Memorandum from the Serjeant at Arms
(November
2005)
1. At the end of the discussion on Tuesday
8 November the Chairman was kind enough to invite further written
submission about issues that had been raised in evidence. I hope
that the following supplementary information is helpful to the
Committee in its inquiry.
2. I think it would be useful to group those
issues raised by the Committee into categories, to deal those
categories in the rough order in which they present themselves
in the run-up to and post-election periods and then to cover IT
matters.
RETIRING MEMBERS
3. The arrangements for Members not standing
at the General Election are given at Annex A to the booklet "General
Election Arrangements—Rules for Members" published
in April 2005 by the Clerk of the House with the agreement of
the Speaker. A copy of the relevant parts of this booklet was
circulated to the Committee. In general they appear to have worked
very well. The overall thrust behind the arrangements is that
retiring Members should vacate the Parliamentary estate no later
than a week after the House is formally dissolved. Typically this
would then give some two weeks before polling day for the accommodation
formerly occupied by the retiring Members to be refurbished and
redecorated where necessary. Should a retiring Member's circumstances
prevent them clearing their office within that timescale then
every consideration is given to providing the necessary extension
of time. Some retiring Members, for whatever reason, do not allocate
a high priority to clearing their parliamentary offices. In these
circumstances, if the Member is not able to come to Westminster
then, with the Member's permission, Serjeant at Arms' staff will
pack the office in the Member's absence and arrange for the contents
to be transported, at the Member's expense, to wherever the Member
requires. This is a measure of last resort. Serjeant at Arms'
staff are always available to assist a Member to pack.
DEFEATED MEMBERS
4. The Staff do appreciate that a Member
who has lost their seat will feel particularly upset at this time
and they do try to act as sympathetically as possible under the
circumstances. Nevertheless, the evidence given to the Committee
shows that this does not always happen and clearly we can plan
to do better in a number of areas:
(a) Information for Members who are
defeated—This is an important point. Although the
arrangements for defeated Members are contained in the booklet
General Election Arrangements—Rules for Members it
is clear that this information, along with details of the other
services which departments of the House can provide to assist
the defeated Member could be presented in a more helpful way.
Methods of doing this both before and after an election will be
investigated. This will also help in briefing staff and ensuring
uniformity of treatment for defeated Members.
(b) Passes—all defeated
Members' passes were re-enabled on the day after polling day,
along with those of new and returning Members. In future this
process will be managed much more easily and effectively when
a revised access system is agreed by JCOS.
(c) Use of Parliamentary offices whilst
winding down at Westminster—The current arrangements
envisage that a defeated Member will be able to leave Westminster
one week after polling day. In practice most defeated Members
achieve this. However, in cases where there are difficulties,
consideration is always given to extending the time. Assistance
is always available to Members who are leaving the House from
the Office Keepers and their teams. Members who require to move
papers and equipment out of Westminster can be given details of
removal companies who will do this. The costs can be reclaimed
out of the Winding up Allowance.
(d) The use of e-mail and telephone
facilities—These arrangements were applied in accordance
with the dissolution arrangements without any significant difficulties
being reported at the time. However, former Members have said
it would be helpful if emails sent to their parliamentary address
after their account has been closed received an automatic response
explaining that they are no longer a Member of Parliament and
giving their new contact details. This facility will be investigated
for the next General Election. The availability of a greater level
of telephone services while defeated Members remain on the Parliamentary
Estate will also be investigated.
(e) Mail Forwarding—Royal
Mail provide a redirection service to former Members for personal
mail for three months from the date of the election. Other mail
is redirected to the Member who was returned at the General Election
for the same constituency. After three months all mail is redirected
to the new Member.
5. Unfortunately, unless and until it is
possible to find an arrangement which removes the pressure to
make defeated Members' offices available for the new Parliament
this will always be a difficult area.
NEW MEMBERS
6. Joining information—the
suggestions that the letter which is handed to a newly elected
Member by the Returning Officer should contain brief information
on accommodation arrangements and also details of induction arrangements
by both party and House Service is a good one and will be investigated.
7. The content and structure of the
induction package was the subject of a number of comments.
These will be considered and fresh proposals drawn up for the
next election. This will be done in consultation and collaboration
with party managers and the Committee.
8. Accommodation, IT and telephone
availability—The major issue for incoming Members
was clearly their accommodation and support facilities on arrival.
9. On this occasion "drop-in"
type accommodation was provided in the five Upper Committee Corridor
rooms. Each room was configured with eight desk spaces with connection
points for laptops, as well as a printer, fax and a single stand-alone
PC. Each desk had a telephone. Similar network connectivity and
a printer was provided at for up to 10 positions in the Chess
Room. The 16 PCs in the Members' Library rooms and between 10
and 16 PCs (depending on other commitments) in the e-library were
also available. Each new Member was offered a locker in which
to store their papers and laptop.
10. Given the current accommodation constraints
it is not possible to handle Members' accommodation in the brisk
and businesslike way which was suggested by some of the witnesses.
In practice, it is only after the needs of Ministers and longer
serving Members are taken into account that the accommodation
available for the Whips to allocate to new Members becomes clear.
Given the realities, there were a number of proposals for measures
which would provide new Members with a better immediate base and
support facilities on arrival. The practicality of these will
be considered carefully and appropriate measures put in place
before the next election. In particular, the suggestion that more
Committee Rooms should be taken out of circulation and partitioned
to provide initial individual accommodation for new Members does
not, on first examination, appear to be practicable without having
a significant impact on Members' ability to hold large meetings
in the weeks after the election. Increasing the density of desk
accommodation on the Upper Committee Corridor would also require
work to increase network connectivity in the area.
11. Speed of office moves—The
number of Members' moves in the weeks following the 2005 General
Election was as follows:
| Re-elected Members
| New Members | |
| Fri 6 May | 1 | —
| |
| w/c 9 May | 16 | —
| |
| w/c 16 May | 21 | 3
| |
| w/c 23 May | 30 | 1
| |
| w/c 30 May | 30 | 21
| |
| w/c 6 June | 33 | 34
| |
| w/c 13 June | 28 | 34
| |
| w/c 20 June | 19 | 29
| |
| w/c 27 June | — | 1
| |
| Total | 178 |
123 | |
Note: The first three weeks following the election were unusual
in that the Accommodation Whips were still discussing the division
of the accommodation between parties with the aim of achieving
a more even split across the Palace and outbuildings. This effectively
delayed the allocation process by the same three weeks. Had that
not occurred all new Members would have been moved into their
new offices within about four weeks of polling day.
OTHER ISSUES
12. Passes for former Members—it
was suggested that all former Members should be issued with former
Members' passes, allowing them limited access to the House and
its facilities. When this issue last came before the former Administration
Committee it was decided to reduce the qualifying period from
15 years to 10 years but not further. The Joint Committee on Security
directed, when advising that MSPs should not be given passes,
that the overall number of pass holders should be controlled.
The Serjeant at Arms will await the Committee's recommendation
on this matter.
13. Re-crediting former Members for stationery
which is returned—considerable amounts of unused
stationery are collected from former Members at every General
Election. The practical implications of implementing the suggestion
that returned stationery should be re-credited to former Members'
accounts will be investigated.
IT MATTERS
14. The issues that arose in the Committee fell into
to two broad categories.
15. First, the speed with which equipment was made available
to new Members, how these delays lead to increased customer enquiries
and in turn a deterioration in customer service. Second, the range
of services made available to new Members, both on arrival and
longer term. This response will address both and comment on some
of the other points that arose. A separate response is being prepared
to the paper by Grant Shapps MP.
SPEED OF
DELIVERY
16. The Committee has heard how new Members received
a laptop computer, telephone number and voicemail box on day one.
Initial user training was either given at that time or a booking
taken for training in the future if requested. Members were also
able to order equipment having viewed samples of the equipment
available. The turnaround time for orders was stated as not exceeding
28 days and PCD expected to come well within that timeframe. In
the event a number of factors lead to this not being met.
(a) The EU procurement exercise took longer than expected,
which meant that detailed arrangements for the ordering, build
and supply of the equipment were still being finalised in the
run up to the General Election.
(b) The procurement resulted in a change of supplier
which meant that more time was needed to set-up the contract.
(c) The delays in allocating offices meant that
many Members deferred ordering their equipment, or could not take
receipt of their equipment, until a room had been allocated.
(d) The resulting delays led to large numbers of enquiries.
Although the team responsible for the ordering had been allocated
extra resource to meet the additional demands that were expected
after the General Election this was not sufficient to handle the
additional work generated by the status enquiries that arose.
17. Conducting an EU procurement resulted in good quality
equipment at highly competitive prices being secured. The process
however, took longer than planned and this is at the root of the
problems that were subsequently experienced. The lesson to be
learned is to ensure that the renewal of the contract is started
well in advance of an anticipated General Election. The timing
of this exercise may also prove difficult since the timing of
a General Election is not known and officials should not be seen
to be anticipating it. The letting of a contract too far in advance
of a General Election may also lead to a lack of clarity about
new requirements and technology.
18. PCD is revising the ordering and delivery process
to improve the service to Members.
SCOPE OF
THE SERVICE
On arrival
19. The plan was that new Members would be able to use
their laptops issued on day one, supplemented in drop-in areas
by networked printers, faxes and a single PC, to meet their computing
needs until an office was allocated and their other equipment
delivered. This proved optimistic. In future PCD will ensure that
more networked PCs, printers, and faxes are made available.
20. Unlike the last General Election in 2001, a number
of new Members arrived with an existing dependency on IT based
on the use of their own equipment. This was not anticipated and
the Parliamentary IT network was not configured to allow this.
In future PCD will ensure that new Members also have access to
temporary ADSL and, if viable, wireless access to the public internet.
Longer-term
21. To date the policy agreed by both Houses, relevant
Member committees, and reflected in the SSRB recommendation has
been to move towards a standardised IT environment. This has brought
about increased network stability and improved levels of support.
It also simplifies for Members the process of selecting, installing
and looking after their IT equipment. Whilst it is clear this
approach has worked well for and been welcomed by the majority
of Members there remain a few who find it too restrictive. The
following schedule answers the specific points that arose in the
evidence given.
(a) Wireless and Bluetooth disabled on standard laptop
equipment: These functions will continue to be disabled on
the standard laptops to avoid any confusion for new users, but
will be enabled upon request for any user who wishes to use them.
(b) Wireless and cabled access to the Parliamentary
Network and Internet: PCD are currently working on a pilot
project to deliver wireless connectivity to the Parliamentary
Network to communal areas within the Parliamentary Estate. These
areas are expected to include the Portcullis House atrium. Providing
wireless services beyond these "communal" areas is not
within current plans since it is known from past experience that
wireless reception in many areas is poor or non-existent. The
provision of direct wireless access to the internet, akin to that
available in business centres and airport lounges, will be included
within the scope of the above work.
OTHER ISSUES
Flexibility
22. PCD are looking again at the options of allowing
non-standard equipment to connect to the internet over the Parliamentary
Network. All previous technical advice has been to deny this access
on security grounds.
23. It would be possible to provide more flexibility
in the specification of the IT equipment supplied for Members'
computing if approval to do so were obtained. However, to do this
retrospectively might be difficult and costly.
Voice mail capacity
24. Voice mail capacity can be increased, subject to
there being sufficient quantified demand to make a satisfactory
business case.
Recovery of old equipment
25. The recovery of old equipment is being hastened.
This process will be re-examined before the current equipment
reaches the end of its expected life.
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