Department of the Serjeant at Arms Annual
Report 2000-01 (continued)
2.3 SUMMER OPENING
OF THE
LINE OF
ROUTE
The objective has been to conduct the opening of
the Line of Route to the public on an experimental basis to the
satisfaction of the House.
The Line of Route tours during Summer 2000 were a
considerable success in terms of value for money and the quality
of both the tours themselves and of the guides. A survey conducted
by the University of Greenwich found that 95% of respondents rated
the tour as 'very good'. The two Houses have agreed to extend
the trial summer opening of the Line of Route for a further year
during the Summer Recess 2001. The project is being managed within
a framework of three criteria:
- the Palace of Westminster is primarily a place
of work, and public access to it must not impinge upon that work;
- visiting arrangements during the recess must
not constrain either the Parliamentary works programme or the
ability of either House to sit at any time it may be necessary
to do so; and
- current rights of Members of both Houses and
of the Parliamentary Education Unit must be maintained.
The budget remains at £232,000 and the lessons
learned from the 2000 project are being translated into action.
There will be no increase in the price of £3.50 to cover
the ticketing charge as well as the services of a guide.
2.4 GENERAL ELECTION
The Department has been heavily involved in planning
and making preparations for a General Election, both on a House-wide
basis and within the Directorates. Lessons learned from the 1997
election have been reviewed and applied to current planning and
organisational models from the Portcullis House occupation programme
have been refined for managing the post-Election moves of Members
and their staff. A detailed Departmental plan has been prepared
for the pre-Dissolution, Dissolution and post-Polling Day periods.
2.5 CENTRAL PROVISION
OF COMPUTER
EQUIPMENT FOR
MEMBERS
The Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) has recommended
the central provision and maintenance of a standard package of
computer equipment for Members.[12]
PCD has worked closely with the Information Committee of the House
and with the Department of Finance and Administration on scoping
and costing the requirement for central provision. Plans for procurement,
delivery and support of a portfolio of standard equipment have
been prepared should Parliament decide to approve the SSRB recommendations.
TO DEVELOP INFORMATION SYSTEMS
2.6 PARLIAMENTARY
ADMINISTRATIVE DATABASE
During 2000-01, work was undertaken to extend the
Parliamentary Administrative Database (PAD). PAD is used to support
many functions of the Department, including the allocation of
offices and telephones to Members and staff, the administration
of office moves (used to great effect during the occupation of
Portcullis House), and the booking of Committee and meeting rooms.
PAD was extended to include the following: electronic signage;
the integrated booking of rooms and refreshments in Portcullis
House; and a system to support mail services for both Houses of
Parliament.
2.7 ELECTRONIC SIGNAGE
Having previously piloted electronic signage in Central
Lobby, it was planned to develop a system for Portcullis House
to show which Committee and meeting rooms were occupied when and
by whom. The system was developed in time for the occupation of
Portcullis House in September. Room booking information recorded
on PAD is passed to the signage system every 3 minutes, 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, providing a continuous update of information
for the displays. Electronic signs outside the Committee rooms
show information about the occupation of each particular room,
including a thirty-minute countdown to the next meeting. Recent
changes to booking information are highlighted to alert attendees
to, for example, a change of venue for a meeting.
2.8 INTEGRATED BOOKING
OF ROOMS
AND REFRESHMENTS
Following the decision to provide refreshments in
meeting and function rooms in Portcullis House, changes were made
to PAD's room booking functions to include refreshment booking.
This work was undertaken in close liaison with representatives
of the Refreshment Department and to a tight timescale. The new
booking system was completed and tested by late October, ready
for the provision of refreshments from early December. It enables
Serjeant at Arms Attendant staff to provide a 'one stop shop'
for room and refreshment booking. Following a trial period of
use it is planned to extend the functionality of the system further
to include, among other features, electronic notifications of
bookings made.
2.9 A SYSTEM
TO SUPPORT
THE MAIL
SERVICES FOR
BOTH HOUSES
OF PARLIAMENT
Among other requirements, a new mail database system
was needed to enable the mail contractor to provide delivery and
collection services to Portcullis House. The new system was developed
as an extension of PAD so it would use the Member and office location
data already recorded on PAD. This ensured that the mail system
would be automatically updated - in real time - when there were
Member office moves or other changes to Member details. The new
mail system also provides extensive extra functionality, which
has, among other improvements, reduced the time taken to respond
to Members' redirection changes and for each mail delivery to
be sorted prior to onward internal delivery to Members and their
staff.
2.10 TO
DEVELOP THE
USE OF
ARCHIBUS/FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT
Archibus, which is an abbreviation for 'Architect
in Business', is a facilities management software system designed
to manage and present estates and buildings information in a graphical
and textual manner. All the estate drawings are dynamically linked
to the individual spaces that comprise the Parliamentary estate.
The drawings also hold engineering services data such as gas,
water, steam, electrical distribution points, sewage and main
data/video cabling runs. The furniture and equipment module holds
details of all plant/equipment assets as well as historic furniture
items and, eventually, works of art. All assets are in the process
of being bar-coded as a basis for audit checks and for planned
maintenance purposes.
'Buildings Operations and Maintenance' is the most
extensively used module with the recent introduction of the Archibus
Works Help Desk. Between 100 and 150 reactive cases are logged
daily and the module also handles around 100 planned maintenance
and other routine tasks on a weekly basis. A particular feature
has been the introduction of the Intranet for the purposes of
logging and tracking cases. It is the first interactive Intranet
application of its kind to be introduced onto the Parliamentary
network.
TO IMPROVE PDVN SERVICES
2.11 IMPROVEMENT
IN PDVN
PERFORMANCE
Following the successful infrastructure upgrade in
the previous year, users have experienced a far more reliable
and predictable level of network service during 2000-01. The introduction
of third party out-of-hours network management, combined with
PCD's internal resources, provided the basis for enhanced monitoring
of essential network equipment. Given the improved performance
of the underlying network infrastructure, PCD was able to give
greater attention to the enhancement of higher-level network services.
Projects successfully accomplished include a significant upgrade
to the network firewall equipment, the upgrade of virtual private
network (VPN) equipment and considerable progress towards removing
legacy network protocols such as IPX. Testing and full implementation
of fallback routing software on the network switches - a quality
of service component all the more essential given the significant
extension of the network into Portcullis House in the summer -
was also achieved within this busy period. During the review year
there were 17 network incidents with a total unplanned downtime
of 19.25 hours, compared with 72 hours in the previous year.
2.12 PROVISION OF
SWIFTER INTERNET
ACCESS
Following discussions with the Internet service provider
agreement was reached to provide an interim upgrade to the bandwidth
of the connection between PDVN and the Internet. Originally planned
for January 2001, technical and supplier difficulties delayed
delivery until April. During the year, plans were also developed
to acquire fully managed, flexible bandwidth with guaranteed quality
of service. These are currently awaiting formal ratification.
2.13 IMPROVEMENT
IN REMOTE
ACCESS TO
THE PDVN
Improving the effectiveness of the remote connection
to the PDVN has been a high priority. The implementation programme
involved the development and distribution of auto-installing software
to users on the estate and in constituency offices, as well as
the enhancement of supporting PDVN systems. The lack of standardisation
of Members' computers added to the complexity of both development
and user-support activities. While this meant that original targets
proved over-ambitious, the project was nonetheless largely completed
within the period, with approximately 1,200 of 1,300 user accounts
successfully converted to the improved software. Overall, users
will see faster, less complex and more reliable remote access.
Further system enhancements are also planned.
TO IMPROVE MANAGEMENT OF DEPARTMENTAL RESOURCES
2.14 TO
CONDUCT THE
BRAITHWAITE REVIEW
OF THE
DEPARTMENT AND
IMPLEMENT AGREED
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Braithwaite Report (June 1999) recommended a
further review of the role and structure of the Parliamentary
Works Directorate and its relationship with the other operations
of the Serjeant at Arms' Department. This review, now covering
the whole Department, was conducted between February and July
2000 as a high priority objective within the Department's annual
plan. The review's recommendations were presented to and accepted
by a steering Group chaired by the Clerk of the House in July
2000.
Implementation of the recommendations began in September
2000. Good progress is being made towards the target of achieving
the completion of this phase of the reorganisation of the Department
by 31 October 2001. The role of the Serjeant at Arms as budget
holder for the House of Commons' share of the Works and PCD budgets
has been strengthened and clarified. A new Departmental Head of
Finance post has been created and recruited to assist the Serjeant
at Arms to fulfil his new responsibilities. The Parliamentary
Works Directorate has been separated into purchaser and provider
functions, leading to the establishment of the Parliamentary Estates
and Parliamentary Works Services Directorates.
Working closely with the Department of Finance and
Administration, a new structure has been developed to allow the
support functions of finance and human resources to be delivered
to the Department in a co-ordinated manner.
A 'Monthly Management Report' has been introduced
to provide the Serjeant at Arms with better information on performance
in key areas so that he can exercise firmer control over the Department.
Variances and areas requiring action are highlighted, using a
traffic light system.
Initially, this monthly report is being produced
from management information currently available in the Department.
Further work is in train to identify the systems that are required
to support the new structure of the Department.
2.15 IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE
INVESTORS IN
PEOPLE ACTION
PLAN
Formal appraisal for DEL and SAA cleaners
Last year the Serjeant at Arms' Department gained
Investor in People accreditation. One of the recommendations
associated with the accreditation process was the adoption of
Annual Appraisal Systems to meet the needs of the Directly Employed
Labour of the Parliamentary Works Directorate, and of the cleaning
staff employed in the House of Commons. Schemes have now been
set up and have been in place for a year covering the DEL and
SOD cleaning staff. Performance Review Forms have been designed
and adopted to meet their requirements and the systems are monitored
and operated by supervisory staff from the respective directorates.
Their adoption followed union consultation. The appraisal systems
appear to have been well received by staff and managers. They
will continue in use, subject to refinement and improvement, and
provide a useful element in the management of important sections
of the Department's service infrastructure.
To design a new Management Development Programme
During the year work progressed on the refinement
of core management competencies that would form the basis of modular
management development training within the Department. In March,
the Department's Senior Management Group approved expenditure
for two pilot courses that would focus on two competencies, Leadership
Skills and Team-working Skills. Proposals from three training
providers were sought and one has been selected to carry out the
pilots. Course participants have been selected and briefed. The
initial two courses will be complete by early July when progress
will be reviewed with the objective of rolling out the full competency
based modular Management Development Programme to A2/B1 managers
during financial year 2001-02 and beyond.
To devise and agree an internal communications
strategy
The Senior Management Group has approved the Department's
internal communications strategy, which has been designed to support
achievement of the objectives within the Departmental Business
Plan. The key features are:
- to link communication to business objectives;
- to recognise the key role of line managers;
- to ensure relevant communication skills are included
in the Training Plan;
- to use a simple communication planning model:
- define clearly what is to be communicated
- identify all stakeholders within the target audience
for the communication
- specify what the communication is intended to achieve
- select/design an appropriate communication process
and style
- to ensure feedback channels are in place;
- to measure progress in improving internal communication;
and
- to aim to ensure a consistent and coherent view
from the SMG.
The strategy is now being implemented, particularly
in relation to the implementation of the Braithwaite recommendations.
Michael Cummins
SERJEANT AT ARMS
12 Review Body on Senior Salaries, Report No. 48, Review
of parliamentary pay and allowances, Volume 1: Report, Cm 4997-I. Back
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