The House of Lords Administration directly employs 572 staff (including part-time staff); a small number of these staff may not necessarily work all the time on the estate.<\/p>
<\/p>
The number of staff employed indirectly through third parties is not centrally counted but the two Houses have a contract for approximately 180 office and property service staff employed through an agency (whose work is not necessarily confined to the Lords estate) and the Catering and Retail Services of the House of Lords employed 321 agency staff in 2014 for a total of 16,732 hours to supplement their core workforce.<\/p>
<\/p>
The above figures do not include shared services and joint departments where the House of Commons is responsible for their employment, such as Parliamentary ICT and the Parliamentary Estates Directorate.<\/p>
<\/p>
The House also employs, from time-to-time, consultant staff.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
Presently there are no plans to change the number of staff employed indirectly through third parties.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2124", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Sewel"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Sewel"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-02-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-02-06T11:37:36.4Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "200"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : ""} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Chairman of Committees (HoL)"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-01-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "House of Lords: Staff"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Chairman of Committees how many staff working on the House of Lords estate and undertaking work for the House of Lords Administration are (1) employed directly by the House of Lords, and (2) employed indirectly through third parties; and whether there are any plans to change the number of staff employed indirectly through third parties.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3526", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Berkeley"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Berkeley"} ], "uin" : "HL4346"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/174938", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "The Lord Chairman of Committees"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/174938/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The latest version of Outlook was included in Parliament\u2019s rollout of Microsoft Office 365 during 2014 as part of the Improved Access to Services (IATS) project. IATS also delivered other new services but the costs of that project identifiable as directly related to Microsoft Outlook were £355,667 in 2013-14 and £158,802 in 2014-15 (including VAT).<\/p>
In addition, Parliament provides each user with Microsoft Windows and its associated Office 365 software at a cost of £98.75 (not including VAT) per user per year.<\/p>
The service has been deployed to over 7,000 users on the Parliamentary network and the overall system is working to specification. A number of users have reported some issues. In particular they have raised concerns about the design of the new Outlook interface and some have reported problems with passwords needing to be re-entered. Both of these issues have been raised with Microsoft.<\/p>
If any Member is experiencing difficulties then Parliamentary ICT (PICT) is ready to offer assistance.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2124", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Sewel"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Sewel"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-02-03", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-02-03T11:56:24.887Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "200"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : ""} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Chairman of Committees (HoL)"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-01-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Parliament: Software"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Chairman of Committees how much it cost to procure the latest Microsoft Outlook system for use in Parliament; whether the system is working to specification; and what is being done about any problems encountered so far.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4158", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord McAvoy"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord McAvoy"} ], "uin" : "HL4317"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/174959", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "The Lord Chairman of Committees"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/174959/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
In total, 2,234,763 items of mail were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2014.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Administration does not count which House each item goes to but estimates that approximately 25 per cent (558,691) of these items were destined for the House of Lords. These figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2124", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Sewel"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Sewel"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-01-28", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-01-28T13:50:37.99Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "200"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : ""} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Chairman of Committees (HoL)"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-01-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Parliament: Correspondence"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Chairman of Committees how many items of correspondence were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2014; and, of those, what proportion was received in the House of Lords.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3187", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Norton of Louth"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Norton of Louth"} ], "uin" : "HL4338"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/173020", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "The Lord Chairman of Committees"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/173020/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The chairs recently placed in the River Restaurant were previously in storage and so there was no cost in this financial year. The new chairs provide greater back support than the benches formerly used. Those benches have been placed into storage; no estimate has been made of their salvage value.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2124", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Sewel"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Sewel"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-01-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-01-22T11:51:35.787Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "200"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : ""} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Chairman of Committees (HoL)"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-01-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "House of Lords: Restaurants"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Chairman of Committees why new chairs have been placed in the River Restaurant; how much they cost; whether estimates were obtained for the cost of chairs with and without the Portcullis; what happened to the old chairs; and what was the salvage value of the old chairs.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3192", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Palmer"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Palmer"} ], "uin" : "HL4092"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/172628", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "The Lord Chairman of Committees"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/172628/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "