Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80
- 85)
TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2005
DR CHRIS
POND OBE, MS
ANNE FOSTER,
MR PETER
VINES, MR
RUSSELL CARTWRIGHT
AND MR
ANDREW TUGGEY
Q80 Mr Jones: Can you give us an
example? What do you mean by that?
Mr Tuggey: To go back to the dining
room, if we order a set menu in dining rooms A, B and C when we
invite Members to come along and entertain our guests, sometimes
it is very difficult to get a lighter menu. On the Refreshment
Department side, it is quite difficult because sometimes people
turn up late so it is difficult for them. By and large, we would
like to see a lighter menu available throughout the day at lunchtimes.
Certainly as far as the quality in the Churchill Room is concerned,
the food is fine by and large but it would be nicer to have a
lighter choice of menu, perhaps something along The Adjournment
lines, but it is the speed. I am never quite sure why it takes
such a long time to serve a meal. There will be arguments that
it is all prepared freshly but I would contend that if you go
to sources outside the Palace of Westminster they can do that.
I have not bothered to do that, it is not my business to go into
the kitchens but it could be improved probably.
Q81 Chairman: How well are the access
regulations communicated to staff?
Dr Pond: They can be somewhat
complicated, Chairman, but for the most part staff do understand
and try not to bend them. There are variations, of course, as
to whether it is a sitting day or a non-sitting day and from outlet
to outlet. On the whole, people do understand and try to abide
by them as much as possible.
Mr Vines: From the Members' staff
point of view, the turnover of staff that come in, I do not think
they are terribly well understood. At the risk of incurring your
wrath, Chairman, if you will allow me to say so, though it is
not the remit of this Committee, we have asked for a compulsory
induction course. We have an induction course now where the responsibilities
of the various departments are touched on. It is voluntary and
it is not terribly well taken up at the moment. If it was compulsory
for Members' staff, it is an area where the Refreshment Department
regulations and access regulations could be mentioned and there
would then be no excuse. At the moment, full staff passholders
can eat between 12.30 and 2.00 but cannot take a guest. If you
are a temporary Members' staff passholder, which is a yellow pass,
you cannot eat between 12.30 and 2.00. We have colleagues in our
offices who we have to leave behind and they have to eat later
or eat somewhere else. They can eat at Bellamy's which is one
of the reasons why there is a great take-up at Bellamy's because
of the restrictions in the cafeteria at Portcullis House. Those
of us who wish to eat with our yellow passholder colleagues go
in there as well. There are certain discrepancies and we feel
we would rather they were not there. We understand why they are
there but it has not necessarily been enforced in recent months.
Q82 Chairman: How can we improve
the communication?
Mr Vines: I beg your pardon, I
said I might incur your wrath. It does need to be put up. I think
if you write to all Members' staff directly, to make sure they
get it, with whatever the rules are. Please do not—he says
again incurring your wrath—write to Members of Parliament
and ask them to pass it on to their staff. A bit of direct communication
would be of assistance.
Dr Pond: A neat succinct summary
of who can use the facilities at what time outside the door of
every establishment would not go amiss because sometimes one turns
up and is a bit unsure. On the whole, staff of the House are here
for longer tenure than Members' staff so perhaps there is less
misunderstanding.
Q83 Mr Jones: Would a possible recommendation
be to make it simpler in terms of the different times? If you
are a temporary member of staff in an office the idea you have
to change lunch because of one person is nonsense. Would it be
in order to review the rules and make them simpler? I have the
idea that if access was made simpler some places might get used
more.
Mr Vines: Yes, that could be the
case.
Dr Pond: It might be difficult
if it exacerbated the overcrowding.
Q84 Mr Jones: I appreciate that.
Dr Pond: That would require the
overflow that you mentioned.
Mr Jones: For example, if we were to
close the press facilities but expand the facilities elsewhere.
I do not think it is just about the access rules, it is trying
to look at capacity. If you do both at once it possibly gets around
the problem.
Q85 Chairman: Is there anything else?
Mr Tuggey: Yes, something which
does not involve the others is the business of the shop. We use
the shop quite a lot for two main purposes. First of all, to buy
small gifts, presentations for people who visit us for our seminars
and delegations but we spend more money when we take delegations
out so we can make suitable presentations when we visit Commonwealth
parliaments. We find the range of goods which is available in
the House of Commons shop is not as good as the range, and indeed
the quality, in the House of Lords shop and we wonder whether
something might be done about that? The logo of the Portcullis
is a unique logo and we feel that perhaps more income could be
generated by making more use of that in the shop and the shop
facilities. I know there is going to be a small revamp but we
find the small shop next to the Terrace café is pretty
pokey. Sometimes the staff are not quite as friendly or helpful
as they should be. When we have visiting delegations and send
them off into the shop, the comments which come back, especially
from some of your colleagues in Australasia are not frightfully
kind. If you could look at that we would find that useful.
Chairman: That is very helpful. Thank
you very much. Thank you all for submitting your evidence and
coming along and helping us out. We will send you a copy of the
report when we finally publish it. Thank you.
| 
