Meet the Director: Commons Library and POST

Time: 11:30 – 14:00
Date: Tuesday 10 June
Location: Portcullis House Hub

Members and Members’ staff are invited to drop-in to monthly ‘Meet the Director’ sessions in the Portcullis House Hub.

Directors from key House Administration teams that provide services to Members will be available to answer your questions, listen to your feedback, or talk to you more about how their teams can support you in carrying out your parliamentary duties.

This month’s drop-in focuses on the House of Commons Library and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).

Meet:

Grant Hill-Cawthorne, Managing Director of Research and Information
Anna Dickson, Director of Research
Bryn Morgan, Director of Data Services.

UK STEM skills pipeline

Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are important for the UK’s economic future. How can the routes through education and into STEM be improved?

Find out more in the POST research briefing: UK STEM skills pipeline

Trust, public engagement and UK Parliament

A research briefing from POST – the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology.

What is the relationship between public engagement activities and public trust? What makes different types of engagement methods effective, and how can they engage the public and impact trust levels?

Download the briefing here: Trust, public engagement and UK Parliament

Casework Discussion Forum: Local transport Q&A

Time: 14:30 – 15:30
Date: 8 May 2025
Location: Online via MS Teams

The Casework Discussion Forum takes place each month via MS Teams.

The topic for May’s forum meeting will be a Local transport Q&A (UK wide). We’ll be joined by Roger Tyers and Mike Benson from the Library’s Business and Transport team, and Iona Stewart from the Library’s Social and General Statistics team.

Book your place on Act.

The forum is complemented by a dedicated Teams chat which enables you to share ideas and best practice, with support being on hand from the Library should specialist knowledge be required.

You do not have to be a caseworker to attend these sessions – they are open to any Members’ staff who handle casework.

MP Office Manual

Between June 2023 to June 2024 a cross-party group of civic technologists worked together to create the MP Office Manual. They are all keen to see MPs with well run offices contributing to a flourishing democracy in the UK.

You can read it at mpofficemanual.uk

The proposals in the manual come from in-depth interviews with current and former MPs office staff and expert advice from 30+ practitioners, allied with a survey of staff members and a review of current literature including all past guides and examples found on w4mp, Hansard Society, and Parliament.

We hope you find it useful – and if you have any suggestions for improving it please get in touch.

Access to cash and banking hubs

House of Commons Library Talk

Session outline

Cash access, use and acceptance are declining. Recent legislation has tried to address the issues this causes for people reliant on cash. This talk will outline the law in this area and how caseworkers can help constituents with cash access requests.

Time: 10:30 – 11:30
Date: 24 April 2025
Location: Online
Registration: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=7498

Practical recommendations for supporting staff in a political office

By Jennifer Lees-Marshment
Professor of Political Management and Marketing at The University of Dundee

Wednesday April 2nd at 2pm

This workshop will present practical recommendations for supporting staff in political offices. These were created by interviewing political advisors who worked for Prime Ministers, Ministers and MPs in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand about what they had found worked best within the realities of politics and government.

Participants will also get the opportunity to reflect on which recommendations they might consider implementing, and to share any additional practices they have found useful.

This will be of interest to existing and prospective staffers and special advisers, and those already support and manage colleagues, teams or offices or aspire to in the future.

Brief author intro
Jennifer Lees-Marshment is Professor of Political Marketing and Management at The University of Dundee and interviewed over 65 advisors who worked for Prime Ministers, Ministers and MPs in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada to identify over 50 best practice recommendations for improving the support and management of political staffers.

To receive the Teams link to this session, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk

Library and POST research for today’s debates, straight to your phone

The Commons Library and POST have launched a new WhatsApp channel, bringing you impartial, curated research every day, at least an hour before the Chamber sits. Join us over on Research in Parliament to get the facts you need for the day’s debates, direct to your phone.

Follow Research in Parliament or scan the QR code below to join.

🔔 And don’t forget to tap the notifications bell to stay in the loop!

Invitation for MPs: Bank of England Briefing

The Bank of England wishes to invite Members of Parliament to a briefing in Portcullis House on Thursday 27^th March from 9.30-11.00:

How the Work of the Bank of England Affects Your Constituents

The Bank’s wide-ranging work – on interest rates, the safety of the financial system, managing the UK’s high-value payment system, and supplying genuine, difficult-to-counterfeit banknotes, among other areas – directly affects people and businesses up and down the country.

With an interest rate decision on 20th March, this will be an ideal opportunity to ask your questions and learn more about the work of the Bank of England.

Please book a place via the Member Training Learning Portal here or by emailing trainingmpandmpstaff@parliament.uk

Are you making the most of POST?

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) produces a wide range of reliable and impartial scientific research for Parliament.