Question

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans the Commission has to improve the working conditions for Members' staff.

Members’ staff are regularly consulted on service issues by House authorities. These consultations include regular meetings between House staff and MPs’ staff representative bodies, and invitations to focus groups to feed into service design. A sample of Members’ staff have also recently been surveyed on how effective the services provided by the House are for them. There is also an annual meeting between House staff and MPs’ staff bodies (specifically Members and Peers Staff Association and Unite) at which service issues can be raised.

More recently, the House of Commons Commission has discussed the Gemma White review, and it welcomed the broad thrust of the recommendations made, which included better HR services for Members’ staff and how the sense of isolation that they feel can be addressed. They have asked the House Administration to carry out further work to examine the practical steps that can be taken in response to it.

Terms and conditions of service for Members’ staff fall within the remit of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.