What should we do?

UKParliament

DOT is the voice of the House of Commons on MSE, and is run by the Digital Outreach Team.

Our aim is to promote public engagement, awareness, understanding and involvement in the House of Commons.

DOT is new to the MoneySaving Expert forums and as such we would love to hear what types of information you would like us to provide to support you in finding out more about what the House of Commons is doing and how it affects you.

Please comment below and help to shape DOT’s presence on MSE.
Thank You

unholyangel

What are the limitations on the questions that can be asked?

Exile_geordie

And are you programmed to evade questions with answers that are not straight forward like the rest who seem to work in the house of commons?

unholyangel

Exile_geordie wrote: »

And are you programmed to evade questions with answers that are not straight forward like the rest who seem to work in the house of commons?

:rotfl: Something along those lines was going to be my next one.

I imagine they're going to respond with something along the lines of we cannot comment on that as we are politically impartial. Translation - we cant say anything bad about the house of commons, even if its true.

DCodd

Why is this part of the consumer rights forum? We have no consumer rights when it comes to the HOC only constitutional rights.

UKParliament

Thank you for responding.

DOT can answer any factual questions you may have about the work of the House of Commons but we work for the House rather than any one political party so cannot comment on Government policies.

We hope to use our presence on MSE to inform you of House of Commons activity that is relevant to discussions on this forum - to do this we would like to know what the key issues are that are affecting you and that you would be interested in hearing more about.

The House of Commons undertakes inquiries and debates into a wide range of subjects including Consumer Affairs - please take a look at some recent work in our thread Work of the House of Commons.

John_Pierpoint

I think it should be useful to understand the arcane procedures that have evolved in an institution that is 100s of years old.
The participants tend to get somewhat inward looking and captivated by their own procedures and tribal rivalries. [For example many parliaments sit in an semi-circle and sitting geographically by constituency (eg Sweden) rather than left and right, must encourage cooperation rather than point scoring.]

Personally I have found these two web sites useful in taming the excesses of public sector deficit spending, which now consumes approaching 50% of our money on our behalf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheyWorkForYou

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatDoTheyKnow

martinthebandit

Ooo I'll start.

Why, in this day and age, do you feel it is acceptable to have subsidised bars in the workplace?

keyser666

martinthebandit wrote: »

Ooo I'll start.

Why, in this day and age, do you feel it is acceptable to have subsidised bars in the workplace?

Can we include smoking into that one as well?

UKParliament

Ooo I'll start.

Why, in this day and age, do you feel it is acceptable to have subsidised bars in the workplace?

Can we include smoking into that one as well?

Thank you for your questions martinthebandit and keyser666

In regards to subsidised bars – DOT can direct you to the most recent Freedom of Information request asking:

How many subsidised bars are there in the House of Commons and by how much are they subsidised.

Response
The House of Commons operates four venues that are entirely or substantially bar services: the Strangers’ Bar, the Members’ Smoking Room, the Pugin Room and Moncrieff’s. Selling prices in the House of Commons bars are kept broadly in line with the prices charged in nearby pubs operated by a well-known high-street chain and, in this sense, the prices are not subsidised.

The House does not set a budget for the operation of each bar or other trading outlet, as many costs, including staff, are shared across several catering and retail outlets. Instead, the House of Commons provides an agreed budget for the operation of its catering and retail services and management are tasked with delivering the agreed services within this financial provision. The net cost of the House of Commons Catering and Retail Service met from public funds was £5.7m in 2009/10. This figure includes profit from the sale of House of Commons souvenirs, which is included in the same accounts as the catering services.

Smoking
Concerning smoking, there is no smoking permitted inside the House of Commons in line with the Health Act 2006. There are 3 designated smoking points which are located in outside areas.

martinthebandit

So let me get this correct, the prices are in line with other establishments in the area but they still needed a subsidy of 5.7 million quid?


Are they run by bankers by any chance?