Question

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many in-house guides excluding Blue Badge Guides are planned to lose their jobs when the new system of Members' tours of the House is introduced in October 2018.

No members of staff will lose their jobs as a result of introducing the new operating model for guided tours. From 1 November 2018 we will no longer offer tours to a pool of 49 tour guides, who are casual workers with no guaranteed hours to guide in Parliament. This is consistent with the House of Commons’ commitment to end the use of casual working arrangements. The new model will create 28 permanent new jobs directly employed by Parliament, with all the benefits of full employment such as pension, paid leave, sick pay and parental leave. All of the new directly-employed guiding roles are open to applications from all guides who currently deliver tours at Parliament on a casual worker basis and will include part-time as well as full-time opportunities. All Parliamentary staff who guide in addition to another directly employed role in either the House Service or the Parliamentary Digital Service will continue to be able to deliver guided tours.