Administration CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Parliamentary ICT
Purpose of Paper
This paper is submitted by Parliamentary ICT, the cross house department responsible for ICT services to Members and the Administrations, as part of the Committee’s evidence gathering for their inquiry into “First Weeks at Westminster” for new Members after a general election.
Background
Parliamentary ICT (PICT) has a wide range of responsibilities at general elections. These include:
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Members ICT Allowance
The House provides, on loan, Members with the following ICT equipment and services:
Up to five computers, three of which can be laptops and one can be an iPad.
Up to two laser printers from a choice of six, which include colour, black and white and multi-function models.
Up to three broadband services (cable and ADSL).
The equipment is delivered and installed by PICT approved engineers, and fully supported by PICT. All equipment has a four year next day onsite support agreement. PCs and laptops are provided with Windows 7 and Office 2010, remote access and anti-virus software. Members have access to support 24/7 with the exception of Christmas day and Boxing day.
If a Member requires more equipment than is provided centrally they can purchase additional items via PICT. All equipment purchased from PICT will be supported in the same way as loan equipment. This equipment is owned by Members.
Arrangements for New Members at the Last Election
New Members Reception Area
For a new Member their first experience of PICT was at the New Members Reception Area (NMRA). The NMRA, located on the 1st floor of Portcullis House and centred on the Attlee Suite and Macmillan room, was designed to ensure new Members had access to key services as soon as they arrived without being deluged with too much information to digest or so many hand-outs that they had too much to carry. The NMRA therefore focused on security passes, IPSA registration and from an ICT perspective the setting up of a network account (with an .MP@parliament.uk email address), issuing of a telephone number, and the issue of a laptop. The laptop counted as part of Members central allocation of equipment. The NMRA formally opened on the Monday after the election, but was available for the very few Members who decided to visit Parliament on the previous Friday. For those Members who brought their own equipment they were shown how to connect to the network using the PINSafe method of remote access. The NMRA included an ICT advice room where Members having received their laptop, user account and telephone number could discuss the range of equipment available to them and what would suit their needs best. Members were discouraged from making decisions about the type of equipment they wanted until they had seen the accommodation allocated to them and they had a clearer view about where their staff would be located and in what numbers.
In our view the NMRA worked well. Members got the essentials quickly, and had an advice centre they could come back to if they wanted to discuss things further.
Temporary Accommodation
Whilst accommodation decisions were made by the Whips temporary accommodation was provided to Members in a number of Committee rooms in the Palace and meeting rooms in 1 Parliament Street. PICT provided Wi-Fi to the rooms so Members could use their laptops. A small number of PCs were also provided as was a multi-function printer/fax/copier to each room. Floor walking trainers and engineers from PICT were available to provide assistance if needed.
Westminster Offices
As offices were allocated to Members an initial set of equipment was provided to get the office up and running. This included a PC and multi-function printer (MFD). Desk phones were also provided. The PC and MFD counted towards a Member’s central allocation and could be exchanged for an alternative product if a Member wished to do so. Very few Members chose to do this.
The agreement with the Whips offices was that an office would be ready for occupation five working days after it had been allocated. In reality offices were available far sooner than that, and often the day after they had been allocated. The point will be made in other evidence that the perceived delays to occupying an office are to do with the complexity and nuances of the process for allocating the offices in the first place and not with the logistics of setting the office up. Having a team of staff ready to respond to the unpredictable run rate of office allocations is expensive and if alternative approaches exist they should be explored. The movement of phone lines on our current telephone system is labour intensive and because of the volume of changes could only be completed with the assistance of contractors. This was a particularly expensive exercise.
Deployment of Equipment to Westminster, Constituency Offices and Home Locations
Once a Member has a Westminster or Constituency office they then select what additional equipment they need. From the choice available PICT helped Members to select the equipment most likely to meet their needs. Given the limited range available the decisions were largely straight forward. Print and mobility requirements tended to be the most important consideration. Equipment was supplied to any location in the UK. To complete a full off-site office set-up it is necessary to have the broadband connection in place first. For cable services this can take time to install since site surveys are normally needed and minor building works undertaken to route the service from the street to the premises. For ADSL services a BT line needs to be available before the ADSL service can be ordered. In both cases the delay that is inherent in the commissioning of the service was often disruptive and confusing for Members and their staff.
Feedback about ICT Services at the Last Election
The survey of Members and their staff commissioned by the Administration Committee after the last election was generally complimentary about ICT services for all Members after the election, as has been the Committee. The ICT Forum, a group of Members and staff representing Westminster and constituency staff, covering all parties and chaired by a Member of this Committee, when asked to reflect on the general election from a new Members perspective have said:
Issuing new Members with a laptop at the New Members Reception was good so they could start work immediately.
The biggest frustration for new MPs was having a constituency office without any ICT equipment, or a working broadband connection, for up to 8 weeks after the Election.
The new MPs induction pack should include an “idiot’s guide” and provide advice on what to look for from ICT and Telecoms services when choosing accommodation to rent as a constituency office.
Remember a single printer for a Member in Westminster is not sufficient when their staff can be in an office in a different building.
Comments made directly to PICT confirm that new Members generally felt well supported.
Areas where improvement could be made included:
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Parliamentary ICT Strategy
The Committee has been briefed on the Parliamentary ICT strategy several times in the past, and endorsed the approach being taken. The strategy is progressing well and some important milestones in its delivery have been passed. Most recently the business case for the deployment of Microsoft’s Office 365 has been approved and early technical pilots are now underway.
At the core of the strategy is the adoption of cloud based (hosted) computing. As well as delivering many business benefits for the Administrations, for Members it will also help to address many of the limitations mentioned above. For Members the cloud approach will allow:
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ICT Suggestions for New Members after the Next Election
The ICT arrangements for the last election were successful and so any changes need not be driven as a reaction to criticism but by the new opportunities that will exist five years on.
The ICT strategy will offer new and better ways of consuming ICT services, not just for new but for all Members. The text that follows reflects what we expect to be available by a 2015 election and also some of the service options that the House will be asked to consider in the lead up to it. The Administration Committees inquiry is most timely in that respect and its views on the suggestions will be most helpful.
Our suggestions are grouped under the following sub headings:
Election night and up to arrival at Westminster
We have considered whether there is any more that we can do between a Member’s election and their arrival at Westminster. We will, as we have done in the past, set up their Parliamentary network account, ready to be activated when they first arrive and we have considered whether this could be made available to new Members before they do arrive. If this was possible it would allow the House to communicate directly with Members sooner. However, securely conveying user account details to new Members and asking for a signature on the security Acceptable Use Policy without doing so in person would be difficult and not an assured process. We are cautious about pursuing this. We do believe that the information contained in The Clerks letter that returning officers are asked to pass to all new Members is an important first introduction to Parliament and might also be a means of directing Members to a publicly accessible website with useful new Member information, much of which already exists, collated on it.
Members’ first hours at Westminster
The New Member Reception Area should be repeated and PICT proposes to have a similar presence as last time. From the ICT perspective new user accounts will be ready for Members as they arrive. We will be able to amend standard email addresses to reflect people’s personal preferences before they are activated. All new users will receive a welcome email from PICT in their inbox providing essential ICT information and links to other material that they might find helpful. Prior to their account being activated Members are required to sign an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The current policy will be reviewed and updated prior to the next election. The move to cloud services will place greater emphasis on Member responsibility for data security as data owners and the conduct of their staff in this respect.
The current tablet computer Committee trial which seeks to make information more accessible and to reduce printed paper costs is progressing well in terms of adoption. To date 18 Committees have asked to join the trial. The tablets are not counted against a Member’s central allowance and are not funded from the Members Estimate since for the purposes of the trial they are supplied to allow participation in a Parliamentary process. If the evaluation of the trial proves that the use of tablets is successful then Members may be encouraged to use tablets in the future. If so, rather than issuing a laptop to Members on day one, as we did at the 2010 election, the House authorities may suggest that a tablet device is issued instead.
PICT currently offers a Smartphone to those Members that want one. Members are responsible for meeting all their running costs and to date only 141 have been requested. The majority of Members prefer to make their own arrangements since this allows them to choose the model, mobile carrier and package of bundled calls, texts and data that best suits their needs. It is clear our offering is not very attractive to Members and in the fast moving market of mobile technology it is not possible for us to match the deals that are available on the internet or in the high street. We intend to cease offering Smartphones after the next election and propose to start winding down the current service in the run up to the election. PICT will assist Members, if they need it, with selecting a device that will connect to our services and meet their needs. The views of the Committee are sought on this suggestion.
Temporary Accommodation
At the last election Wi-Fi was available in all Committee and bookable meeting rooms as well as committee corridors, the libraries and other communal areas such as Portcullis House Atrium. Since then Wi-Fi has been extended to all Members offices. By the end of this year Wi-Fi will be available throughout the estate. The dependency on having access to temporary accommodation to get connected will therefore be greatly reduced at the next election since Members and their staff will be able to connect and work from many more locations. New Members will more easily be able to share a returned Member’s office for example if they wished to do so.
There will still be a need for temporary accommodation however and PICT will equip the spaces assigned to this use with the equipment that will be most appropriate at the time. Our staff will be available to offer support where needed and importantly to offer advice about the ICT choices and decisions that Members will need to make.
Setting up your new office(s)
The ICT strategy will enable far more diversity in terms of the equipment that Members can use. At present to gain full access to the Parliamentary system a standard laptop or PC is required that has a Parliamentary set of software preloaded on it. This approach has served us well in the past, but Members understandably want more choice and to use equipment that they already own. By the next election the restrictions of the current set up will no longer be present and any device, providing it is capable of connection to the internet and has a contemporary operating system will be able to connect to Parliamentary services. This will have a significant impact on the service PICT offers and the flexibility it will give Members.
In practical terms Members will be able to use their own equipment for Parliamentary work and to source equipment directly without having to go via PICT. From PICT’s perspective we will be able to offer a wider range of loan equipment and at present are considering how this might be done. One option might be to set up a framework with a supplier who can maintain a catalogue of equipment that includes a range of models using different operating systems and at different prices. Members would be able to select items against a pre-determined allowance or purchase items directly from the supplier. There may be scope to receive more than the current set of 5 items if cheaper products were selected. Members ICT allowances were determined by a resolution of the House back in 2001 and amended after the Senior Salaries Review Body report on allowances published in 2004. Changing the basis upon which ICT is provided needs to either reflect that resolution or seek amendment to it. The Commission is due to consider the matter in due course.
The Administration of the House of the Commons is currently moving from using local printers to making more use of the high volume photocopiers that are located on the Estate. These photocopiers are capable of scanning and printing and are currently only used by Members for photocopying. The print costs per page are much lower than the printers currently in use. “Follow me printing” with the use of a PIN allows any copier to be used and for usage to be charged directly to the appropriate cost centre. The photocopiers are fully serviced and will be kept stocked with toner and paper. This might be a welcome additional service to Members in the future and allow cheaper smaller printers to be used in Members Westminster offices.
By 2015, and possibly already, we would expect any new Member’s home address to have broadband. The current allowance of three services dates back to when broadband was not ubiquitous and varied enormously in quality. In order to ensure all Members had access and were using a suitable provider the current allowance was introduced. We question whether it is necessary to provide broadband in home locations and suggest that consideration is given to Parliament only funding one business quality service to each constituency office. For most Members this would mean in future they received one service only, for the small number of Members with multiple constituency offices because of their constituency geography they would receive more. The views of the Committee are sought.
At the next election PICT will ensure that our staff are ready to provide advice and support on the new ways of working that will be needed in the future. Our aim will be to help Members make the best decisions for them based on their own circumstances and to provide support to them though out the Parliament.
Joan Miller
Director of Parliamentary ICT
Matthew Taylor
Director of Operations and Member Services
May 2013