UK Parliament website public beta
Today we made beta.parliament.uk publicly available for the first time. This is our first public step towards a new website for Parliament and the beginning of a long series of frequent releases.
Focus on core work
How people really use the MP pages
PDS is working on a new website and we're starting with MPs’ pages. What better place to start than analysing data for the existing website? So the Analytics Team did exactly that.
Members are users too
One of the audiences for the Members pages are Members themselves. We recently spent time doing research on the design of these pages to identify their needs. We used affinity mapping to analyse the findings of 7 semi-structured interviews with Members of both the House of Commons and Lords.
What user research told us about oral questions
MPs can submit questions to the Table Office electronically but the current system has many issues. One of the projects that PDS is currently working on is to improve this submission system. We developed a new interface for submitting questions, to help give MPs feedback about their questions and help them prepare before they ask their question.
Why we need a Cyber Security Month
Rob Greig talks about the threat of cyber attacks and why we have Cyber Security Month in Parliament
A new website for Parliament - first public steps
In early spring we’ll be releasing the first part of our new website. This first public step brings together a lot of effort and coordination. I’d like to outline the activities and thinking that have got us this far and what to expect from a new website for Parliament.
What constituency staff told us
We're continuing our research into members information on the website. This time, we spoke to constituency offices about the enquiries they get and how they manage them.
Delivering the unexpected
It’s been nearly 20 months since the Parliamentary Digital Service (PDS) sprang to life. By rolling together the House of Commons Web and Intranet Service (WIS) and Parliamentary ICT we created PDS. And we didn’t exactly do what people expected.
Statutory Instruments: unlocking democracy
Back in March, I was part of the House of Lords contingent at the Rapid Start event. The key theme was ‘Unlocking democracy for all’ and, in a small but significant way, our prototype delivered that aim by making it as easy for anyone to follow statutory instruments (Parliament considers around 1,000 per year) as for bills (around 20 per year).
Introducing the User Engagement Leads
Hello, we're the User Engagement Lead team working in the Parliamentary Digital Service. There are many changes and developments happening within the Digital Service - many of which have a direct impact on others working across Parliament.