John Spellar

On 20 March 2023 the number of temporary and agency workers working for the House of Commons was 205.

The catering service, alongside the Parliamentary procurement team, is working to increase availability of UK products. It sells regional products, promoting where availability allows and collaborating with suppliers. As an example, in the last year we have introduced a range of craft UK gins. I shall write to the hon. Member with more information.

The parliamentary estate is largely heated by burning natural gas in boilers.

The Restoration and Renewal (R&R) Programme will consider the energy source options for the Palace of Westminster in the long run. Under the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal Act) 2019, the Corporate Officers of the Houses have a statutory duty to have regard to the need to protect the environment and to contribute to achieving sustainable development in exercising their functions. Before R&R commences a number of small projects have been completed to reduce natural gas consumption, including the replacement of steam boilers with more efficient condensing gas boilers for hot water and providing localised heating sources in some areas using air source heat pumps and local electric boilers.

A portfolio of projects known as the Commons Building and Infrastructure Portfolio (CBIP) is undertaking feasibility work for the majority of the remaining buildings on the Parliamentary Estate. This work is evaluating the use of electrically powered heat pumps to heat the buildings with natural gas boilers provided as an extra form of resilience.

The Parliamentary Digital Service is taking steps to improve and enhance the user experience of parliamentary voice services.

A new Voice Programme commenced in June 2022 to help establish a reliable and resilient service in a way that supports current and future user needs. This is expected to include procurement of a new streamlined solution with a less complex support model. In addition, tactical solutions will be provided to address repeat issues experienced by specific users, including with handsets, to help ensure continuity of service until a stable long-term option is implemented.

Resolution speed of major telephony incidents will continue to depend on third parties until the existing telephony infrastructure is replaced. PDS will continue to strengthen third party relationships to mitigate the risk of protracted disruption.

Before moving to its current location in March 2019, IPSA consided sites in Milton Keynes and Croydon, as well as Stratford and Canary Wharf. At that time, before the Covid-19 pandemic, a central London presence was deemed best placed to offer support to MPs and enable employees working from the office to attend meetings in Parliament at short notice. Going forward, IPSA will once again approach its future needs in a careful and considered way to ensure that its premises are conductive to offering a high-quality service to MPs and their staff, in addition to delivering good value for money for the taxpayer.

Average attendance at the London office has been monitered carefully be IPSA and is calculated by working days in the calender month (and is only based on current office-based staffing numbers (66)). This does not, however, include a number of IPSA people based on home-base contracts who make regular journeys into the office, particularly when based a short distance from the London region. It should be noted at the outset too that the discovery and surge of the Omicron variant, which necessitated public health advice to work from home, will have had an impact on the data from at least last Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022. For nearly the entire time period requested in the question, a significant number of desks were unavailable for use in the IPSA office to maintain appropiate social distancing in the context of IPSA's office layout. As only 32 of the possible 81 desks were available for use from 201 to the end of September 2022, this further materially reduced capacity within and attendance at the office. Noting the desks available and the number of staff available on office-based contracts, the general figures are below:

• October 2021: 9% (This should be read as the average office-based contract employee spendin 9% of their working month in the office in October 2021 and so on for the following months). This constituted 18% of available desks.
• November 2021: 9%. This constituted 20% of available desks.
• December 2021: 7%. This constituted 15% of available desks.
• January 2022: 5%. This constituted 9% of available desks.
• February 2022: 8%. This constituted 17% of available desks.
• March 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.
• April 2022: 8%. This constituted 16% of available desks.
• May 2022: 8%. This constituted 16% of available desks.
• June 2022: 6%. This constituted 13% of available desks.
• July 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.
• August 2022: 6%. This constituted 13% of available desks.
• September 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.
• October 2022: now that all the desks are available for use, the desk booking system upon which the data above is based is no longer operative, so this figure cannot be produced.

Like many organisations in the publice sector, IPSA recognised many benefits for its people and performance in continuing with a hybrid approach to work despite a lifting of formal coronavirus restrictions and other government public health advice. IPSA functions, such as payroll accuracy and the speed of reimbursement, have not been adversely impacted by such a model, and IPSA has instead been able to build a more inclusive and diverse workforce based accross the U.K. by bringing forward plans to create a more representative, hybrid, and flexibe organisation to reflect the nations, regions and constituencies MPs serve. The geographical spread of IPSA staff, new hybrid approach to working, and importance of value for money for the public purse will be central considerations for IPSA when it explores the locations and size of any office premises (in London or elsewhere) which it may require in future to continue to discharge its statutory duties efficiently, cost-effectively, and transparently.

(a) Where possible Parliament follows Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) guidelines for temperature standards in offices to ensure a comfortable working environment. When rooms have temperature controls for the user, there is a small threshold of which temperature can be raised or lowered to ensure rooms are not over cooled/heated.

There are many differing levels of temperature control across the parliamentary estate, with some areas having no temperature control at all.

We review the setpoints for heating and cooling regularly.

(b) Parliamentary authorities take energy efficiency very seriously as part of its commitment to reducing its environmental impacts. Parliament has reduced its electricity consumption by 16.8% and gas consumption by 25.3% since 2008/09.

The Building Management System has been upgraded recently to enable better control of the building services, such as resetting manual temperature changes every night to a CIBSE recommended setpoint.

The Environmental Sustainability Team monitor and report performance energy and water use monthly, and report annually in the sustainability section of the Commission Annual Report.

The delay in providing responses to Questions 6697, 33681, 42245 and 45520 was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

The delay in providing responses to Questions 6697, 33681, 42245 and 45520 was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

IPSA incurred costs of 508k on rent, rates, and service charges in the 2020-21 financial year. In 2021-22, this figure was 367k. IPSA currently has 97 contracted employees, of which 68% (66) are on office-based contracts and (32%) 31 are on home-based contracts. The difficult times brought about by the pandemic brought forward IPSA’s plans to create a more representative national organisation which better reflects the nations, regions, and constituencies our MPs serve. Recruiting staff from across the UK without the necessity of living within commuting distance of central London has delivered a more inclusive and diverse workforce, well-positioned to deliver services locally without the need for lengthy travel from London. Of the 66 employees on office-based contracts, all 66 have worked at some point in the past 12 months at the premises. The data for all 97 staff members, regardless of their contract type, also indicates that 100% of employees have worked from the premises at some point over the last 12 months.

The delay in providing a response to this Question was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

We have made the global energy transition from coal to clean power a priority of our COP26 Presidency. I raised this issue most recently during my visit to China on 6 and 7 September with Vice Premier Han Zheng, Chinese Special Envoy for Climate Change Minister Xie Zhenhua and the Head of China’s National Energy Administration, Minister Zhang Jianhua. Additionally, the British Embassy in Beijing regularly engage with their Chinese counterparts on this issue. The Foreign Secretary has also discussed the importance of ambitious action to tackle climate change with his counterpart, State Councillor Wang Yi.

We will continue to engage with China to provide further details on how it will implement President Xi’s commitment at the US Leaders’ Summit on 22 April 2021 to reduce domestic coal consumption. Internationally, we are also working with China, as well as other financiers of international coal, through our COP26 energy transition campaign in collaborating to make renewables more attractive than coal power for all countries. Together with the G7, we have committed to rapidly accelerate the transition away from unabated coal capacity to an overwhelmingly decarbonised power system in the 2030s; and to end new direct government support for unabated international coal power generation by the end of 2021.

IPSA staff are currently working remotely, in accordance with government Covid-19 guidelines. During 2019 - 20 there was an average of 83 full-time equivalent staff working for IPSA, based in 85 Strand.

IPSA incurred costs in 2019 - 20 of £524K on rent, rates and service charges. The equivalent figure for 2020 - 21 will be published after the end of the financial year in IPSA's 2020 - 21 annual report and accounts.

The Public Contract Regulations 2015 are UK law and in general they prohibit contracting authorities from specifying the country of manufacture or origin when purchasing goods. This has not changed now that the Brexit transition period has ended.

The wash basin taps in question were supplied through British companies including Dart Valley Systems. This particular supplier has a Swiss parent company (Franke) which operates globally.

Members of the Independent Expert Panel will be paid, monthly in arrears, a fee of £350 (excluding VAT) for each half-day spent by the Panel member in the provision of their services.

The reintroduction of cash payments in catering outlets will be reviewed by the Catering Service Management team in accordance with any changes to industry guidance provided by the Government. The current guidance encourages contactless payments, where possible, which the House is adopting as part of its measures to manage the risk of COVID transmission on the Parliamentary Estate.

It is common practice for landlords to prohibit the publication of commercial agreements reached with their tenants. This is the case regarding the lease signed by IPSA and its landlord. IPSA is nonetheless a public body accountable to Parliament and its accounts are audited by the National Audit Office and scrutinised by the Speaker’s Committee for the IPSA in order to provide assurance that value for money has been obtained. The Speaker’s Committee is scheduled to meet in July 2019 to discuss IPSA’s finances and other matters.

When moving offices, IPSA considered locations only in London and the South East, as evidence from other public bodies shows that organisations that relocate by a significant distance tend to lose more staff. IPSA is a small organisation and wished to retain its staff in order to continue uninterrupted its support to MPs, including regular meetings between them and their IPSA account managers, and its assurance to the public about MPs’ spending.

I have asked IPSA to reply.

As the system is new, IPSA continue to work closely with MPs and their staff to help them understand how IPSA Online works, and how to realise the full benefits. We are continuing to hold group and one-to-one training in Parliament and have staff available on the phone to answer queries. IPSA are conducting a survey to gather more feedback about the new system, with plans for further improvements in due course. IPSA will report to the Speaker’s Committee for the IPSA later in the year on the overall costs and benefits of IPSA Online.

During the development of the new system, IPSA Online, IPSA carried out usability testing to look at how long a range of tasks and functions would take, compared with the old claims system. Based on this testing, IPSA found that improvements in the new system would take MPs and their staff about 30 per cent less time, due to the simplification of processes and forms. Feedback collected at training sessions also indicated that MPs’ staff expected IPSA Online to be easier and quicker to use than the old system.

MPs and their staff members will also benefit from the following time-saving changes:

- ‘Single sign-on’ capability enables MPs and their staff to access IPSA Online directly through their secure parliamentary account without an additional logon.

- The new system allows claims from different budgets to be submitted on the same form, rather than having to submit multiple forms.

- Because MPs and staff no longer need to send paper receipts and invoices to IPSA, but can scan or photograph them and upload them digitally onto the system, we can process and reimburse claims more quickly.

- Staff members can now be reimbursed directly by IPSA for their own expenses, so that MPs no longer need to wait to pay staff once they themselves have been reimbursed.

- Additional information is available to them directly, for example on the amounts left in budgets and the status of any repayments or amounts owed, so MPs and their staff no longer need to wait for a monthly financial statement or contact IPSA staff to ask about these issues.

- MPs and their staff are now able to amend their personal details, including any change of name or address, on the new system themselves, without needing to submit a form to IPSA

I have asked IPSA to reply.

IPSA currently has 69 members of staff. It included in its office requirements space for up to 76 staff in order to provide flexibility for periods where there is a higher volume of work and therefore a need for additional temporary staff, such as General Election periods.

To disclose the size of the office or rate paid per square metre would be prejudicial to commercial interests. IPSA’s annual accounts are laid in Parliament and published each year, and will provide information about operational costs.

Before choosing its offices at 85 Strand, IPSA considered potential premises in Croydon and Milton Keynes, as well as Stratford and Canary Wharf in London, but determined that the selected location provided the prospect of better support to MPs and better value for money for the taxpayer.

I have asked IPSA to reply.

The original April 2016 business case for IPSA’s new IT system, IPSA Online, estimated a cost of £4.641 million. At that time, IPSA expected the programme to be completed in 2017-18. The full costs of the system are now forecast to be £8.253 million.

The increase in cost was due in part to the unexpected General Election of June 2017 which diverted all IPSA work for up to nine months to supporting MPs who left or joined parliament, and increased supplier costs. Costs also increased following our change of suppliers in September 2018 to improve the quality of IPSA’s IT support. IPSA also spent longer than anticipated on testing the new system so that IPSA could have confidence that it would be fully secure and free of technical problems. The increases in cost have been partly mitigated by savings elsewhere in IPSA’s budget.

The new system administers MPs’ pay and business costs more efficiently and effectively, providing improved support to MPs and their staff while saving taxpayers’ money. MPs and their staff will benefit from these improvements by being able to access information and make changes to their staffing budget or office leases without needing to contact IPSA staff. They can now also access IPSA’s system directly through their secure parliamentary digital account without an additional logon. MPs and staff no longer need to send IPSA paper receipts and invoices through the post, but can scan and photograph them and upload them to IPSA digitally. The new system can also reimburse MPs’ staff directly rather than via the MP. On the basis of the experience so far, IPSA estimate that MPs will need to spend around 30 per cent less time overall on the new system than they did on the old one.

However, IPSA recognise that many MPs and their staff still need to get used to the new system. IPSA are therefore conducting group and one-to-one training in Parliament and have staff available on the phone to answer queries. IPSA are putting on more such training sessions in response to demand, with a regular presence in Portcullis House.

IPSA will shortly conduct a survey to gather more feedback about the new system, with plans for further improvements in due course. IPSA will report to the Speaker’s Committee for the IPSA later in the year on the overall costs and benefits of IPSA Online.

I have asked IPSA to reply.

IPSA moved into new office premises at 85 Strand in March 2019. The forecasted cost of this move is £732,900. This budget was approved by the Speaker’s Committee for the IPSA in January 2018. IPSA’s Annual Accounts for the 2018-19 financial year are being finalised and will be laid in Parliament in November. The Speaker’s Committee will have an opportunity to scrutinise this and other expenditure.

After reviewing properties on the market, the offices selected met IPSA’s criteria and offered the best value for money to the taxpayer over the long term, with competitive running cost over the life of the lease after completing initial fit-out work. Locations outside of London were considered. IPSA concluded that basing IPSA’s office in London and within reasonable distance of Parliament would ensure that IPSA can provide a better support to MPs and their staff, including regular meetings between them and their IPSA account managers.

As part of its role to approve IPSA’s Estimate, in March 2016, the Speaker’s Committee approved funds for a wide-ranging improvement programme, including plans for a new IT system, IPSA Online. This took into account longstanding feedback from MPs and their staff about the need to modernise and improve IPSA’s systems and processes. In subsequent years, the Speaker’s Committee has scrutinised progress on this programme via the annual Estimate approval process, as well as other formal and informal updates.

The Speaker’s Committee had no direct input into the design of IPSA Online, but has received regular updates on the key features of the system and IPSA’s plans for engagement and training activities.

More generally, IPSA engaged with MPs and staff members throughout the development of IPSA Online through activities including surveys, meetings, usability testing and training sessions, in order to take account of their needs and preferences. IPSA is committed to ongoing liaison with MPs and their staff to gain further feedback on the new system now that it has been launched.

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.

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.

Over the last twelve months, headhunters have been engaged to recruit to 11 senior roles in the House of Commons Service, including five external posts on the Restoration and Renewal Shadow Sponsor Board, at a total cost of £176,975.

In addition, the House of Commons has paid £303,860 to recruitment agencies during the same period.

The procurement process for the final contract for the refurbishment of the Elizabeth Tower is ongoing via an open competition in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and Parliament’s procurement policies. In order to comply with the Regulations, Parliament cannot specifically require the use of British materials or machinery when letting contracts, as the Regulations prohibit references to a specific country of origin or production.

The scaffolding contract was awarded via the same method in November 2016. The steel in the steelwork structures used in supporting the scaffolding on the Tower is primarily sourced from British suppliers.

Since May 2015 the House of Commons Commission has made payments totalling £203,676 to Executive Search recruitment agencies (‘head hunters’). This includes fees for online and press advertising, where appropriate, for which the agencies pay and for which we reimburse them. I have asked the House authorities to send to the hon. Member contact details of the responsible officers of the grant-funded bodies so that he can seek that information from them. The Commission does not require them to report on any use of head hunters or the costs of any such use.

The House of Commons procurement policies operate within the parameters set out by the UK Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

The House has a Sustainable Purchasing Policy which, amongst other things, requires contracts that are particularly suitable for SMEs to be highlighted as so being, contracts to be divided into lots and processes to be as simple and proportionate as possible to encourage SMEs to participate in our competitions. Further, the policy requires contracts that are suitable for Social Enterprises to be identified at an early stage and that market engaged to ensure their participation.

More generally, the House supports British industry and agriculture by:

• Purchasing our goods and services in a way that maximises the ability of SMEs, Social Enterprises and organisations with less bargaining power to win our contracts;
• Conducting open and competitive tender processes that are accessible to all British suppliers whether small, medium or large;
• Advertising our contracts on the UK Government procurement website Contracts Finder and the House’s own electronic procurement portal to ensure that there is maximum visibility of our contractual opportunities;
• Writing specifications of requirements that take into account domestic social, economic and environmental requirements.

The Government recognises the potential of small modular reactors (SMRs) and is keen to place the UK at the heart of SMR development. In order to support this aim, my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in November that Government will launch a competition to identify which SMR design would offer best value for development in the UK. DECC has commissioned a techno-economic assessment of SMRs which will contribute to our evidence base in this policy area. It will report as soon as possible.

The Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) negotiations have now entered their eleventh round, with ten negotiation rounds completed by the end of 2014. The talks started formally in March 2013. Participants agreed on a basic text in September 2013 and most participants have indicated which of their services markets they are prepared to open and by how much. There is no set deadline for ending the negotiations but the talks are progressing well, with broad consensus across many areas.

Full details of progress in the negotiation and the EU approach can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/tisa/

The House Service ceased to engage casual workers last year. It does, however, engage staff supplied by agencies from time to time to meet unexpected demands and peaks of work.

Agency workers, in common with directly employed staff, are security cleared to Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) level and immigration/right to work checks are undertaken. The latter is done by requiring documentary evidence and in line with HMG’s Baseline Personal Security Standard.

The European Commission is conducting, on behalf of the UK, nine bilateral trade negotiations, and a number of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation where the EU negotiates on behalf of the UK and the EU.

National Grid is responsible for procuring New Balancing Services to provide reserve capacity. Procurement is subject to a methodology approved by Ofgem.

National Grid announced in October that it has procured an additional 1.1GW of reserve capacity for this winter. This will cost less than £1 per household and will increase capacity margins from around 4% to over 6%.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leeds North East (Mr Hamilton) on 5 February 2014, Official Report, column 240W.

The Downing Street complex is a working building, as well as containing two Ministerial residences. As has been the case under successive administrations, refurbishments and maintenance are made periodically.

Works to the Downing Street estate are overseen by the Cabinet Office. It is not the practice of successive administrations to comment on which officials have been consulted or advised on matters.

Further to the answer to PQ59372 on 22 June 2020, Government Departments have a number of processes in place to ensure users seeking information from Government Departments, including on search engines, are not diverted to fee-charging and misleading websites.

The end of the Transition Period provides an historic opportunity to overhaul our outdated public procurement regime. Cabinet Office undertook an extensive programme of stakeholder engagement during 2019 to identify where improvements could be made and the recently published Green Paper Transforming Government Procurement shapes those findings into concrete proposals.

Published guidance for local authority preparations for Remembrance Sunday can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-preparations-for-remembrance-sunday/local-authority-preparations-for-remembrance-sunday