There are strict rules on the use of House stationery, postage-paid envelopes and the Crowned Portcullis, and you should familiarise yourself with them as any allegations of breaches of the rules may be investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and could result in the Member having to repay the cost of the stationery.
Members may make use of a cash-limited provision of House stationery and postage-paid envelopes, up to a value of £11,000 per financial year (April to March) per Member, which includes the cost of the stationery and any associated postage. This provision is in addition to any stationery and postage costs which Members may have reimbursed under IPSA’s Business Costs Scheme.
Please note that House stationery and pre-paid postage may only be used in connection with the Member’s Parliamentary functions and therefore co-signature by people who are not Members is likely to be inappropriate. If in doubt, contact stationeryapprovals@parliament.uk for guidance.
The principles for use of House provided stationery are as follows:
- The stationery is to be used for Parliamentary duties; it is not for outside business use.
- Members must be mindful of the Code of Conduct for MPs. In particular, paragraph 8 of the Code states that:“Excepting modest and reasonable personal use, Members must ensure that the use of facilities and services provided to them by Parliament, including an office, is in support of their parliamentary activities, and is in accordance with all relevant rules.”
- The stationery is not to be used for party political campaigning.Party political logos or emblems may not be used on House stationery.
- Each allocation is personal to the Member concerned, and unused stationery cannot be transferred to another Member.
The full list of rules may be found here:
House of Commons stationery and postage-paid envelopes
Rules for the use of House of Commons stationery
Website and Social Media Links in Email Signatures and Letterheads
Advice note PCS / AN / 2024.03 (Rev.2) from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards states:
“Summary: It does not breach rules against using parliamentary resources for party-political purposes to include in electronic or paper stationery a link to an MP’s website or social media account or to include parliamentary email addresses in party-funded literature; the fundamental rule is that the use of parliamentary communications facilities must be for parliamentary purposes.”
For full details, please see the advice note here: https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/pcfs/advice-notes/2024.10.09-advice-note—website–social-media-links-in-email-signatures–letterheads.pdf
Royal Mail Transition to Barcoded Stamps – 2022/2023
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 31 January 2023. You will be able to ‘swap out’ your old stamps for new ones from 31 March 2022. Information on how to do this is on the above website.
The pre-paid envelopes used by MPs’ offices will not be affected and can continue to be used after 31 January 2023 and are not part of the swap out scheme.