The House of Commons Commission. (From left: Roger Sands, Clerk of the House; Sir Stuart Bell MP;

Sir Archy Kirkwood MP (now Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope); Oliver Heald MP (then Shadow Leader of the House); Sir Patrick Cormack FSA MP; Rt Hon Peter Hain MP (then Leader of the House); Rt Hon Michael J Martin MP, The Speaker (Chairman)).

The House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978
1. The framework for the governance of the House of Commons was established by the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978 which set up the House of Commons Commission. The Commission employs the staff of the House, ensures that their terms and conditions remain broadly in line with those of civil servants, appoints an accounting officer, lays the Estimate (budget) for House of Commons services and determines the structure and functions of the departments of the House.[1] It is also required by the Act to publish this annual report.

Commission membership and secretariat

2. The membership of the House of Commons Commission is composed according to section 1(2) of the House of Commons (Administration) Act. At the start of the financial year 2004/05[2] the membership was as follows:

The Speaker (The Rt Hon Michael J Martin MP, by virtue of his office) (Chairman)

The Leader of the House, The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP (by virtue of his office)

Oliver Heald MP (Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, nominated by the Leader of the Opposition)

Sir Stuart Bell MP (also Chairman of the Finance and Services Committee)

Sir Archy Kirkwood MP

Sir Patrick Cormack FSA MP

3. For the first half of the year, Robert Rogers was the Secretary to the Commission and Shona McGlashan the Assistant Secretary. David Natzler is now the Secretary and Tom Goldsmith the Assistant Secretary. The Commission is attended by the Clerk of the House, Roger Sands, who is Accounting Officer, and also Chief Executive of the House Service.

4. The Commission met on eleven occasions during the year. Minutes of Commission meetings are published on the Parliament website.

Questions to the Commission

5. Parliamentary questions addressed to the Commission were answered by Sir Archy Kirkwood on behalf of the Commission. During the year he replied to fifteen questions orally and gave 193 written answers. In addition, chairmen of domestic committees responded to 24 written questions.

6. On 16 December 2004 there was a debate in Government time in Westminster Hall on the 2003/04 Annual Report.[3] The then Leader of the House indicated his intention for this to be an annual event, if possible shortly after publication of the Report.

Finance and Services Committee and domestic committees

7. The Finance and Services Committee has responsibility for detailed scrutiny of the draft budgets for the House administration and advises the Commission on the financial and administrative implications of recommendations by the domestic committees. The Committee is chaired by a member of the Commission and has ten other members, including the chairmen of domestic committees.

8. The domestic committees (Accommodation and Works, Administration, Broadcasting, Catering and Information) provide advice to the Commission and serve as a channel for the views of Members of Parliament at large about the services provided by the House administration. Other responsibilities were set out in a scheme of delegations to domestic committees made by the House of Commons Commission in April 2003.

Board of Management
9. While the House of Commons Commission is the supervisory body of the House administration with responsibility for setting the strategy and taking major decisions, it is advised and assisted by the Board of Management, which is comprised of the heads of the six House departments, together with the Clerk of Committees. The duties of the Board are set out by the Commission in an instrument of delegation.

10. The following were members of the Board of Management at the beginning of the financial year:

Roger Sands, Clerk of the House, Chief Executive, Chairman of the Board of Management
Priscilla Baines CB, Librarian
George Cubie CB, Clerk of Committees
Sir Michael Cummins, Serjeant at Arms
Bill Garland, Editor of the Official Report
Sue Harrison, Director of Catering Services
Andrew Walker, Director of Finance and Administration

The Board of Management. (Back row, from left: Lorraine Sutherland, George Cubie CB, Andrew Walker, Sue Harrison. Front row, from left: Peter Grant Peterkin CB OBE, Roger Sands, John Pullinger).

11. Priscilla Baines and Sir Michael Cummins both retired at the end of 2004 and were replaced by John Pullinger and Peter Grant Peterkin CB OBE respectively. Bill Garland retired at the end of April 2005 after a period of sick leave during which Lorraine Sutherland served as acting Editor.

12. The Board of Management secretariat is provided by the Office of the Clerk. The staff of the Office include the Secretary of the Audit Committees and a small team responsible for information, communications and coordination between departments. The Board also has continuous access to legal advice from the Legal Services Office, headed by Speaker's Counsel.

13. The Board has a responsibility to coordinate the services provided for the House of Commons by House departments and to advise both the House of Commons Commission and the Finance and Services Committee on these matters. It considers draft Estimates for expenditure on House administration before these are submitted to the Finance and Services Committee and the Commission. Decisions by the Board on expenditure are subject to the control of the Clerk of the House as Accounting Officer.

14. The Board of Management continues to work within the framework recommended by the 1999 Braithwaite report.[4] It is also keenly aware of other pressures affecting services and the way in which they are delivered, including:

• changes in the way the House works, including those instigated since 1997 by the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons Committee (the Modernisation Committee), and the hours it sits;
• changes to employment practices and aspirations in the wider public sector;
• the need to comply with recent legislation which applies to the House of Commons as an organisation;
• changes in the technology of information and communications;
• the inter-relationship between the provision made for Members' allowances and the demands for House services;
• concerns over security; and
• the need to plan for the arrival of new Members after a general election.

15. The results of a survey of users of House services in 2003 were generally encouraging, with 75 per cent of Members who responded describing the House as a good or excellent place to work and only three per cent describing it unfavourably. The survey did, however, identify areas where improvements could be made, such as information provision on services for Members and mechanisms for providing feedback. The Services Information Group, an officials' group reporting to the Clerk of the House, was established to deal with these issues. Its focus in 2004/05 was on arrangements for introducing new Members to the House services after a general election, including planning for a reception area for new Members and the production of a new edition of the Members' Handbook. Other initiatives have included oversight of improvements to signs on the parliamentary estate and the production of an information booklet for Members' staff.

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House of Commons staff

16. The Board exercises the functions of employer of House staff on behalf of the Commission[5] and is responsible for ensuring that conditions of service conform to the requirements of the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978. Negotiations on pay and conditions of service, and consultations on personnel issues, were conducted during the year through the recognised unions, the Whitley Committee and its sub-committees.

17. During 2004/05 the average number of staff employed in the House service was 1,554 full-time equivalents. Further details of how this figure was made up, by department, may be found on page 50. The number of individuals on the payroll is typically some 200 higher, which illustrates that the House employs part-time staff in many posts as a way of supporting its commitment to diversity, fairness and best practice.

18. A staff ethnicity survey was completed during the year, the response rate for which was, after follow-up activity, 86 per cent. This compares favourably with response rates in other parts of the public sector and also with previous House of Commons surveys. The chart below shows the ethnic mix of House staff.

Further work is planned to analyse ethnicity, gender, age and disability across pay bands and in recruitment campaigns. A key aim is to increase the representation of people from ethnic minorities at higher levels in the House Service.

19. The Young Apprenticeship scheme, sponsored by Mr Speaker, has continued and the first craft apprentices started in the Parliamentary Works Services Directorate in March 2005. A new programme, again in partnership with Southwark Guarantee, will begin in October when it is hoped that twelve new apprentices will be employed across all departments. Four of the six posts for adults with learning difficulties which were created in 2004 have so far been filled.

20. Other diversity initiatives include promoting diversity within House recruitment practices, forging links with the local community, and improving the accessibility of the House's website. Diversity awareness is now a feature of the induction training for new staff and further programmes on valuing diversity are planned for 2005/06.

House of Commons Expenditure

21. The Commission is responsible for the House of Commons Administration Estimate (but not for Members' salaries and allowances, which are paid from a Government Estimate, nor for Members' pensions).[6]

22. The House administration has implemented resource accounting in accordance with specific provisions relating to the House in the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. The second set of resource accounts to be audited by the National Audit Office covered the year ending 31 March 2004 and was published in November 2004.[7] In line with Government departments, and with the approval of the Administration Estimate Audit Committee, the House Service has agreed with the National Audit Office that the date on which the annual accounts are published should be brought forward so that, ultimately, they can be published before the commencement of the summer recess. The accounts for 2004/05 are due to be published in the second half of 2005. In anticipation of this change the final outturn figures for 2004/05 (see annex 2) have been presented on a functional rather than departmental basis as in previous reports.

23. The Estimate for 2005/06 was presented to the House by The Speaker on 25 May.[8]

Administration Estimate Audit Committee

24. The Commission appoints the members of the Administration Estimate Audit Committee and approves its terms of reference. The Committee's report appears on pages 83 to 85.

House of Lords

25. In many areas of activity the House of Commons administration works very closely with that of the House of Lords. Three of the four directorates managed by the Serjeant at Arms (Estates, Works Services and Communications) provide services to both Houses. There are a number of smaller units which are based in one House or the other, but provide services to both by agreement: the House of Lords Record Office (The Parliamentary Archives), the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, the Parliamentary Education Unit, the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service and the Central Tours Office. There is also long-standing formal and informal collaboration between the Serjeant and Black Rod over ceremonial (especially in respect of Westminster Hall), security and contingency planning.

26. There has been considerable progress in joint working in information systems in the last few years, including the launch in 2002 of a shared Information Systems Programme with a Programme Board drawn from the senior officers of both Houses with a non-executive external adviser. One of the key projects is a collaboration between the Libraries of both Houses (Parliamentary Information Management Services - PIMS - see paragraphs 86-87). There has also been close collaboration in the development of the shared Parliament website (www.parliament.uk) and the parliamentary intranet.

IS/IT Governance

27. The Clerks of both Houses agreed in the autumn of 2003 to set up a review of the governance and management of information technology and information systems services across both Houses. The review was carried out by a small group of senior officials under the chairmanship of Sir Michael Cummins (then Serjeant at Arms) and with the help of an external expert.

28. The review team concluded that, given the increasing reliance on shared systems and infrastructure, the currently fragmented governance structure was weak in terms of coherence and strategic planning and that it also stood in the way of proper career development for the skilled specialists involved. The recommended solution was to create a new unified management structure under a single director who would operate at management board level in both Houses. Another key proposal was to create a network of "Business Relationship Managers" who would combine technical knowledge with a strong understanding of particular business areas and their information and communications technology (ICT) requirements, and who would mediate between the rest of the organisation and the new ICT service to translate business needs into ICT solutions.

29. After the publication of the report in March 2004, there followed a period of consultation with staff and with the Information Committees of both Houses before proposals were formally put to the authorities of both Houses. In June 2004 the House of Commons Commission and the House of Lords House Committee approved the general principle of a unified ICT service for both Houses to be created under a single director. Early in 2005, following a full investigation of the legal issues, they endorsed a proposal to create the new service on an interim basis, using the separate employment structures of the two House administrations, pending legislation to create a firmer basis for joint services in the future.

30. The change process has been overseen since September 2004 by a Change Board composed of senior officials of both Houses, with an external adviser. A Change Director and small change team have also been appointed, and staff have been engaged in extensive consultations about the form that the new service will take.

31. The new post of Director of Parliamentary Information and Communications Technology (D-PICT) was advertised in March 2005 and it is hoped that the new organisation will come into being in stages during 2005/06.

Strategic planning
32. In 2001 the Commission adopted an outline strategic plan for the House of Commons administration, setting values, core tasks and developmental objectives for the years to come. The outline plan is reproduced on page 13. The strategic plan sets out four enduring core tasks for the House of Commons administration. This report is again arranged to reflect the four core tasks. The plan also includes eight developmental objectives, intended to enhance the performance of the four core tasks. In the Plans for the future section of this report progress in relation to each objective is set out, along with the challenges faced by the House administration in the next two to three years.

33. The Board of Management is reviewing the strategic plan so that options for a new plan, covering the period from 2006-11, can be put to the Commission for agreement this year.

34. Business planning by individual departments of the House is based on the strategic plan agreed by the Commission. A second corporate business plan was published in September 2004. It reflects the key items from individual departmental plans, but also places emphasis on a number of House-wide initiatives. The corporate business plan is updated annually.

35. Management of the parliamentary estate within the constraints imposed by the availability of resources and the nature of the estate, remains a key objective. The second and final phase of the high-level review of accommodation carried out by external consultants has been completed and a number of recommendations made are being implemented (see paragraphs 248-249). The report of the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) published in October 2004 drew attention to the desirability of reversing the incentives built into the allowances regime for Members to base their operations at Westminster.[9] The solution proposed by the SSRB was not supported by the House; but the Commission remains committed to encouraging Members so far as possible to locate constituency office staff off the parliamentary estate. To that end, efforts are being made to bring the IT and related support services offered to Members' constituency offices up to the level offered at Westminster.

Performance management and risk management
36. In the sections which follow, selected key indicators of performance against each of the four tasks are presented. For the most part it is not possible to follow other public sector organisations in measuring the effectiveness of the House Service in terms of the impact of its work on the world at large. The House of Commons, as a political institution, determines or influences laws, policies and expenditure and holds the government of the day to account for enforcement and implementation. Procedures and structures within the House are also determined by decisions of the House itself. The House Service contributes to these processes in significant ways by facilitating and advising. But its contribution is so closely meshed with political processes, for which officials are not responsible, that it cannot be readily measured separately - nor would it be appropriate for the activities of the House to be judged in that way.

37. The Commission and the Board of Management recognise this political dimension and the constraints that it places on conventional performance measurement. Nonetheless, performance against objectives is monitored continuously wherever practical. In addition to the survey of services conducted in 2003 (see paragraph 15), Members of Parliament have a variety of other channels to offer feedback and suggestions about services - for example, through the domestic committees and the Liaison Committee or through day to day contact with senior staff. The performance of individual staff is monitored and managed through an appraisal process.

38. The House has had a risk management policy statement and implementation strategy in place since December 2000, based on the best practice recommended by HM Treasury, although adjusted to reflect the facilitation and support role of the House Service. Since then, the Board of Management has continued to identify and review its top level corporate risks in line with its corporate strategic plan for the House of Commons administration.

39. For the 2004 risk review, the Board was responsible for assessing whether each of the main corporate risks had been embedded within departmental business plans thus providing assurance that risk management has been implemented in an appropriate way at all levels through the House. In November 2004, the corporate risk register was revisited, at a facilitated workshop, to ensure that the nine top level risks, identified in 2003, remained the right ones in light of current corporate strategies. As a result of this workshop, a number of changes to the risks were proposed; these changes were formally approved in January 2005 and resulted in the number of high-level risks increasing from nine to ten (see page 65).

40. For the future, the Board's aim is to continue improving its risk management processes. In particular, the Board will ensure that the link between corporate and departmental risk registers is strengthened and that there is consistency of approach in how risks are covered in departmental plans. It will continue to monitor and review the high level risks on an annual basis and periodically review those high level risks, involving the Internal Review Service where appropriate, and ensure that there is clear communication to relevant staff about the risk management process.

An outline strategic plan for the House of Commons administration 2001-2006 (As adopted by the House of Commons Commission on 29 October 2001) Purpose The House of Commons Service supports, informs and records the work of the House of Commons as an elected parliamentary chamber in accordance with the decisions of the House and its Commission. Whenever feasible It makes its work and information about that work accessible to the general public, while maintaining the heritage of parliamentary buildings and documents in trust for the public and future generations. It also contributes to parliamentary democracy by sharing its knowledge with parliaments and assemblies worldwide. Values The House of Commons Service seeks to achieve high ethical standards, value for money and professional excellence in all that it does. As an employer, the House of Commons Commission recognises and values the diversity of its staff and is committed to fairness and best practice. Core tasks and objectives The House of Commons Service has four permanent core tasks: Supporting the House and its committees Supporting individual Members (and their staff) Providing information and access to the public Maintaining the heritage of buildings, objects and documents. While these tasks are permanent, the specific needs of the House and its Members are constantly evolving. The technological, environmental, social and constitutional contexts in which the House works are also changing. In the light of the Braithwaite review the House of Commons Commission has recognised that a more strategic approach to resource planning and priorities is needed. It has therefore adopted a strategic plan with objectives for the period 2001-2006 that recognise the need to develop, adapt and improve. In particular it seeks: to provide services that meet the changing needs of the House and its Members as efficiently and effectively as possible; and to develop mechanisms to ensure that this happens to manage the parliamentary estate in such a way as to provide Members, their staff and staff of the House with a safe, secure, modern and efficient working environment, within the constraints imposed by the availability of resources and the nature of the estate to ensure that House of Commons processes of corporate management comply with the highest standards of public sector governance to achieve demonstrable value for money in every aspect of the House service to be demonstrably committed to employment best practice and diversity, providing the House with a motivated and committed workforce which has the specialist skills to meet its current and changing needs to improve public understanding and knowledge of the work of the House and to increase its accessibility, subject to the requirements of security to support the business processes of the House at all levels by developing and maintaining an information infrastructure that is unified, consistent, seamless, and easily accessed by, and appropriate to the needs of, the various user communities to identify areas where service levels might be improved by the option of electronic delivery and, where appropriate, produce costed proposals.

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2   Dates in the format 2004/05 refer to the financial year; those in the format 2004-05 refer to the parliamentary session Back

3   HC Deb, 16 December 2004, cc329-70WH Back

4   The major changes were set out in the Commission's 2001/02 report, HC 1002, 2001-02, pp 8-9 Back

5   With the exception of a small number of specified posts and subject to the procedures agreed by both sides of the Whitley Committee Back

6   The relative sizes of the Administration and Members Estimates for 2004/05 are shown in annex 2; for more on the Members Estimate see paragraphs 104-106 and 110-116 Back

7   HC 1240, 2003-04 Back

8   HC 3, 2005-06 Back

9   Cm 6354-I, paragraphs 4.28ff Back