MP staffers warned to expect ‘distressing and uncomfortable’ bullying & sexual harassment report
MPs' staffers have been warned to expect "distressing and uncomfortable" revelations in a long-awaited report into Parliament's bullying and sexual harassment culture to be published Thursday.
Commons authorities last night sent an email to hundreds of MPs' researchers offering pop-up counselling workshops in Parliament to help cope with the findings of the report.
The inquiry by Gemma White QC was set up in the wake of the 2017 ‘Pestminster’ scandal to discover the nature and extent of bullying and harassment of past and present MPs, their staff and other Parliamentary workers.
Parliament’s Sexual Misconduct Advisory Service will run a stall in Portcullis House over the next three days.
Parliament’s Health and Wellbeing Service will also offer drop-in sessions tomorrow. And there will also be private rooms available for “anyone wishing to make a private phone call”.
The plans lay bare the extent to which the Parliamentary authorities are braced for highly damning and widespread accounts of bullying and sexual harassment by MPs and senior staff in Parliament over recent decades.
Ms White has looked into complaints from staff of more than 100 MPs about groping and bullying.
'FEARING THE WORST'
A hotline set up to report misconduct has received 545 calls and emails from 194 people since last July.
In an email from Parliamentary authorities last night, staffers were warned: “Whether or not you have been affected by these issues personally, it may be that the contents of the report will prove distressing or uncomfortable.
“With this in mind, we have arranged for the Independent Sexual Misconduct Advisory Service to run a stall in Portcullis House for drop-in advice and support, from 10am-5pm from Thursday 11 – Monday 15 July.”
None of the Government, MPs or Speaker’s office has been given an advance copy of the report, which will be published in the House of Commons at 10am tomorrow.
But John Bercow and his staff are said to be “fearing the worst” from the report.
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But last month the Mail on Sunday revealed plans were being drawn up to force MPs to install video cameras in their Commons offices to tackle the “endemic” of unwanted sexual advances.
Researchers would also be issued with GPS-tracked “grope alarms” under proposals by Mr Bercow’s office.
And alcohol sales could also be banned on the Parliamentary estate before 6pm.
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