Research cheat sheets for first-time MPs

Parliamentary staff are preparing to teach new members how to use research evidence as part of an overhaul of the induction process.

The new MPs will be given the equivalent of flash cards each describing trends in policy areas, such as transport, education or population change. The Trends Deck cards will carry data charts and research-based information to encourage the MPs to think about evidence.

“They need to be really easy to pick up and informative,” says Chris Tyler, director of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, one of the bodies behind the plan. POST will collaborate with the Scrutiny Unit and the House of Commons Library.