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Valuing Everyone training (2020)

Request

1) I am requesting all documentation of internal communication between House Administration staff, officials and representatives about the cost of Tavistock Consulting behaviour change coaching sessions, ranging from 01/01/2019 and 01/02/2020

2) I am requesting any documentation of communication held by the House Administration regarding “behaviour change sessions” held by Tavistock Consulting, ranging from 01/01/2019 and present.

3) I am requesting the number of people (Commons members and staff) that have been taken part in behaviour change sessions run by Tavistock consulting. Please also provide the date they were recommended, or, if that is not possible, however they are recorded.

4) I am writing to request all communication held by the House Administration regarding the ‘Valuing Everyone' training course, run by Challenge Consultancy and co-ordinated by the Learning Development & Organisation team, between October 2018 and May 2019. This could include, but may not be limited to, the arranging of the pilot scheme held between January and March 2019, and the feedback sent from staff and members of both Houses about the pilot.

5) I am writing to request all communication held by the House Administration regarding the 'Valuing Everyone' training course, run by Challenge Consultancy and co-ordinated by the Learning Development & Organisation team, ranging from May 2019 to present.

6) The number of employees of the House of Commons Administration who have been trained on the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy.

7) The number of employees of the House of Commons Administration who are booked to attend the ‘Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy.n the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy.

8) The total number of employees of the House of Commons Administration

9) The number of MPs who have been trained on the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy

10) The number of MPs who are booked to attend the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy

11) The number of MPs' staff who have been trained on the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy

12) The number of MPs' staff who are booked to attend the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy

13) The total number of MPs staff.

14) I am requesting all communication held by the House Administration regarding a timetable or deadline for all House of Lords Administration staff to attend the 'Valuing Everyone' training course held by Challenge Consultancy. I have directed my request to you because I believe the course is coordinated by the Commons' Learning Development and Organisation team.

15) I am requesting all communication held by the House Administration regarding the consultation about piloting the 'Valuing Everyone' course (run by Challenge Consultancy) for members of the House of Lords. I believe the course is coordinated by the Learning Development and Organisation team, hence why my request is directed to you.

 

 

Response

Please note that the House of Commons and the House of Lords are two separate public authorities in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  Our response covers information for the House of Commons only.  If you require information about the administration of the House of Lords, you should contact them directly at FOILORDS@parliament.uk.

1) I am requesting all documentation of internal communication between House Administration staff, officials and representatives about the cost of Tavistock Consulting behaviour change coaching sessions, ranging from 01/01/2019 and 01/02/2020
and
2) I am requesting any documentation of communication held by the House Administration regarding “behaviour change sessions” held by Tavistock Consulting, ranging from 01/01/2019 and present.

The House does not store communications in a format that allows us to easily disaggregate information on the cost of coaching sessions on behaviour change run by Tavistock Consulting for the dates you have requested. To locate and collect the information you have requested, should it exist, the House of Commons would have to search the total communications of teams including but not limited to Learning & Organisational Development (L&OD), Finance, the Parliamentary Procurement & Commercial Services (PPCS), Team Services, Members' Services, the Independent Complaints and Grievances Scheme (ICGS) team, HR & Diversity, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (PCS) and Governance. This process would take a matter of weeks, potentially stretching to months.

Section 12 FOIA only requires the House of Commons to comply with a request which would not exceed the appropriate limit of £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 24 working hours in determining whether the House holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.  As your request is likely to significantly exceed this limit, it is refused.

However, if you were to make a new request for a narrower category of information, it may be that we could comply, although we cannot guarantee that this will be the case. For example, you could refine your request to ask for communications for any one of the teams listed above for a much narrower date range.

3) I am requesting the number of people (Commons members and staff) that have been taken part in behaviour change sessions run by Tavistock consulting. Please also provide the date they were recommended, or, if that is not possible, however they are recorded.

This information is held by the House of Commons. At the date of your request, no Members of the House of Commons have been asked to participate in sessions offered by the Tavistock Institute.

It may interest you to know that these sessions are specialist interventions uniquely for Members of Parliament and Peers (not staff) and only where a complaint has been made, investigated and upheld through our Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme. As at the date of your request, no complaints have been upheld and so no specialist interventions have been required.

4) I am writing to request all communication held by the House Administration regarding the ‘Valuing Everyone' training course, run by Challenge Consultancy and co-ordinated by the Learning Development & Organisation team, between October 2018 and May 2019. This could include, but may not be limited to, the arranging of the pilot scheme held between January and March 2019, and the feedback sent from staff and members of both Houses about the pilot.
and
5) I am writing to request all communication held by the House Administration regarding the 'Valuing Everyone' training course, run by Challenge Consultancy and co-ordinated by the Learning Development & Organisation team, ranging from May 2019 to present.

The information you have requested from the House of Commons is estimated to be many thousands of emails, newsletters, briefings, magazines, spreadsheets and reports and is likely to involve every member of staff in the House of Commons. To locate and collect the information you have requested, the House of Commons would have to search the total communications of teams including but not limited to all teams listed in our answer to questions 1 and 2 above. This process would take a matter of weeks, potentially stretching to months.

For these reasons, this part of your request is also refused under s.12 FOIA, as detailed in our response to questions 1 and 2.

However, if you were to make a new request for a narrower category of information, it may be that we could comply, although we cannot guarantee that this will be the case. For example, you could refine your request to ask for communications for any one of the teams listed above for a much narrower date range.

6) The number of employees of the House of Commons Administration who have been trained on the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy.

This information is held by the House of Commons and was collected to respond to your request on 17 April 2020. At this date, the number of employees of the House Administration having attended the Valuing Everyone training course was 1,843. The House also holds information that a further 698 staff members from the Parliamentary Security Department and the Parliamentary Digital Service, which are bicameral departments who also work with the House of Lords, have also attended the training.

7) The number of employees of the House of Commons Administration who are booked to attend the ‘Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy.

This information is held by the House of Commons. At the time of your request, the House had cancelled all courses due to the lockdown measures imposed by the government in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, no House administration staff are currently booked onto a future Valuing Everyone course.

It may interest you to know that the House is currently preparing to run remote courses for staff, including the Valuing Everyone training, for the period of the lockdown and increased working from home. However, this project is not yet at the stage where courses are being scheduled for staff to book.

8) The total number of employees of the House of Commons Administration.

This information is held by the House of Commons and was collected to respond to your request on 17 April 2020. At that date, the total number of House of Commons' administration staff was 3035.

9) The number of MPs who have been trained on the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy
and
10) The number of MPs who are booked to attend the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy

This information is held by the House of Commons and was collected to respond to your request on 17 April 2020. As of this date, 337 Members have attended the Valuing Everyone training.

Please note that this includes former Members who attended the course before the 2019 election on December 12 and were subsequently not returned.

18 Members are on a waiting list, to be booked onto a session when they next become available in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

11) The number of MPs' staff who have been trained on the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy
and
12) The number of MPs' staff who are booked to attend the 'Valuing Everyone' course run by Challenge Consultancy

This information is held by the House of Commons. 189 Members' staff have attended the Valuing Everyone training.

71 Members' staff are on a waiting list, to be booked onto a session when they next become available in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

13) The total number of MPs staff.

This information is not held by the House of Commons. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is responsible for oversight of MPs' offices and staff, their budgets and salaries and processing expenses claims. Therefore you may wish to refer to the IPSA website where information about MPs' salaries and expenses is published, or you may wish to contact them using the contact details provided there.

14) I am requesting all communication held by the House Administration regarding a timetable or deadline for all House of Lords Administration staff to attend the 'Valuing Everyone' training course held by Challenge Consultancy. I have directed my request to you because I believe the course is coordinated by the Commons' Learning Development and Organisation team.
and
15) I am requesting all communication held by the House Administration regarding the consultation about piloting the 'Valuing Everyone' course (run by Challenge Consultancy) for members of the House of Lords. I believe the course is coordinated by the Learning Development and Organisation team, hence why my request is directed to you.

The information you have requested is not held by the House of Commons, as previously stated.