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Employee Assistance Programme (2017)

Request

A monthly breakdown of the number of calls received by the 24-hour phone line launched in May 2014 and operated by Health Assured for MPs' staff to report instances of bullying or harassment from its inception to the nearest available date.

 

Response

We have interpreted your request to be for information about the Employee Assistance Programme, which is a free confidential helpline and available 24/7 for all Members’ staff, provided on behalf of the House Service by Health Assured since 2014.

This information is held by the House of Commons.

Please note, figures are reported on a quarterly basis and therefore information from 1 February 2017 to the date of your request is expected to be available at the end of April 2017.

It may help you to know that, whilst the House of Commons is not the employer of MPs’ staff and has no jurisdiction over their employment matters, the House takes the welfare of all those who work in and visit Parliament very seriously. Since May 2014, the House of Commons Commission subscribed to an independent Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to provide support to MPs’ staff on a range of personal and work-related issues. All calls are answered by qualified and experienced counsellors who assess the nature of the callers’ problems to offer interventions such as telephone counselling; arrange face-to face counselling; or to direct them to other sources of advice or support. Calls are not restricted to the reporting of bullying or harassment and the helpline supports employees on a range of professional and personal issues.