Memorandum from the Parliamentary Resources
Unit (October 2006)
1. The Parliamentary Resources Unit (PRU)
assists over 150 subscribing Conservative and Democratic Unionist
Party MPs and their staff in their Parliamentary duties. The PRU
assist subscribing Members and their staff by supplying general
briefing for the main debates in the House of Commons and the
House of Lords; drafting standard replies to "write to your
MP' campaigns and other general topical correspondence from constituents;
and providing an individual "bespoke" research and correspondence
service.
2. The PRU surveyed their Members over August
and September to seek their views on the service provided by PICT.
A large proportion of our Members responded to our survey providing
us with constructive criticism of the service offered by PICT
and way that it can be improved. The survey was carried out by
both a questionnaire and one-to-one meetings with Members and
their staff. The PRU response to the House Administration Committee's
inquiry aims to represent the views of our Members.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Best practice in the world at large
3. The service offered by PICT should be
comparable with the service offered by the IT department of any
large business with multiple locations, although we have identified
a number of areas where the needs of Members would clearly differ
from the needs of a business. Our response to this inquiry aims
to demonstrate areas where PICT's service can be improved, so
as better to meet the specific needs of Members of Parliament.
4. The main area in which the service offered
by PICT falls short of the ICT service provided in other organisations
including both the commercial and public sector, is individual
storage limits. The storage offered, for both the network drives
(U and S drives) and the Parliament Outlook e-mail, is a problem
for most Members and their staff.
5. Members and their staff often need to
e-mail and save (on their network drive) photos and PDF files,
which can take up a significant proportion of their storage space.
We recommend that Members and Members' staff are allocated at
least gigabyte storage on both their network drive (U & S
combined) and their e-mail. The cost of two gigabytes storage
could be as little as 50 pence per user.
6. Our Members have also reported problems
with the reliability of the U and S drives, with the drive often
being lost and some users feeling the need to back-up data stored
on the U and S drive in other areas, defeating the object of using
the drives.
7. Most respondents to our survey criticised
the remote access offered by PICT and the lack of wireless networking.
Our Members believe that the remote access offered is not comparable
with private commercial organisations and needs to be significantly
improved (see "Constituency Provisions' section). Most large
modern commercial organisations provide wireless networking through
their offices, something the Parliamentary estate does not offer.
Although the issue of security is always debated when considering
remote access and wireless networking, in our view the Parliamentary
network does not need to be any more secure then any large London-based
commercial organisation.
8. We also believe that PICT should allow
all users to access the Parliamentary network on a standard broadband
line, which would (in most cases) speed up access. This should
be offered to Members and their staff by PICT as an alternative.
IT STABILITY V
FLEXIBILITY
9. The service currently offered by PICT
offers very little flexibility and it is our view that the balance
between stability and flexibility needs to be reconsidered. The
main area where Members lack flexibility is IT procurement. In
our view, IT procurement needs be re-evaluated. There are three
options we have considered to do this:
(a) using the existing procurement methods
but making them faster and cheaper;
(b) allowing individual MPs to buy their
own IT equipment and using PICT to install the relevant virus
software and add it to the network; or
(c) a mixture of both, using the existing
procurement methods and also allowing Members to buy their own
equipment when required.
10. We look at these three methods in more
detail below and examine the advantages and disadvantages of each
method.
(1) Stability/quality of service
11. Existing procurement methods—The
service currently offered is useful for the IT illiterate, but
tends to be slow and expensive. Some Members have had to wait
over six weeks for computers to be delivered and then another
week or more for them to be installed (Dell can deliver new computers
in seven days).
12. Usually the advantage of purchasing
from one supplier is economies of scale, but PICT prices suggest
that they do not currently have a bulk-buy discount for IT equipment,
which is something that needs to be addressed. The price of the
equipment offered by PICT tends to be the market price at the
beginning of the year, but by the end of the year market prices
usually fall by over 25% and the price offered by PICT remains
the same (the equipment offered is also the same).
13. Allowing Members to buy their own
equipment—PICT could provide a minimum specification
for Members and allow them to buy their own equipment. This could
take less then seven days and could also be cheaper. The quality
of service offered would then be the responsibility of the computer
company and it would be relatively simple to add the necessary
firewalls and anti-virus software on the computers before installing
them on to the network.
14. We recommend that PICT allow MPs to
buy their own equipment from Dell using a "sub-catalogue"
of Dell items. This would provide flexibility for Members and
their staff and allow PICT to "pre-approve" the minimum
specifications for IT equipment. This would also mean that over
the course of the year equipment prices could decrease in line
with market prices.
15. A mixture—A mixture of
allowing Members to buy their own equipment and the current PICT
procurement methods would mean that PICT would only need to cater
for those who need them the most, which would improve the quality
of service offered to those people.
(2) Flexibility for Members to arrange their
ICT provisions to suit their individual working patterns
16. Existing procurement methods—We
believe that the existing procurement methods need to be more
flexible and that PICT does not recognise the individual needs
of Members. Currently, Members are offered a maximum of four PCs,
two Printers and a laptop, but some offices may, for example,
want more laptops, or no laptop at all and have five PCs instead.
All equipment supplied is Dell, which also offers very little
flexibility. In fact, the respondents to our survey were very
critical of Dell printers and said that they preferred the Hewlett
Packard printers and Hewlett Packard toner is cheaper. PICT should
provide a choice of computers and printers, including options
from other leading companies.
17. Some Members surveyed have also said
that PICT does not network all the computers together so they
can print from more then one computer. In our opinion, all printers
should be connected to the network and not individual computers.
This would mean that offices will need more network points, which
would be relatively easy to install, and more phone points.
18. Allowing Members to buy their own
equipment—This would provide the flexibility for each
Member to buy according to their (and their office's) needs and
working patterns. This would also allow Members to buy additional
equipment (more than five computers) or use existing personal
and constituency IT equipment and add it to the network.
19. A mixture—We recognise
that not all Members and offices would want to buy their own IT
equipment, but the option to buy equipment and add it to the network
would provide the flexibility that is needed and desired by Members
and their staff.
CONSTITUENCY PROVISION
20. Remote working is an area where many
Members and Members' staff have problems. The most frequent problems
are with using the VPN. Members and their staff have also complained
about the speed of remote access. The majority of respondents
to our survey would like to be able to access their own desktop
remotely—a feature available with Windows 2003 if their
main computer is switched on.
21. We recommend that PICT re-evaluate constituency
access to the network and update the current system to allow access
to users' own desktop in Parliament. PICT should make it clear
that they will only be able to access their computer if they leave
it on and users should only switch off the monitor. This should
avoid Members and their staff asking PICT to switch their computer
on for them when they are working from home.
NEW EQUIPMENT
ROLLOUT
22. The main criticism in the way that the
rollout of new equipment after the last Election was handled was
the time taken. At Elections, although the result cannot be predicted,
the total number of computers and printers required can be foreseen—especially
when PICT are only offering a choice of four PCs, one laptop and
two printers. However, after the last Election, many Members felt
that not enough equipment was bought in advance, which led to
delays in supplying and installing new IT equipment. This problem
was exacerbated when Members could not use their own computers
and laptop on the Parliamentary network.
23. We recommend that if PICT is going to
continue to supply and install IT equipment purchased from only
one company then, at future Elections, it should pre-order the
equipment and have it built and ready to install on the day of
the Election.
24. Other criticisms of the roll-out of
new IT equipment following the last Election included data being
lost when being transferred from old computers to new computers,
a feeling of lack of communication between Dell and PICT, delays
in installation after new equipment had arrived and a lot of problems
with constituency installations.
25. We recommend that, again if PICT is
going to remain responsible for supplying and installing IT equipment,
they should ensure that Dell is aware of the needs of Members
and Members' staff following an Election. PICT should ensure that
Dell is aware that they will need enough qualified technicians
to install 1,500 to 2,000 new machines over the period of a month.
FUTURE EQUIPMENT
AND SERVICE
NEED
26. To ensure that the service offered by
PICT is comparable with the service offered by the IT department
of any large business, PICT will need to ensure that Members and
their staff benefit from technological developments. Unfortunately,
usually Parliament is slow to adopt new technologies, for example
the Catering Department still do not use chip and pin technology.
We have looked at the following four areas where significant technological
improvements will need to be made.
(a) Mobile Devices
27. Most Members and Members' staff that
responded to our survey desired a mobile device that synchronised
with their Parliamentary Outlook e-mails, calendar and contacts.
The security implications of having remote mobile access to Outlook
are the same as using a BlackBerry and some devices can be wiped
remotely by a system administrator in case the device was lost.
We recommend that Members should be allowed to use their IT budget
to purchase personal mobile digital assistants and PICT allow
them to be connected to the network.
28. There are several possible mobile devices
that are currently available, but we would recommend that PICT
issues one device that is compatible with the Parliamentary network.
The most suitable device would be the iMate Kjam, we also recommend
that PICT re-evaluate the most suitable device every six months
as there will be technological developments and offer Members
the newer model. The Kjam uses a Windows Mobile operating system
enabling users easily to use Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents
on the move as well as syncing with Outlook e-mails, contacts
and calendar and connecting to the internet. The KJam can be wiped
remotely by a system administrator and it can also be easily connected
to a wireless network.
(b) Wireless Networking
29. In our view, wireless networking is
an area where the service offered by PICT is not comparable with
the IT department of any large business with multiple locations.
Most respondents to our survey desired a wireless network on the
Parliamentary estate and some even wanted a wireless network within
their own office to link computers. Wireless networking can be
done with a negligible security risk and careful sitting of access
points would further minimise any risk of leaks outside the Parliamentary
estate. The iMate KJam (see No. 1 "Mobile Devices') is compatible
with wireless access, which would allow users to go on the internet
and download e-mails on their mobile device from anywhere on the
Parliamentary estate without going online.
30. We recommend that an encrypted wireless
network is installed across all public areas and all private areas
across the Parliamentary estate, enabling laptop users to access
the network from other offices and in the coffee bars and cafeterias.
The strategy we recommend would be first to install it across
all public areas, such as the committee rooms, bars, cafeterias
and coffee bars. The private areas, including Members' offices,
should have wireless networks installed after the public areas,
as the public areas currently offer no internet access.
31. We also recommend that PICT only allow
people with laptops and mobile devices purchased or approved by
PICT to access the encrypted wireless network and that initially
PICT only offer wireless internet access, followed by access to
the full network. This will further mitigate any risks.
(c) Intranet
32. The intranet provides some very useful
services, but is not very interactive and needs to be updated.
The intranet should allow Members and Members' staff to book rooms,
book restaurants, access Fees Office details, request passes and
book tours online. Moving towards an interactive system can save
time and money in other departments. We recommend that the House
Administration Committee investigates booking systems and department
functions that can be electronic.
33. We also recommend that debates from
all Chambers should be stored for instant replay with a sophisticated
search facility and streamed live (including debates from Westminster
Hall).
(d) VOIP
34. Voice over IP (VOIP) technology has
a lot of benefits, including being able to link phones and voicemails
with computers and easily having functions, such as video call.
VOIP can be made secure and both the private and public sector
are looking into incorporating it into their IT system. PICT should
look at the possibilities of using VOIP on the Parliamentary network.
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