Question

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the timetable is for the delivery and operation of the (a) Tour Guides Project and (b) Visitors Services Academy Programme.

The delivery of the Tour Guides Project is already in progress and the implementation plan is on track; the new model for guided tours will be fully in operation in order to replace the current contract with an outsourced supplier which comes to an end on 17 October 2018. The new model consists of an insourced core team of guides taking the majority of guided tours, supported by a contract with a commercial provider for the provision of guided tours in foreign languages and Welsh.

The Visitor Services Academy is a training programme that will train a team of Visitor Engagement Assistants to deliver guided tours from October. The Academy will start in August 2018 for the Visitor Engagement Assistants, and from June 2018 for current Visitor Services team members and the four new Team Leaders who are currently being recruited. The academy will deliver a structured programme of support and training using both internal and external expertise and will include regular monitoring and assessment.