

Changes have been made to the arrangements in place for fire evacuation of the Palace of Westminster. Please familiarise yourself with the changes, details of which can be found on the Parliamentary intranet here: https://intranet.parliament.uk/business-news/news-current-issues/news/2022/january/fire-update-jan-22/

Thursday 20th January at 2pm Hope Virgo is an Author, Founder of #DumpThe Scales Campaign and a multi award winning international leading advocate for people with eating disorders as well as being a recognised media spokesperson, having appeared on various platforms including BBC Newsnight, Victoria Derbyshire, Good Morning Britain, Sky News and BBC News. For four…

Members’ staff are invited to learn more about the Vote Office and the services it offers to support their work. The Vote Office is hosting the following sessions for Members’ staff in the coming months: Introduction to the Vote Office (Monday 21 February, 13:00-13:40) Navigating Parliamentary Papers (Friday 20 May, 10:00-10:40) To sign up for…

The DVLA is experiencing delays with paper applications owing to a large number of enquiries and also staffing issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, MPs offices have received a lot of complaints from constituents worried about their applications and whether or not they are still permitted to drive whilst they are waiting…

Calling all Office Managers in the East Region. MST is hosting the launch event for the roadshow on Teams on 25 January at 13.30. Its super important that as many people as possible come from this region to vote for what they would like at the roadshow. Everyone has been emailed an invitation, so if…

The Commons Library is running a series of weekly talks starting 13th January covering topical issues, constituency casework, and statistics. Their expert staff will cover: An introduction to the Order Paper Housing disrepair Understanding and using statistics: the basics for dealing with numerical information Governance aspects of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement Public inquiries and…

If you have a parliamentary PC or laptop which has the Windows 10 operating system, you must update to the latest version of Windows 10 as soon as possible. Go to the Software Center on your computer (click in the search box and type in ‘software center’ and it will find it for you.) Then…

As we approach the new year, many of us will be looking ahead at the next 12 months, setting new year’s resolutions, and vowing to make positive changes in our lives. This new year, why not resolve to be more mindful for 2022? Mindfulness promotes resilience and wellbeing. It can help us to manage change…

At this time of year, it is not unusual for many of us to experience financial anxiety or the “January blues”. After all, our spending often goes up during the festive season which can lead to increased financial pressures in the new year. Our finances underpin most areas of our lives and money problems can…

Laugh away the January Blues with a laughter workshop, hosted by Lotte Mikkelsen. You have probably heard the saying that “laughter is the best medicine” – but its more than an old wives tale – laughing can really benefit your health and wellbeing. By laughing we release natural feel-good chemicals into our body, which lower…

Online talk – 11:00 – 30 December 2021 Shrouded in scaffolding since 2017, the Elizabeth Tower is under repair from the gilt cross and orb at its tip, to the bottom of its 334-step staircase. These monthly talks explore the story of the clock tower from its beginnings, to the most complex conservation project in…

Online talk – 18:00 – 20 January 2022 Join this talk by Keith Scobie-Youngs, director and co-founder of The Cumbria Clock Company, to find out about the recent conservation of the Great Clock of Westminster. Keith and his team, along with UK Parliament’s clock mechanics, painstakingly cleaned, repaired, and restored more than 1,000 components at…

New COVID-19 guidance comes into force today. Please read the latest information on the intranet here:https://hopuk.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/hct-mstinfo/SiteAssets/SitePages/Bulletins-and-notices/1504324238Covid%20bulletin%2010%20December%202021.pdf?csf=1&web=1

Tuesday 7th December at 2.45pm Pregnancy and baby loss can have an enormous impact on a family and the ripples of grief can be felt for a lifetime. Being well supported emotionally both at home and in the workplace can help families feel less alone and validate their grief and complex feelings. Held In Our…

The forthcoming recess dates have now been announced and can be found here: https://whatson.parliament.uk/nonsittingperiods/

The Labour and Conservative Women’s Parliamentary Staff Networks invite you to The Great Cross-Party Get Together – with Kim Leadbeater MP(aerobics class)Time: 8:30am – 9:15amDate: 8 December 2021 Following the covid-19 pandemic and tragic murder of Sir David Amess MP we wanted to do something to bring everyone together in a safe way to spend…