Speaker's Conference (on Parliamentary Representation) Contents


Submission by Aileen Walker, Director of Public Information, House of Commons (SC-30)

SUBMITTER

  1.  Aileen Walker is Director of Public Information and has worked at Parliament for 26 years in a variety of roles. Although her post is based in the House of Commons, in the Department of Information Services, most of the teams for which she is responsible provide services to both Houses.

BACKGROUND

  2.  The Public Information Directorate plays a key role in supporting Parliament's strategy of engagement with the public as outlined in both Houses' corporate plans and in the Group on Information for the Public (GIP)[82] business plan. The strategy builds on the agenda set out by the Modernisation Committee in its report, Connecting Parliament with the Public,[83] and the Hansard Society Commission on Parliament in the Public Eye[84] (the "Puttnam Commission").

  3.  The changes to the Administration of the House of Commons in January 2008 brought the House of Commons Information Office, Parliament's Education Service, the Parliamentary Outreach programme, Visitor Services and Public Information projects together into a new Public Information Directorate within the Department of Information Services. This change is facilitating closer collaboration and joint planning around the development of our inter-related services.

  4.  These services work closely with other colleagues in both Houses, particularly the Web Centre, the Media Service, the House of Lords Information Office, Head of Outreach in the House of Lords, the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit, and Parliamentary Archives to deliver Parliament's public engagement strategy, as overseen by the Group on Information to the Public (GIP). There are three main strands to the public engagement strategy:

    — Welcoming visitors to Parliament

    — Using the web

    — Reaching out

STRATEGIC AIMS

  5.  The three general aims of the strategy of engagement with the public are:

  To inform the public about the work and role of Parliament:

    — The creation of content for the Parliament website.

    — Publications that explain the role and work of Parliament and support public understanding of the business of the House.

    — Support for the Citizenship strand of the National Curriculum, through the Education Service.

    — A varied programme of educational visits to Parliament for schools.

    — Distribution of the new voters' guide.

  To promote Parliament as an institution and describe why it should be valued:

    — Raising awareness of the services offered by the Information Office and Education Service.

    — Outreach activities in the community and in schools.

    — Contributing to the development of new facilities and services for visitors to Westminster, such as a proactive welcome and support for exhibitions.

    — Working with other organisations who share our aims, such as the Electoral Commission, Hansard Society, BBC, etc.

  To listen to the public by seeking and responding to feedback:

    — Answering enquiries and Freedom of Information requests from the public.

    — Seeking and responding to feedback from teachers and the general public on the products and services we offer.

  6.  GIP's vision is to improve the public understanding of Parliament, so that it is recognised by citizens as:

    — Distinct from government.

    — Holding government to account.

    — Welcoming to citizens.

    — Working for citizens.

    — Worthwhile.

    — Personal—relevant to the concerns of individuals.

CURRENT PRIORITIES

  7.  Following recommendations in the Administration Committee (HC) and Information Committee (HL) reports on Improving Facilities for Educational Visitors to Parliament[85] - covering not only education services, but also welcoming visitors to Parliament, regional outreach officers and the parliamentary web site—both Houses approved plans to improve services to the public. The current priorities of the Public Information Directorate are now centred around the main recommendations approved by both Houses, namely:

    — Providing a dedicated space for educational visitors to Parliament enabling the Education Service to welcome 100,000 learners a year.

    — Developing curriculum-based tours for Members' school groups.

    — Devising and running a pilot transport subsidy scheme to encourage school groups from remoter constituencies to visit Westminster.

    — Developing the parliamentary outreach programme with regional outreach officers working throughout the UK.

    — Improving arrangements for managing visitors to Parliament.










82   GIP is a bicameral meeting of senior officials which sets Parliament's public engagement strategy Back

83   June 2004 (HC 368 2003-04) Back

84   Members only? Parliament in the Public Eye, May 2005 Back

85   April 2007 (HC Paper 343 2006-07). Back


 
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