Administration CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Alex Cunningham MP

Thank you for your letter of 15 January and I apologise for not responding before now. I hope I am not too late.

Addressing each of the matters you raise on induction in turn.

The hot desk system was great on arrival with fellow new MPs working together getting to know each other and learning from each other too. It would have been helpful to have known just how offices would be allocated—I found out by chance it was through the accommodation whip. No-one from Parliament or Labour Party told me this.

I had one staff member in place and two others very quickly and once I understood the system it was straightforward though IPSA were extremely slow in processing stuff. Something up front in an induction pack would have been helpful.

Excellent induction and quick action from PICT to get my offices up and running in both the constituency and Westminster.

I was at one stage owed some £5,000 by IPSA whose service was appalling when it came to processing claims and eventually came up with an advance to help tied us over. It needs to be made available immediately. Not everyone had the means I had to ride out a £5,000 shortfall for what proved to be months. IPSA have got better but a system where it costs more to process some claims than the value to the claim needs to be looked at very seriously. IPSA need to do better to prepare for new MPs arriving.

I never had any training on parliamentary procedures and training and wasn’t aware of any available. A seminar and guide would have been most helpful.

Information services were fine—but you don’t know what you don’t know.

The parliament staff person who took me on a tour was excellent—everything from the toilets to the Commons chamber was covered and this one to one was extremely helpful—that said I am still orientating myself discovering new routes and places I never knew existed.

I hope my comments are useful.

18 February 2013