House of Commons Commission<p>The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme helplines provide the House of Commons with information about the volume of calls received and the Independent Investigation Service holds information about the number of formal complaints pursued. This information does not include whether the behaviours complained about pre- or post-date July 2017, although callers are advised that only complaints about incidents later than this date can currently be upheld under the Scheme.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-11-29falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-11-29T18:05:16.793Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2018-11-14Bullying and Harassment of House of Commons Staff Independent Inquiry1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the oral contribution of 05 November 2018, Official Report column 1281, how many individuals with complaints prior to July 2017 have come forward.falseEllesmere Port and NestonJustin Madders191480House of Commons Commission<p>Information related to the amount spent on headhunters is only available from 1 April 2014. The following amounts have been paid:</p><p>2014 (from April) £62,569</p><p>2015 £65,385</p><p>2016 £46,506</p><p>2017 £44,175</p><p>2018 (to October) £164,637</p><p> </p><p>Information related to the amount spent on recruitment agencies is only available from April 2015. The following amounts have been paid:</p><p> </p><p>2015 (From April) £37,795</p><p>2016 £110,851</p><p>2017 £88,503</p><p>2018 (to October) £273,913</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>For both groups, the increases in 2018 largely relate to the Restoration & Renewal programme.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-13falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-13T12:10:58.217Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2018-11-26House of Commons: Recruitment1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, how much the House of Commons spent on (a) headhunters and (b) recruitment agencies in each year since 2009.falseOxford West and AbingdonLayla Moran195645House of Commons Commission<p>Fire evacuation drills of the parliamentary estate are planned on an annual basis and the Chamber of the House of Commons was included as part of the last evacuation drill of the Palace of Westminster as a whole on 21 May 2018. Dates and time of fire evacuation drills are subject to change only for essential House business or security considerations.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-13falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-13T12:13:17.327Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2018-11-29House of Commons Chamber: Fire Prevention1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, the last occasion on which a fire evacuation drill was conducted in the Chamber of the House of Commons; and whether he plans to conduct such a drill in future.falseLlanelliNia Griffith197454House of Commons Commission<p>We acknowledge that there may be an expectation that the House of Commons should be buying British wherever possible, but as a contracting authority as specified in the European Parliament and Council Directive, we are subject to EU Public Sector Procurement directives. It is therefore impossible for us to demand that we wish to buy only British products simply on the merits of origin and must instead ensure that our specifications at tender stage, and ultimately our decision to award a contract, does not discriminate against products or supplies from other EU member states.</p><p>The vast majority of fresh products purchased by Catering are in fact British – meat, poultry, dairy, eggs and most fruit and vegetables (when in season) are sourced from within the UK. We demand that UK or equivalent standards of welfare and/or production must be met as this is a consideration of quality rather than origin. UK standards on the whole are easy to follow, robust, commonly accepted and enforced across each sector.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-13falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-13T12:12:12.837Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2018-12-03House of Commons: Food1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to his oral contribution answer of 29 November 2018, Official Report, column 403, what practical problems prevent the implementation of a buy British policy.falseWarleyJohn Spellar198174House of Commons Commission<p>We do not currently have an estimate from the Royal British Legion of the amount of money raised from the change collection boxes in catering outlets since November 2018. We expect to have this information by February 2019.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-18falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2018-12-18T18:27:20.9Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2018-12-12Parliamentary Estate: Charitable Donations1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2018 to Question 149683, what estimate has been provided by the Royal British Legion of the amount of money raised from the change collection boxes at cash tills in catering outlets on the Parliamentary Estate since November 2018.falseNorwich SouthClive Lewis201712House of Commons Commission<p>Since January 2018, Parliament’s Sound and Vision Contractor, NEP Bow Tie TV, have been conducting monthly checks with the support of the In-House Services Team on 69 assistive listening systems throughout the main rooms on the Parliamentary Estate to the current BS/IEC standards (BS8594 and 601884IEC). Prior to January 2018, these checks were carried out on an annual basis. A report is supplied each month to the contract owner, the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit, and the In-House Services Team and Diversity and Inclusion teams.</p><p>Independent audits are also conducted by Action on Hearing Loss.</p><p>In addition to monthly checks, a comprehensive, annual "Commissioning" test is carried out by NEP Bow Tie TV. This checks for Background Noise; Field Strength; Frequency Response; Live Listening; Live Signal; System Noise; Overspill; and Venue Accessibility.</p><p>Where high quality sound systems are installed, such as in the Chamber and in committee rooms, audio quality is generally good. However, a report by Wave Science Technology has highlighted that further improvements could be achieved in meeting rooms. The recommendations from the external audio consultant relating to assistive listening will be considered in January as part of an on-going review of audio/video provision in committee and other meeting rooms. This work has been undertaken by Parliament’s AV Programme which has been delivering other improvements to audio video systems across the Estate.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-17falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-17T19:44:18.247Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2018-12-18House of Commons: Hearing Impaired1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the loop system in the House of Commons for people with hearing difficulties.falseStroudDr David Drew203233House of Commons Commission<p><del class="ministerial">The House of Commons Commission has agreed a number of actions to promote responsible alcohol consumption on the Parliamentary Estate.</del> <ins class="ministerial">On 19 March 2018, the House of Commons Commission endorsed the recommendations of the Administration Committee to help to promote responsible drinking in Commons catering venues. The Commission also agreed to return to this matter on a six-monthly basis. The Commission did so on 29 October 2018, also giving due weight to the reference to access to alcohol within the Dame Laura Cox report on bullying and harassment. On 17 December 2018 the Commission agreed a number of actions to promote responsible alcohol consumption on the Parliamentary Estate.</ins> These include<ins class="ministerial">d</ins> increasing the range of non-alcoholic drinks and lower strength beers available, training and supporting staff to refuse to serve customers when necessary, expanding and encouraging alcohol-free areas including all six House of Commons cafeterias (Bellamy's, Courtyard Café, Debate, Jubilee Café, Members' Tea Room, Terrace Cafeteria), discouraging Members and staff from drinking in offices after bars are shut, and not running promotional advertisements.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-11trueCarshalton and WallingtonTom BrakeCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-11T17:52:12.27Z2019-01-17T16:16:14.607Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2019-01-07Parliamentary Estate: Alcoholic Drinks1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what reasons the Commission has restricted the sale of alcohol in parliamentary cafeterias selling food; and how that policy is intended to promote responsible alcohol consumption.falseBroxbourneMr Charles Walker205847House of Commons Commission<p>The annunciator system was replaced with a new system on 14 December 2018. The replacement provides an improved platform from which to implement further service enhancements. In parallel in 2018 we prototyped some tools to explore how we might provide the annunciator plus additional extended information in a mobile app. A key learning was that to provide Members with a smartphone app with the timeliness and accuracy of the annunciator service required further feasibility work. Funding for this feasibility work is available in the new financial year and also for some user research with Members to confirm what other new features related to the Annunciator would be of most benefit. No explicit timing for this work has yet been defined but it is hoped to have completed the feasibility review by the autumn.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-17falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-17T19:50:30.507Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2019-01-09House of Commons Annunciator System: Mobile Phones1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans he has to make the information displayed on the House of Commons Annunciator available to hon. Members and their staff via a smartphone app.falseEast YorkshireSir Greg Knight206748House of Commons Commission<p>The annunciator system was replaced with a new system on 14 December 2018. This replacement implemented a new Annunciator graphics system that includes but was not limited to the following features:</p><ul><li>resilient hardware platform</li><li>software and hardware solution to generate high-definition Commons and Lords graphics</li><li>software application to support the creation of graphics templates</li><li>software application to maintain a local cache of selected data obtained from the Members’ Names Data Platform for inclusion in the graphics service</li><li>software application to support the provision of a live graphics service</li><li>separate systems for the Commons, Lords and Security teams that are connected using a video signal flow</li><li>software solution with the capability to support the development of additional functionality<p><p></li></ul><p /> <p>The Parliamentary Digital Service has some funding in the Digital Portfolio in the next financial year to extend the annunciator service based on the new software platform. This funding will be informed by some user research amongst Members to confirm what features would be of most benefit.</p><p />Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-17falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-17T19:58:21.303Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2019-01-09House of Commons Annunciator System1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, when the display and software for the House of Commons Annunciator was last updated; and what plans the Commission has to modernise that software.falseEast YorkshireSir Greg Knight206749House of Commons Commission<p>There are currently no plans to add to the existing information currently displayed on the House of Commons Annunciator system whose capacity to carry more information is limited.</p>Carshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-31falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake2019-01-31T11:28:56.403Z18House of Commons CommissionHouse of Commons Commission2019-01-09House of Commons Annunciator System1House of CommonsTo ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans he has to improve information displayed on the House of Commons Annunciator system such as expected debate scheduling times.falseEast YorkshireSir Greg Knight206751100194