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Preface |
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1.1 |
Aims |
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The Department's primary aim is to support the work of the House
of Commons and its Members. Its objective is the timely production
of edited verbatim reports of the proceedings of the House and
its Standing Committees and the processing and printing of written
answers. The reports must be printed overnight to the highest
standards of editorial and typographical accuracy. When the Standing
Committee work load exceeds production capacity, publication may
be delayed. The Department is responsible for the operation of
the annunciator service.
The principal users of the Department's services are Members
of Parliament and Departments of the House, but its publications
are used extensively by Government Departments, national organisations
and the public, both in paper form and on the internet.
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1.2 |
Organisation |
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The Editor, as head of the Department, is a member of the Board
of Management. It is a role which therefore carries both Departmental
and corporate responsibilities.
The Department is organised into four divisions.
The House reporting division operates under the direction
of the Deputy Editor (House). It is responsible for producing
the Hansard daily part, which contains the proceedings in the
Chamber and written answers, the bound volume, and, in conjunction
with the Committee reporting division, reports of the proceedings
in Westminster Hall. Its output is entirely in electronic format
which has a substantial impact in reducing production costs. A
team of sub-editors oversees the work of reporters. Their task
is to maintain the flow of copy to The Stationery Office's Parliamentary
Press so that the daily part can be printed and distributed to
the required schedule, ensuring that it is available in the Vote
Office the next morning at 7.30 and electronically on the PDVN.
The Department's ability to fulfil its commitment to the House
in respect of the timely production of the daily part depends
on the efficiency of its staff and the reliability of its computer
systems. The section has a performance target of processing and
transmitting to The Stationery Office's Parliamentary Press the
text of Members' speeches three hours after they have been delivered
in the Chamber. This rolling deadline, which
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reduces to 11/2 hours after the rise of the House,
is necessary to guarantee overnight production to the required
standard. The computer systems have operated reliably under the
control of the Department's information technology section, and,
with their electronic output, they continue to enable the Department
to make a significant contribution to reduced printing costs.
The Committee reporting division, working under the direction
of the Deputy Editor (Committees), responds to the fluctuating
numbers of Standing Committees, with the aim of overnight production
of the reports according to prescribed criteria. The division
is responsible for producing reports of proceedings in Standing
Committees and has primary responsibility for reporting debates
in Westminster Hall.
In conjunction with Hansard IT staff, the division succeeded
in implementing a Windows-based reporting system for the electronic
production of Standing Committee text notwithstanding having to
contend with the heaviest Committee work load in at least five
years. This further substantial advance in the Department's programme
of conversion to electronic production of text will enable it
to maintain the pace of improving the standard of service to the
House while cutting printing costs.
The Administration division, under the control of the
Deputy Editor (Personnel, Finance and Administration), bears an
increasing work load as the Department, in common with others,
assumes greater responsibility for matters relating to finance,
staff costs and manpower planning. The implementation of resource
accounting and budgeting, the control and administration of staff
costs, and the organisation and implementation of the key areas
of staff training and health and safety are salient aspects of
the division's work.
The specialised skills that the Department requires of its staff
cannot be obtained from the job market and must be developed in-house.
Meeting that demand requires of the training manager a carefully
structured and intensive programme of training which is planned
on a medium term basis aimed at anticipating staff wastage, maintaining
and improving staff skills in line with advances in IT, and, through
refresher courses, enhancing the level of performance of all staff.
The principal challenge in the year was to train the Committee
staff to use the new reporting system. The scale of the requirement
warranted a tendering process for the provision of courses which
resulted in a saving to the Department of some £13,000 on
initial quotations.
Experience elsewhere has shown that as staff increasingly use
information technology the need for vigilance in health and safety
becomes more necessary. Under the guidance of its health and safety
manager, the Department has fully supported and begun to implement
the new Parliament-wide risk management strategy and has continued
to maintain a high standard of care for its staff. With the additional
pressures created by the Westminster Hall experiment and the busiest
parliamentary timetable for many years, there has been even greater
need for the careful monitoring of staff to prevent health problems
or to respond to them quickly.
The Department's local health and safety policy and procedures
document was updated and reissued in January and a comprehensive
new health and safety database was being created. The health and
safety manager has been closely involved in planning for the relocation
of the Department's Committee reporting section to 7 Millbank
to ensure the best ergonomic environment.
Once again, assistance was given to the reporting section of
the Scottish Parliament in the organisation of health and safety
training for its staff.
The Information Technology division provides the technical
expertise and support behind the electronic processing of the
text of the Department's reports, probably the most significant
development in its history. The division is required to keep the
Department abreast of the latest developments, and, where appropriate,
to implement changes that will enable it to provide a service
of the highest standard in the most cost-effective manner.
The division's mission in the year under review continued to
reflect three principal areas of responsibility within the operations
of the Department. First, the division demonstrates a strong capability
in systems development. It uses that expertise to apply new technologies
to enhance the Department's production processes in the pursuit
of reduced operating costs and increased levels of service and
efficiency. Secondly, it provides maintenance for the Department's
computer systems and networks in order to guarantee the highest
levels of availability for the mission-critical tasks that they
perform. Finally, it supports the users of those systems both
within the Department and outside, including the print contractor
and, until the service was terminated, users of the Department's
intranet facility.
The Department's business plan envisages the continued and extended
application of technology to a wide range of the Department's
activities. The division is committed to ensuring that it is prepared
and equipped to play its part in achieving the successful implementation
of the development programme. In the wake of the successful implementation
of the Committee reporting system, work will begin on the next
major project, the conversion to Microsoft NT of the House reporting
division's debate computer system.
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| 2. |
Plan for the year |
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2.1 |
Goals |
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The Department's goals for the for the year were based on its
overall aims of remaining cost-effective and efficient, delivering
levels and types of service which the House is entitled to expect.
Through a continuing programme of the exploitation of technology,
the Department sought to improve the standard of service it delivered
to the House.
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2.2 |
Projects |
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The major project for the year was the development and installation
of a computer network to produce Standing Committee reports in
electronic format, with the objectives of reducing printing costs,
increasing the number of reports being printed overnight at the
busiest times, and improving the typographical standard.
The remaining projects were:
To ensure that the Department's computer systems were millennium
compliant. To continue to contribute to and comply with the House
policy on IT convergence in a manner consistent with the reliable
operation of the Department's computer systems.
To work towards securing Investors in People accreditation.
Through the deliberations of a cross-departmental working group,
to examine options for more speedily producing the Hansard index.
To contribute to the House policy on accommodation, in particular
implementing the strategy that will lead to the vacating of the
Wendy House and the location of most Committee operations in 7
Millbank.
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| 3. |
Achievements |
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3.1 |
Westminster Hall and Standing Committees |
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The Department's ability to respond to the requirements of the
House in respect of Westminster Hall must rank as one of its major
achievements of the year. Using existing staff resources and with
only minimal additional financial outlay provided from within the
planned budget, the Department provided an expanded annunciator
service and produced the reports of the proceedings of the 46 meetings
which appeared in the daily part and overnight in accordance with
its customary standard. The bulk of the work fell to be carried
out by the Committee reporting division, which was heavily overstretched
in a year in which the number of Standing Committees to be reported
was running at an extremely high level - certainly the highest for
the five years for which statistics are available, and probably
for further back than that. |
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There were 318 sittings of Bill Committees and 112 sittings of
Delegated Legislation Committees. The division produced reports
of debates on 37 Bills, 112 instruments of Delegated Legislation,
15 meetings of European Standing Committees and six Grand Committees,
as well as most of the 46 reports of Westminster Hall debates. The
total number of Committee pages typeset was 9,214, an increase of
18 per cent on the previous year and double the number in 1997-1998. |
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3.2 |
The Chamber and the Daily Part |
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In terms of the volume of business, the year represented
at least a five-year high for the part of the Department that is
responsible for House reporting and written answers. The number
of pages printed was 21,706, with written answers accounting for
7,054 pages. Notwithstanding the exceptional level of activity,
the schedule for overnight production, with publication the following
morning of proceedings in the Chamber up to 1 am was met without
exception. The efficiency of the House reporting division combined
with exceptional support from The Stationery Office on 19 July 1999
resulted in the report carrying all the proceedings up to the adjournment
at 2.33 am. It was delivered to the House on time only some five
hours after the House had risen. |
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3.3 |
Committee computerisation |
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The project was designed to develop a text origination
system operating in a Microsoft NT network environment. The design
provides for the automation of a number of editorial functions.
The copy is created by the transcribers from tape recordings, transmitted
to the sub-editors and dispatched to the print contractor in electronic
format. The system supports 30 transcribers and 14 sub-editors.
It was developed and built in-house by the Department's information
technology division with some support from contractor programmers.
The benefits to be derived from the system include a 37 per cent
reduction in page production costs, faster delivery of text to the
print contractor, and a higher standard of typographical accuracy.
The project timetable provided for the system to be installed and
operating by Christmas 1999. It was operational in time for the
return of the House from the summer recess. This enabled staff training
to be undertaken during that recess and trial production runs to
be conducted early in 2000. These were successfully concluded, and,
at the year end, the Department was confident of meeting its next
targets which were the production of Westminster Hall debates in
electronic format after Easter 2000 and full electronic production
of Standing Committee reports from State Opening in that year. |
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3.4 |
Millennium compliance |
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The programme of work to ensure that the Department's
computer systems would survive the date change spanned 18 months,
with the most intense phase falling during the 1999 summer recess.
The work was successful in all respects, the production systems
performing to specification into the new year. The only casualty
was the Hansard online browser. The costs associated with making
that service compliant could not be justified given that the parliamentary
intranet service could be upgraded at little additional cost to
fill the gap. With the agreement of the Information Committee, the
browser was taken out of service on the last sitting day of 1999. |
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3.5 |
IT convergence |
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The Official Report's IT systems were developed on the
basis of its operating on its own networks, predating and independent
of the PDVN. The pressure upon the Department to converge was less
than on others who were connected to and relied upon the PDVN. Nevertheless,
the Official Report pursued convergence, in some respects to a greater
extent than was technically necessary. It adopted House-wide standards
in respect of having an IP-based network, of standardising on Microsoft
products, and of procuring hardware in accordance with House standards. |
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3.6 |
IiP |
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The business plan covering 1999-2000 committed the Department
to securing Investors in People accreditation. Good progress was
made in the course of the year and all necessary steps were taken
to prepare the Department for the formal assessment stage, which
was planned for early May 2000. |
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3.7 |
Hansard index |
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The interdepartmental index working group concluded
that changes to the production process would not at this time lead
to faster production of the index. However, it questioned the need
to produce the fortnightly index of the daily part and suggested
a survey of users. That survey was instigated and responses were
being received as the year closed. |
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3.8 |
Accommodation strategy |
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The Department was represented on the accommodation
strategy working group and was closely involved at a number of levels
in planning the move of the Department's Committee reporting division
from the Palace to 7 Millbank. At the close of the year, it was
agreed with the Director of Works that the move would take place
in summer recess 2002. |
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| 4. |
Performance measurement |
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The Department's system of performance measurement is based upon
production targets and error rates. Those rates are based upon
what are termed "significant errors" which include the mis-spelling
of a name, a factual reporting mistake, misattribution of words
spoken, and so on. In the busiest year that the Department has
faced for the five years for which records are available, it met
its targets in all but a few instances.
The Official Report has one overarching performance target: the
daily part of the proceedings in the Chamber must be produced
overnight to a schedule that enables it to be delivered to the
Vote Office at 7.30 the following morning. That target was achieved
on all occasions.
The targets and their related performance are as follows.
House reporting division:
Target: Not more than one significant error per 12 columns of
debate and oral answers.
Achievement: Average of one significant error per 18 columns
of debate and oral answers. The figure is an improvement of 20
per cent on last year's figure and of 50 per cent over the past
two years.
Target: Dispatch of copy to the print contractor within three
hours of the Member having finished speaking.
Achievement: Target met on all occasions.
Target: Average of one significant error per 10 columns of written
answers.
Achievement: Average of one significant error in 11.5 columns,
a 15 per cent improvement on the performance target.
Target: Next day printing of, on average, 90 per cent of written
answers received from Government departments by the stipulated
time.
Achievement: Average of 93.34 per cent of answers printed the
following day, an increase of 12.5 per cent over the past two
years.
Target: Daily parts corrected for bound volume within the rolling
deadline of 15 working days.
Achievement: On average, daily parts corrected in 12.5 working
days. It is proposed to reduce the target from 15 working days
to 10 working days.
Committee reporting division:
Target: To deliver to the print contractor the text of reports
of debates in Westminster Hall in time for them to be published
overnight and appear in the Hansard daily part.
Achievement: All Westminster Hall reports delivered to the print
contractor in time for overnight publication in the daily part.
Target: To deliver to the print contractor the equivalent of
seven two-and-a-half hour morning sittings of Standing Committees
on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and four two-and-a-half hour morning
sittings on Wednesdays in time for them to be published the following
morning.
Achievement: Target achieved.
Target: Proof reading of the reports of the proceedings in Westminster
Hall to be completed within 10 working days of the sitting, reports
of Standing Committees within four weeks of the Committees having
reported, and reports of Statutory Instruments Committees and
European Standing Committees within two weeks.
Achievement: All Westminster Hall reports and all but four of
all other reports were proof read on time.
Target: Average of not more than one significant error per two-and-a-half
hour Committee sitting.
Achievement: Target improved upon by 26 per cent.
Ian Church
Editor
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