Administration CommitteeWritten evidence by the Head of Visitor Services, Houses of Parliament

1. This memorandum is in response to a request from the Clerk to the Committee for information relating to:

(a)the number of visitors entering the main Estate (ie including the northern outbuildings as they are directly linked to the Palace, but excluding the outbuildings on Millbank and elsewhere).

(b)Waiting times at the main entrances to the Estate.

(c)Ticket sales for commercial opening of the Visitor Route, with particular details relating to the current trial of year-round Saturday opening.

(d)The role of Head of Visitor Services.

(e)Recent changes to improve the visitor experience, and challenges that limit further improvements.

2. I should emphasise that it has been produced from the viewpoint of the Department of Information Services, and in particular from the Visitor Services team. Demand for visitor access is balanced with the constraints imposed by security, managed by the Serjeant at Arms and Black Rod, and by maintenance of the Palace, managed by the Parliamentary Estates Directorate and the two Facilities Departments. Tensions arising from these constraints are managed by the Parliamentary Visitor Board, which is chaired by the Director General of Information Services and which includes representatives from each of these functions as well as external expertise.

Visitor Numbers

3. Table 1 and Graphs 2 and 3 show the number of visitors recorded since April 2007, by month. Table 4 shows this data broken down by entrance.

4. Following their visit to the Cromwell Green entrance in July, the Committee may also be interested in snapshots from specific sitting days. Tables 5, 6 and 7 show the number of visitors passing through Cromwell Green on an hourly basis in January, June and July this year. Figures in red show daily peaks, which are also tracked in graphs 8, 9 and 10. The monthly totals show that the hour up to 4pm (ie with the visitors arriving for functions which start at 4pm) is the busiest in each month.

5. Charts 11, 12 and 13 expand on this information, and show information relating to the purpose of visit for three sitting days in January, June and July. Only visitors entering through Portcullis House and Cromwell Green are included, but these entrances are used by the vast majority of visitors attending the House of Commons. Some timings are estimated (as not all data has been retained, eg the precise times of tours), but it is hoped that the data sufficiently demonstrates the change in visitor type over the course of the day.

Waiting Times

6. No data is recorded on waiting times at the main entrances to the Estate. However, it is possible to use the figures for throughput to identify times at which the Cromwell Green Entrance would have been working near or at capacity, and it is reasonable to assume that at these times there will have been a queue.

7. In optimum conditions, the Cromwell Green Entrance is capable of processing 450–500 visitors each hour.

8. Graphs 8, 9 and 10 plot the figure for the busiest hour of each day. In June particularly, but also in July, 450 is exceeded on a number of occasions; this never occurs in January. However, in January the peak figure comes close to 450, which given the slower throughput at times of poor weather suggests that some queuing may have occurred on a few days in January.

9. This suggests two phenomena, which anecdotal evidence also supports:

(1)The summer is busier than the winter: There are more visitors in the summer. I expect this is due in part to an increased demand for functions (many APPGs host summer receptions in July, but fewer are interested in receptions in the depths of winter); and because more tourists, who may be interested in visiting Parliament, visit London in the summer—and similarly, more constituents are likely to make the effort to lobby.

(2)Tuesday is the busiest day: This occurs in nearly all sitting weeks and is due to a combination of factors, underpinned by the fact that it is the day on which a large number of Members of both Houses are in Westminster. As the Committee will be aware from its last inquiry, this makes Tuesday a popular day for banqueting functions; it is also a popular afternoon for Committee meetings and for other business-related meetings and events. This is an inevitable side effect of the sitting calendar and the Committee may wish to examine methods to either spread demand through the week or ensure that the House capitalises from this high demand (eg increasing function charges on Tuesdays).

Member-sponsored tours are also held on a Tuesday morning, but the data demonstrate that these rarely, if ever, result in queues at Cromwell Green. Tours organised by the Parliament Education Service also take place on Tuesdays but these visitors enter via Portcullis House where special arrangements are in place to avoid a conflict with the main flow of visitors.

10. This analysis assumes that the Entrance is manned to a level in line with demand. The allocation of security search teams to the various Entrances is a matter for the Serjeant at Arms and Black Rod, and the Metropolitan Police as the Houses’ security contractor.

11. The identification of the peak days of the week and of the year is supported by the list of events which Visitor Services receives from the Events Team in the Department of Facilities. This includes all events hosted in Catering & Retail Services facilities and also aims to capture other events in the Palace. Data from the House of Lords C&RS department is listed; their guests usually enter via Black Rod’s Garden Entrance. The list of events is only an estimate, as there is no requirement when making a room booking to indicate whether there are external guests, although in practice it identifies most significant events. There is some double counting—for example an APPG might host a meeting and then some of those participating might go to a dining function sponsored by a Member—and some guests at a function will be passholders rather than visitors. Nonetheless, a reasonable estimate of visitor numbers is provided.

12. In order to illustrate to the Committee the range of events that can be held in the Palace, the following table is an extract from the events calendar on Tuesday 12 July—the busiest day of the week in one of the busiest months of the year—showing events where the guests will have been advised to use Cromwell Green as well as the location of the event and the expected number of attendees:

15:00	Meeting	MP	Constituents	CR13	30
15:00	Meeting	MP	Sport	CR20	15
15:00	Meeting	MP	2012 Partnerships	Jubilee	70
1500–1600	Meetings	Meeting Rooms	Various	Palace	35
16:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	Food and Drink Federation reception	MDR	200
16:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	Cancer Research UK Reception	SDR	80
16:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	Launch of the Berry report	TERR	100
16:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	Children’s society Parl reception	TDRA	50
16:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	Seashell Trust	TDRC	25
16:00	Meeting	MP	Rail	CR6	60
16:00	Meeting	MP	APPG Freight transport	CR9	30
16:00	Meeting	MP	APPG Hospice and Palative care	CR10	100
16:00	Meeting	MP	Further Education Skills	CR19	30
16:00	Meeting	MP	Social Enterprise MP	CR20	20
16:00	Meeting	Peer	Private	CR2A
1600–1700	Meetings	Meeting Rooms	Various	Palace	35
17:00	Other		Choir practice	Chapel
17:00	Meeting	MP	APPG Rail	CR19	30
17:00	Meeting	Peer	Private	CR2A
1700–1800	Meetings	Meeting Rooms	Various	Palace	50
18:00	Meeting	MP	Video Screening	CR6	65
18:00	Meeting	MP	PCS Report on Tax savings	CR7	40
18:00	Meeting	MP	Round table	CR8	50
18:30	Meeting	MP	Agroecology	CR9	70
18:30	Meeting	MP	Private	CR20	25
18:30	Meeting	MP	Private	Jubilee	40
18:30	Meeting	Peer	Food security	CR2
18:00	Meeting	Peer	Snowden AGM	CR2A	20
18:30	Meeting	Peer	APPG Equalities	CR3A
18:00	Meeting	Peer	Professional Women	CR4A
1800–1900	Meetings	Meeting Rooms	Various	Palace
19:00	Meeting	MP	Crime of aggression	CR5	50
19:00	Meeting	MP	APPG Conflict issues	CR14	100
19:00	Meeting	MP	Total politics	CR17	40
19:00	Meeting	MP	Young Labour	CR19	40
19:00	Meeting	MP	APPG Greece and Cypriots	GCR	80
19:30	Meeting	MP	APPG Afghanistan	CR15	60
19:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	Alliance against ID Theft	TERR	100
19:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	1912 Club Dinner	TDRA	52
19:10	HoC Banqueting	MP	Family Holiday Asscn.	TDRB	15
19:15	HoC Banqueting	MP	One Nation	TDRD	24
19:15	HoC Banqueting	MP	Cricket Dinner	PDR	24
19:00	HoC Banqueting	MP	P&S Dinner	SPEC	24
1900–2000	Meetings	Meeting Rooms	Various	Palace	50

13. The number of invited guests to Cromwell Green per hour was:

3pm to 4pm	150
4pm to 5pm	730
5pm to 6pm	80
6pm to 7pm	310
7pm to 8pm	659

14. At the same time as these guests were arriving, over 230 were booked to attend events in the House of Lords, entering via Black Rod’s Garden Entrance. Similarly, a full programme of meetings in Portcullis House and an event in Mr Speaker’s Apartments used all available capacity at the Portcullis House Entrance.

15. The Committee should be aware that these figures are an underestimate as several of the meetings do not have a known number of attendees and are therefore left at zero. I have also excluded from the extract above the estimated numbers for those viewing Select and Public Bill Committees, visitors for private meetings with Members or giving evidence to Select Committees, non-passholding civil service officials, anyone wishing to lobby, and those requesting to observe the Chamber. Once these are included it becomes clear that the number expected to use the entrance was considerably above capacity throughout this period, and as already noted, there was no spare capacity elsewhere to process the visitors. At its peak, the resulting queue filled the ramp and stretched back along St Margaret’s street to Carriage Gates.

16. All of the visitors listed in the table above had been invited to Parliament, by Members. None were eligible to use the fast track, the operation of which is discussed below. This is an extreme, but not particularly unusual, example: last Monday, as the Committee was taking evidence, over 760 Members’ guests were expected to arrive via Cromwell Green for events starting between 4pm and 5pm. The Committee may wish to consider how to prevent these situations from arising in the future; the starting point might be to ensure that no more people are invited into the building than can be accommodated. The introduction of a single bicameral recording system for events at which non-passholders are invited (including visitors to the IPU and CPA), with possible future expansion so that it handles all scheduled meetings with external attendees would have significant benefits for Visitor Services, and might also be welcomed by the fire risk management and security teams. The start-up cost of bringing together several separate booking systems has not been calculated nor budgeted for, but is likely to be significant. Without a new system it is not possible to obtain accurate data showing the drivers of peak periods of demand for access without extensive clerical work.

17. However, if the Committee wishes to propose immediate changes on the basis of Members’ experience of queues at entrances, it has two choices: to increase search capacity or redistribute demand. If the former approach is preferred, I would recommend that it consults with the Serjeant at Arms for information relating to costs and practicalities. If demand is to be reallocated, the Committee may wish to keep in mind the impact on the profitability of Catering & Retail Services and may therefore wish to avoid introducing measures which reduce their capacity or increase their costs (eg by starting events later in the evening, thus requiring staff to work longer).

18. The Committee may wish to consider whether to prevent Members and officials from booking rooms in the Palace (other than banqueting facilities) to host events with more than five non-passholder participants at peak times (eg between 3:40pm and 7:45pm on sitting Mondays and Tuesdays). The precise times and nature of the restrictions could then be kept under review and adjusted to balance the desire to maximise access with the capability to screen visitors. Any such restriction would only work if it was introduced on a bicameral basis.

19. With this data in mind, the Committee may also wish to consider the decision of the previous Committee regarding prioritisation of visitors at Cromwell Green, which it last noted in June 2008. The current order of priority is:

Fast track:

Visitors connected with the proceedings of the Houses, eg Committee witnesses and officials supporting Ministers.

Visitors requiring disabled access.

Main queue:

(a)Invited visitors to meetings or with fixed appointments with Members.

(b)Visitors attending banqueting functions.

(c)Visitors undertaking a tour.

(d)Lobbyists, individual and mass.

(e)Visitors wishing to attend the Galleries or a Committee sitting in public, or view an exhibition.

20. The length of the queue can be frustrating, but it is of no benefit to the system or to the public perception of Parliament if individual Members are seen by the public to overrule staff and the Police by plucking their guests out of the queue and moving them into the fast track lane. In preparing this memorandum I have become aware that the existing rules are not widely available to Members and staff, and will take steps to ensure they are placed on the intranet.

21. At no time are members of the public prohibited from joining the queue. However, in busy periods visitors are warned of the likely queue time and advised that they may wish to return when it is expected to be quieter. Mr Speaker and the Lord Speaker have raised concerns about the impact this system has on those wishing to access the public galleries, and the Committee might wish to reconsider the priorities.

22. The Committee may also wish to encourage Members to invite their guests to meet them at other Entrances with search facilities, including 1 Parliament Street, although visitors using those entrances must be met on arrival by their host.

23. In summary, if Parliament wishes to continue to invite more visitors to the Estate then it needs to accept limits at peak times or the cost of increasing security search capacity above that which is currently available.

Tours

Sponsored tours

24. Table 14 sets out the number of participants on the Visitor Route booked through the Central Tours Office.

25. The capacity for tours is related to the availability of the Visitor Route, which is subject to the sitting calendar of the House and the requirements of the maintenance programme. The hourly maximum has been reduced in recent years to ensure that visitors arriving for tours can get through security promptly. At the same time, demand for the service has increased: the Central Tours Office received 45,000 phone calls in 2004 and 65,000 in 2010.

Commercial tours

26. Commercial opening of the Visitor Route resumed in summer 2000 and has since followed a broadly identical model. The full admission price is £15 for adults, and there are discounts available for students, senior citizens (60+), members of the Armed Forces and children; family tickets are also available, and group discounts are available and designed in a way which encourages groups to book at times that might otherwise be less popular. After the deduction of VAT and processing fees charged by our ticketing contractor, the largest cost of the operation is the contracted ITG Blue Badge certified guides who lead the commercial tours. Other significant costs include staff (permanent staff and an additional number of visitor assistants who are employed on a casual basis each summer) and advertising. The aim in setting the ticket price has been to ensure that no cost to the public purse arises from the operation.

27. Details of summer ticket sales volumes are set out in table 15. As the number of opening days varies each summer, a key indicator is the average number of visitors; a new record was set in 2011. The daily capacity is 3000, although some days in the summer recess operate on a half-day basis (with the morning dedicated to sponsored tours).

28. In July 2010, an experimental year-round Saturday opening programme commenced. This represents an increase in opening days of around 90%. The costs of the operation are broadly similar to the summer programme, with three key additions: the cost of security officers and Police who would not otherwise be required on the Estate; the Parliamentary Estates Directorate’s costs for having maintenance staff undertake work on Sunday rather than Saturday; and additional payments to the cleaning contractor.

29. Details of Saturday ticket sales volumes are set out in table 16. This is a two year experiment, which will run through this winter to the end of the financial year when an assessment will be made of its profitability. If visitor numbers in the winter suggest that the operation is uneconomical then options include ending year-round opening and scaling it back to those periods over which it breaks even.

30. The Committee may wish to note that, in the third week of August 2011, Parliament welcomed its millionth paying visitor under the summer and Saturday opening scheme.

Commercial visitors: mandate

31. The Committee will recall that the current commercial operation is based on a mandate given to officials by its predecessor Committee in 1999:1

“The Committee considers that it would be appropriate to re-open the Line of Route to the public during the Summer Adjournment, and therefore recommends that such a re-opening should take effect from 31 July 2000, subject to the re-opening taking into account three fundamental considerations:

The Palace of Westminster is primarily a place of work, and public access to it must not impinge upon that work;

visiting arrangements during the recess must not constrain either the Parliamentary works programme, or the ability of either House to sit at any time it may be necessary to do so; and

current rights of Members of both Houses, and of the Parliamentary Education Unit, to sponsor visits must be maintained”.

32. The Committee may wish to consider whether this text, which suggests that the opening of the visitor route to non-sponsored tourists is separate to the core work of the House is still appropriate. In the intervening years, attitudes towards public engagement have changed: welcoming visitors to Parliament is no longer a nice-to-have add-on to other activities but is considered to be at the core of the House’s work.2

33. In recent years, the Parliamentary Estates Directorate has improved the consultation processes around the scheduling of works. We are now able to negotiate with colleagues to ensure that major works which might have an impact on the visitor experience are scheduled at quieter periods of the year (eg the toilet refurbishment programme was amended to ensure that those by the Jubilee Cafe were open in the summer recess).

34. However, operational problems remain which have a significant impact on the visitor experience. For example, on one day during the summer opening this year, an inspection hatch was opened immediately outside the Welsh Door, thus preventing the use of the normal access route for wheelchairs; more recently, repainting the zebra crossings in the inner courtyards on a Saturday prevented a visitor in a mobility scooter from accessing the lift near to the Stranger’s Bar to join the visitor route, and would have blocked fire exit routes.

35. The Committee is invited to agree that visitors to Parliament, whether constituents from whom all access derives and for whom we must make Parliament welcoming, or an overseas visitor who rightly expects the highest standards from us, are an integral part of Parliament’s day to day operations and its engagement strategy, and must be taken into consideration in all matters which affect them.

36. Such consideration would not be without cost, but the income generation proposals in the House of Commons Savings Programme will assist with meeting this. The costs of moving intrusive maintenance so that it occurred not just out of sitting hours but also at times when the Palace was not in use would either need to be set against the income generated, or absorbed into the general maintenance budget. The former approach has been taken in the case of Saturday opening and if it is extended it will be important to ensure that Parliament does not price out UK visitors who are unable to obtain free access during sitting periods nor limit its ability to provide a welcoming environment to members of the public who are invited on tours of Parliament by Members and staff or as part of the Education Service’s programmes.

37. This is not a proposal that all works be moved to anti-social hours. Indeed, works can be used as an interest point for visitors given sufficient information and presentation, and the Committee may have seen during recent work in Westminster Hall how the Parliamentary Estates Directorate has improved the provision of such information. Visitors are interested in conservation and showcasing of work to maintain the World Heritage Site on behalf of the nation can be a positive feature of a visit. Obviously there may be major works at times which require the closure of the Route, which is inevitable and should not be a problem if agreed with sufficient notice: it is only embarrassing for Parliament when it sells tickets or agrees to host Members’ guests and then has to renege on the arrangement.

38. In summary, a change to the mandate to emphasise that public access is part of, rather than something which impinges upon, the House’s work would underpin the current House strategy and place access alongside Parliamentary business at the heart of the Houses’ activity. I would suggest the following:

The Committee supports the opening of Parliament to visitors, including the Visitor Route on a commercial basis during recesses, and broader income generating activities, and notes three fundamental considerations:

Public access to Parliament’s work is central to a functioning democracy.

Visiting arrangements must not constrain Parliamentary business, security, or work that is required to maintain the Parliamentary Estate, but the desire to provide access to Parliament should be considered by Members and officials when undertaking this work.

Nothing must constrain the ability of either House to sit at any time it may be necessary to do so, and the rights of Members of both Houses, and of Parliament’s Education Service, to sponsor visits must be maintained.

The Role of Head of Visitor Services

39. The creation of the post of Head of Visitor Services was agreed by the Parliamentary Visitor Board in November 2009, as part of the most recent Visitor Management Review. I work with three managers with responsibility for different functional areas (visitor operations, visitor information, and tours) and a budget manager. We are supported by a team of fifty people: Visitor Assistants and supervisors; two visitor information assistants; three booking and administrative staff in the CTO; and the Clock Tower events coordinator and Clock Tower guides. Tours on sitting days are delivered by a mixture of these staff and trained in-house tour guides (a mixture of staff from elsewhere in the House, retired staff and a few additional guides).

40. My job description comprises:

Responsibility for the strategy and development of Visitor Services.

Developing and marketing a rich and varied programme of tours, visits, talks, exhibitions, displays, and other activities for visitors, in line with Parliament’s public engagement strategy.

Overall responsibility for the welcome, access arrangements and services available to all visitors to Parliament.

Overall responsibility for the Visitor Services budgets and financial systems.

Oversight of the guiding contracts for Member tours and the Summer Opening programme and of the ticketing contract (operational responsibility delegated to Tours Manager).

Building relationships with key staff in both Houses and representing Visitor Services on relevant boards and committees.

Communications with Members and reporting to Member committees.

Liaising with police and security senior managers and with Department of Facilities on key access issues (operational responsibility delegated to the Visitor Operations Manager).

Oversight of Parliament’s participation in Open House London and other similar events and of Westminster Hall as the visitor information hub (operational responsibility delegated to Visitor Information Manager).

Representing the Houses of Parliament on external bodies (eg ALVA).

Reporting to the Director of Public Information with guidance from the Parliamentary Visitor Board; directing and managing the Visitor Services senior management team

41. The Committee may wish to note that I have been filling the role on a temporary basis since the start of July 2011: my primary career path is as a Clerk in the House of Lords. A permanent appointment to the post, with extensive experience in visitor attractions, has been recruited and will start work in November.

The Visitor Experience

42. The Administration Committee has frequently reviewed provisions made for visitors, most recently in February and December 2009 when it considered the Visitor Management Review. The remainder of this paper sets out some of the recent improvements we have made, and plan to make, to the visitor experience in the light of these and other discussions with Member Committees as well as some of the challenges that the Visitor Services team face.

Challenges

Monitoring the route

43. In its session with John Pullinger last week, the Committee touched on unauthorised access to the route, and may appreciate further information. Members will be aware that:

at times when the Visitor Route is open for sponsored tours, most passholders are entitled to take up to six visitors along the Route;

at times when the Route is open for commercial tours, Members and Officers (or equivalent) of both Houses retain this entitlement but other passholders may only do so with one of a limited number of licences which can be obtained from Westminster Hall; and

at no time may a passholder take a group of more than six along the route, nor may several passholders work together to take a single larger group around.

44. These rules are in place to ensure that every visitor on the Route has an enjoyable experience, and to prevent overcrowding. We have found that it is possible for groups of six or fewer to work around the larger sanctioned groups without creating congestion.

45. The rules are broken on a daily basis. The number of breaches this summer was higher than in recent years and this may be due to the recent influx of new passholders to the Estate. Nevertheless it is an ongoing problem and may in part be related to the reduction in capacity in recent years. We have recently updated the relevant intranet pages to make the rules clearer and will remind all Members of the guidance in January. We do not have staff available to regularly police the route, but when we do receive evidence or witness rule breaking we ask the Serjeant at Arms or Black Rod to write to the Member or passholder involved (including the Member if a passholder they sponsor is in breach). Recognition from the Committee in its report of the importance it attaches to this issue would assist the Serjeant at Arms and Visitor Services in ensuring a high quality experience can be provided to those visitors who have paid or who have been booked onto the Visitor Route in accordance with the rules.

Resources

46. In line with the rest of the House Service, Visitor Services is committed to the House of Commons Savings Programme. In particular, our contribution to the initial round of savings will come through the agreed proposal to charge for Clock Tower Tours from the 201213 financial year.

47. Immediate constraints on our work are caused by a lack of space. For example, Room W1 is currently used for the An Introduction to Question Time presentation mentioned below; if a larger room were available for longer we would be able to offer this talk to more people and might also be able to offer a live feed from the Chamber, with commentary from a Visitor Assistant.

48. One further challenge in which the Committee may have interest is the relatively high (for the House Service) turnover rate for Visitor Assistants, and the subsequent lack of experience of some staff. This is in fact a happy problem for management as it arises because Visitor Assistants are frequently successful in internal competitions for posts in other departments. Former Visitor Assistants have moved to work in the Committee Offices of both Houses, the Serjeant at Arms’ Directorate, the Web & Intranet Service, the Parliamentary Education Service, Parliamentary Outreach, the Pass Office, and the Media & Communications Service. This has two benefits: first, Parliament has a supply of talented and outgoing staff who have received a broad understanding of the diverse work that occurs here; second, the ethos that Parliament should consider and welcome its visitors is being spread across the administrations. The loss of postholders is balanced by a high demand for positions from new candidates; the most recent recruitment round had over 850 applications. I am delighted that the Committee has asked to hear directly from Visitor Assistants and would like to place on record my appreciation for their dedication and hard work on behalf of Parliament.

Recent and Planned Improvements

Guide training

49. Following complaints from some Members regarding the quality of the guides provided for sponsored tours, compulsory guide training has been introduced. We have developed a curriculum with the Institute of Tourist Guiding which includes the history of Parliament, how Parliament works in the present day, Art in Parliament, and communications and group management training. Candidates who pass the course, which is examined through written and practical assessments, receive the nationally recognised ITG Level 2 (“Yellow Badge”) accreditation.

New tours

50. A substantial portion of the current tour script deals with the Parliamentary process and the role of Parliament in a modern democracy. A frequent comment from visitors is that they would like to hear more about the architecture of the building and the artworks on display.

51. In response to these requests, work has commenced on developing separate tours which offer a more detailed consideration of the collection and of the history of the building. The first of these focuses on the artwork on display in Portcullis House and the architecture of that building, and was trialled earlier this year. Positive feedback was received and it is planned that these will be offered on a regular basis from 2012. A second script, which will cover the artworks in the Royal Apartments at the House of Lords’ end of the Palace, is currently being written and trial tours will be offered in 2012.

52. Both of these tours, and any others which are offered in this vein, will only be developed on a commercial basis. At the same time, we plan, in conjunction with Catering & Retail Services, to follow the example of the Royal Collection and many other heritage attractions and offer a range of “prestige” tours which will be for smaller groups and might be combined with meals or light refreshments.

53. Separately, we are continuing work to improve the accessibility of tours to visitors. The first of these will be a “touch” tour for blind and partially sighted visitors. In addition, a trial tour in Portcullis House delivered in partnership with VocalEyes, a nationwide audio description charity, has been held and it is hoped that this can in time be rolled out on the main Visitor Route.

Extended opening

54. As noted above, tours are now available on Saturdays on a year-round basis.

Black Rod’s Garden Entrance

55. As the Committee is aware, improvements have been made to visitor access at Black Rod’s Garden in the last year. There has been an increase in search capacity, the introduction of a proper waiting room, and separation of visitor access from passholder access.

Leaflets

56. Visitor Services has worked with colleagues in both Houses to introduce a range of new leaflets, copies of all of which will be circulated to you. The Parliament and You booklet continues to be made available to all visitors entering Westminster Hall. An Easy Read version of this was introduced in March 2011 and has received positive feedback. We hope to make other publications available in this format in the next financial year.

57. The introduction of a Portcullis House booklet, made available to all visitors entering Portcullis House, has proved popular.

58. A new publication, Visit Parliament, was introduced in September 2011 with the aim of combining several previous leaflets into one “what you can see and do in Parliament” booklet. This will be regularly updated to take into account recess dates and new events. It has proved to be extremely popular and it is hoped that it will encourage those who attend for a tour to return to see Parliament in action. It is available to all visitors in Westminster Hall, Portcullis House, the Parliamentary Bookshop and those undertaking Clock Tower tours. We also intend to make copies available for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to distribute to constituents and anyone interested in visiting the House.

59. A further booklet, again combining several previous leaflets into one, aimed at Members and staff and provisionally entitled Bringing visitors to Parliament is currently being prepared and will be made available to Members and staff later this year. The aim is to present all information and regulations relating to visitor management in one document. The Diversity Manager has produced a separate leaflet Information for Members of both Houses and passholders escorting visitors with disabilities which provides additional advice and maps for hosts of visitors with disabilities.

60. A new range of leaflets produced by the House of Commons Information Office and material produced by the House of Lords Information Office are available to visitors in Westminster Hall. Visitor Services continues to work with both Information Offices to ensure that material is produced which meets the needs of visitors (which do not always match the needs of other consumers of their output), is presented in a consistent format between the two Houses (while retaining each House’s individuality) and which is available in a suitable range of languages.

Visitor Information

61. A new exhibition on Westminster Hall, produced by the Public Information Programme team, was mounted in the north-east corner of Westminster Hall in summer 2011. Visitor Assistants have also been trained to deliver “ad hoc” tours of Westminster Hall when staffing levels permit and visitors are interested.

62. Following the implementation of the requirement that all guides be trained to ITG level 2, the small team of guides who provide tours of the Clock Tower also undertook the training. This has provided them with knowledge to enhance their tours and provide additional information about other aspects of work of Parliament.

63. Since 2008, a forty minute presentation entitled An Introduction to Question Time has been available at 1:40pm to up to twenty people waiting in the public queue for gallery admission at 2:30pm on Mondays and Tuesdays. Surveys undertaken confirm that over 50% of participants are UK residents and that a greater understanding of the process leads to longer dwell time in the gallery. The presentation also gives an opportunity to promote other possibilities such as visiting the House of Lords gallery or Committee evidence sessions, and encourages greater interaction with Visitor Services staff afterwards.

64. It is hoped that, when the current desk in Westminster Hall is replaced, the opportunity can be taken to provide a desk which has ICT provision, to enable Visitor Assistants and Information Office staff to use online resources to provide further information for visitors. This will be located alongside the new exhibition on the Hall, making the north west corner a visitor information hub. I have held preliminary talks with PICT to investigate the installation of wifi in the Hall to allow Visitor Assistants to use tablet computers to show videos and pictures to visitors. These might also be used to relay coverage of the Chamber, or the Annunicator feed, to the gallery queue.

London Open House Weekend

65. Parliament has participated in this event, which promotes appreciation of architecture by the general public, for over ten years. Since 2008 we have developed this into an “open Parliament” day providing the 4–5,000 visitors who come to see the architecture of Portcullis House and Westminster Hall with a growing range of information about the work of Parliament through displays, information stands and talks. This has required input from colleagues across both Houses of Parliament, and one challenge that we may have to face in future years relates to the tightening of departmental budgets possibly making it harder for staff to be released, paid overtime or given time off in lieu.

66. The event continues to develop, and in 2009 we offered tours of the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft for the first time. We hope to offer access to other areas of the Palace in future years. The event is extremely popular and expansion to a second weekend each year is under consideration.

Visitor suggestion scheme and visitor feedback

67. The introduction of a visitor suggestion scheme was discussed at last week’s meeting and I shall add it to the team’s business plan for 201213. Although the first half of this memorandum concentrated on data relating to the number of visitors, these are not necessarily the best criteria to measure. My team judges themselves on visit quality: have we engaged with the public, enhanced Parliament’s reputation, or provided appropriate support. This extends beyond the perimeter of Parliament: the Visitor Assistants at pavement level frequently discuss the work of Parliament with members of the public who choose not to come into the building but walk away better informed.

68. Data is already collected from a sample of visitors to measure satisfaction with the service provided by the Visitor Services team. In addition external consultants are retained to provide feedback on the welcome provided by the security personnel and visitor services staff, and regularly report that the welcome provided by Visitor Assistants scores extremely highly. We also pay the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) to participate in their benchmarking and mystery shopper schemes during the commercial tour operation. Recent results are particularly pleasing:

71% of visitors in summer 2011 said their visit was better than expected.

97% of visitors in the past year ranked the friendliness of welcome as “excellent” or “good”.

98% of visitors in the past year ranked the staff’s efficiency or knowledge as “excellent” or “good”.

96% of visitors in the past year ranked their enjoyment of the visit as “excellent” or “good”.

82% of visitors in the past year would definitely recommend the tour to their friends. 0% would not.

69. These high scores are reflected in the two industry awards that recently have been won by the commercial opening.

Member tour booking system

70. We are currently working with PICT to improve the booking system used by the Central Tours Office to administer sponsored tour bookings. It is planned that a single system will be introduced in 2012 which can be used by the Clock Tower tours team, the Central Tours Office and the Education Service. This will increase efficiency and allow the recording of additional data (eg that a member-sponsored tour is for a school group, which in turn will make it easier to give an Education Service experience to more school groups.) The booking teams will also be co-located in the same building on the Estate for the first time.

Embassy tickets

71. The Committee will be aware that visitors holding letters of introduction from their Embassy or High Commission are entitled to go to the front of the Gallery queue once they are through security. At times when there is high interest in the business in the Chamber and the queue is slow moving, this can entitle tourists, some with little interest in Parliament but with knowledge of this provision, to delay constituents from gaining access to the Chamber. While we recognise that there should always be a mechanism for Embassies to prioritise access for their business visitors, and that special provision might be required for Commonwealth citizens, it is perhaps no longer necessary in an era of mass tourism and broadcast coverage of the Chamber to continue with the current broad system. The Committee may wish to consult with other Parliaments on this matter or recommend that this practice be reviewed.

Acknowledgements

As I noted in the section of this memorandum relating to my role, I have only been in post since the start of July. I am therefore grateful to colleagues, including Victor Launert, Chris Weeds, Matthew Morgan and Rob Wardle in Visitor Services, and Caroline Nicholls in the Serjeant at Arms’ Office, for assistance in preparing this material.

October 2011

Table 1:

TOTAL VISITOR NUMBERS BY MONTH

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual Total
2007				49,319	73,741	80,292	83,104	89,565	79,744	74,114	80,478	50,449	660,806
2008	61,046	66,632	73,268	79,719	68,825	99,420	90,623	65,146	69,957	90,765	77,157	49,260	891,818
2009	55,576	59,981	93,147	58,804	73,109	98,763	86,093	69,726	68,191	84,974	80,258	54,290	882,912
2010	67,733	69,144	97,660	24,914	27,462	84,272	104,469	71,723	73,073	84,258	97,215	56,334	858,257
2011	60,617	69,135	104,990	48,426	73,308	106,665	91,018	70,135	85,857	0	0	0	710,151

Table 4:

VISITOR NUMBERS PER ENTRANCE BY MONTH

Access Point	2007									2008
	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
BRGE	7,330	9,902	12,574	10,892	6,092	8,282	11,871	11,638	6,022	8,944	9,515	9,253	9,038	9,301	12,665	12,633	2,432	6,555	14,147	11,040	7,060
Derby Gate	1,494	1,859	5,132	3,600	2,303	2,334	1,928	1,660	1,314	1,675	1,612	1,578	1,851	1,822	1,940	1,861	1,321	1,719	1,897	1,401	1,655
Fielden House	639	874	1,172	1,056	321	866	732	1,073	824	1,032	887	908	934	764	1,081	1,069	611	745	1,127	1,131	939
Norman Porch	926	665	803	N/A	0	0	0	4,953	4,344	N/A	1,430	2,538	1,273	0	1,031	95	0	0	0	0	0
Peers Entrance	5,879	3,001	3,272	3,250	1,492	461	2,952	3,094	2,188	2,927	1,625	0	2,729	2,825	4,550	3,771	285	770	4,401	4,262	2,812
PCH	11,012	14,457	16,937	15,600	9,697	10,916	16,478	18,407	11,850	18,172	15,898	17,575	14,400	13,970	17,850	19,300	4,681	11,990	21,959	18,779	12,717
St Stephens/CGE	30,051	48,717	49,978	56,612	73,776	60,546	45,765	45,480	28,233	33,930	39,789	43,902	55,008	45,554	67,874	58,595	58,033	51,412	54,659	47,338	29,483
1 Parliament St
1 Canon Row
7 MB
Tothill St
Total	57,331	79,475	89,868	91,010	93,681	83,405	79,726	86,305	54,775	66,680	70,756	75,754	85,233	74,236	106,991	97,324	67,363	73,191	98,190	83,951	54,666

Table 4:

VISITOR NUMBERS PER ENTRANCE BY MONTH (continued)

Access Point	2009												2010
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
BRGE	7,554	6,688	12,231	8,070	10,207	12,431	11,207	2,156	5,772	10,222	9,391	6,970	6,289	7,755	9,440	4,102	6,688	11,868	11,325	2,445	6,902	9,351	9,613	6,869
Derby Gate	1,602	775	1,747	1,563	2,262	2,458	2,778	1,978	2,257	2,718	2,478	2,188	2,295	2,719	0	1,502	2,661	2,661	2,413	2,027	2,026	2,271	2,495	2,116
Fielden House	995	885	1,284	844	869	1,020	1,177	733	814	1,013	949	727	984	1,072	198	632	1,418	1,048	1,198	610	733	980	155	815
Norman Porch	0	0	498	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Peers Entrance	3,205	3,054	5,207	2,686	3,818	4,525	4,288	311	560	2,702	3,756	2,676	3,350	3,477	4,321	1,172	1,675	4,384	5,093	597	1,080	3,582	4,729	3,660
PCH	16,286	16,284	22,170	14,220	17,186	22,562	21,028	7,117	15,021	21,043	22,400	14,288	19,924	19,869	26,911	5,396	8,635	19,978	21,933	6,123	13,903	12,952	26,479	13,962
St Stephens/CGE	31,736	37,009	58,746	36,514	45,716	63,770	53,858	60,453	47,398	53,709	48,467	33,032	41,520	41,520	61,309	15,416	12,139	52,426	71,211	63,155	522,68	61,955	61,123	35,503
1 Parliament St									1,178	2,730	2,548	1,772	1,913	2,471	3,188	191	380	540	772	374	502	1,754	1,879	450
1 Canon Row
7 MB
Tothill St
Total	61,378	64,695	101,883	63,897	80,058	106,766	94,336	72,748	73,000	94,137	89,989	61,653	76,275	80,149	104,745	28,411	33,596	92,905	113,945	75,331	77,414	92,845	106,473	63,375

Table 4:

VISITOR NUMBERS PER ENTRANCE BY MONTH (continued)

Access Point	2011
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
BRGE	5,733	5,958	9,139	3,908	6,402	10,184	10,527	1,575	6,900
Derby Gate
Fielden House	181	231	285	136	238	265	277	54	206
Norman Porch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Peers Entrance	3,861	3,747	5,891	1,816	4,387	5,771	4,869	442	2,794
PCH	20,223	19,298	29,186	11,505	22,131	28,289	22,616	7,186	20,412
St Stephens/CGE	34,661	43,879	66,665	33,013	44,775	68,192	57,875	61,374	58,545
1 Parliament St	1,285	1,572	2,,181	1,176	1,668	2,307	2,559	986	1,800
1 Canon Row	2,130	2,253	2,717	1,710	2,202	2,456	3,007	2,035	2,468
7 MB	691	742	935	459	639	745	721	432	638
Tothill St	145	249	194	129	130	117	90	48	73
Total	68,910	77,929	117,193	53,852	82,572	118,326	102,541	74,132	93,836	0	0	0

Table 5:

VISITOR NUMBERS AT CROMWELL GREEN BY HOUR, JANUARY 2011

Date/Time	Day	08:00	09:00	10:00	11:00	12:00	13:00	14:00	15:00	16:00	17:00	18:00	19:00	20:00	21:00	22:00
01/01/2011	Saturday
02/01/2011	Sunday
03/01/2011	Monday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
04/01/2011	Tuesday		28	22	55	16	16	11	1	10	5	3	0	0	0	0	167
05/01/2011	Wednesday		2	52	23	19	8	5	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	137
06/01/2011	Thursday		0	22	114	30	8	6	1	0	1	7	0	0	0	0	189
07/01/2011	Friday		46	12	10	12	13	3	51	133	32	2	13	17	0	0	344
08/01/2011	Saturday		3	76	304	232	160	168	221	147	85	5	0	0	0	0	1,401
09/01/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10/01/2011	Monday		107	40	143	80	73	57	180	135	171	123	107	58	8	6	1,288
11/01/2011	Tuesday		107	340	291	115	45	138	155	422	188	208	198	223	14	9	2,453
12/01/2011	Wednesday		159	202	112	179	281	201	433	304	308	155	181	40	6	0	2,561
13/01/2011	Thursday		20	126	45	110	230	186	147	152	36	196	323	173	15	0	1,759
14/01/2011	Friday		16	151	20	38	22	75	62	154	20	0	0	0	0	0	558
15/01/2011	Saturday		13	58	145	218	116	125	134	79	62	23	79	76	0	0	1,128
16/01/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
17/01/2011	Monday		26	136	91	115	13	37	116	113	167	6	127	50	57	50	1,104
18/01/2011	Tuesday		79	131	207	226	35	159	223	277	147	151	102	42	39	3	1,821
19/01/2011	Wednesday		31	77	160	173	122	163	210	278	131	96	143	130	5	0	1,719
20/01/2011	Thursday		24	67	154	186	139	287	227	245	155	154	176	92	4	5	1,915
21/01/2011	Friday		8	76	99	124	108	179	111	146	73	99	44	0	0	0	1,067
22/01/2011	Saturday		54	147	258	360	89	301	201	188	212	173	350	142	17	29	2,521
23/01/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24/01/2011	Monday		54	147	258	360	89	301	201	188	212	173	350	142	17	29	2,521
25/01/2011	Tuesday		117	333	413	378	395	139	148	346	290	236	271	86	55	15	3,222
26/01/2011	Wednesday		114	351	195	178	193	353	264	305	106	257	310	79	7	7	2,719
27/01/2011	Thursday		50	153	202	188	216	199	210	189	155	54	115	148	8	0	1,887
28/01/2011	Friday		23	52	127	111	88	35	139	52	30	9	0	0	0	0	666
29/01/2011	Saturday		7	231	194	389	215	98	147	102	60	58	33	0	0	0	1,534
30/01/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
			10,88	3,002	3,620	3,837	2,674	3,226	3,610	3,965	2,646	2,188	2,922	1,498	252	153	34,681

Table 6:

VISITOR NUMBERS AT CROMWELL GREEN BY HOUR, JUNE 2011

Date/Time		08:00	09:00	10:00	11:00	12:00	13:00	14:00	15:00	16:00	17:00	18:00	19:00	20:00	21:00	22:00	23:00
01/06/2011	Wednesday		35	134	183	206	59	138	254	140	25	23	148	35	0	0		1,380
02/06/2011	Thursday		31	93	170	314	38	189	213	93	71	99	247	81	0	0		1,639
03/06/2011	Friday		0	162	174	133	271	92	93	193	121	43	145	36	0	0		1,463
04/06/2011	Saturday		0	358	409	317	412	370	338	325	83	0	0	0	0	0		2,612
05/06/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
06/06/2011	Monday		50	215	130	319	17	9	199	93	215	140	136	95	58	43		1,719
07/06/2011	Tuesday		93	203	346	321	134	180	376	359	443	239	81	388	91	0		3,254
08/06/2011	Wednesday		214	324	479	290	302	352	334	329	344	225	268	94	104	15		3,674
09/06/2011	Thursday		75	82	191	163	406	342	417	291	448	120	490	198	8	11		3,242
10/06/2011	Friday		15	78	258	177	180	125	80	304	149	51	113	22	0	0		1,552
11/06/2011	Saturday		36	292	335	342	319	430	440	242	202	55	60	0	0	0		2,753
12/06/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
13/06/2011	Monday		109	326	330	206	217	227	200	439	399	167	363	296	172	22		3,473
14/06/2011	Tuesday		149	220	547	365	148	402	206	455	344	351	415	406	105	0		4,113
15/06/2011	Wednesday		241	257	356	369	274	276	377	452	496	269	471	174	41	44		4,097
16/06/2011	Thursday		20	59	117	195	319	231	354	316	340	351	217	539	161	27		3,246
17/06/2011	Friday		46	44	225	375	234	56	93	166	135	49	363	0	0	0		1,786
18/06/2011	Saturday		0	500	337	442	345	381	283	324	71	151	0	0	0	0		2,834
19/06/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
20/06/2011	Monday		72	208	312	236	116	169	224	387	292	374	290	180	173	0		3,033
21/06/2011	Tuesday		442	440	279	532	135	154	374	423	408	387	427	189	193	31		4,414
22/06/2011	Wednesday		200	219	419	200	239	412	391	399	403	314	402	173	14	16		3,801
23/06/2011	Thursday		76	224	335	282	268	287	269	384	194	177	322	210	36	0		3,064
24/06/2011	Friday		21	174	318	293	59	134	223	240	46	25	18	10	0	0		1,561
25/06/2011	Saturday		0	478	294	514	394	450	380	366	168	0	0	0	0	0		3,044
26/06/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
27/06/2011	Monday		190	165	364	234	161	167	446	329	448	362	330	404	128	0		3,728
28/06/2011	Tuesday		672	138	505	395	145	286	355	337	384	385	455	491	176	0		4,724
29/06/2011	Wednesday		79	283	326	326	199	206	360	406	396	348	350	258	43	9	43	3,632
30/06/2011	Thursday		74	156	236	170	259	203	336	297	322	308	245	396	17	4		3,023
			2,940	5,832	7,975	7,716	5,650	6,268	7,615	8,089	6,947	5,013	6,356	4,675	1,520	222	43	76,861

Table 7:

VISITOR NUMBERS AT CROMWELL GREEN BY HOUR, JULY 2011

Date/Time		08:00	09:00	10:00	11:00	12:00	13:00	14:00	15:00	16:00	17:00	18:00	19:00	20:00	21:00	22:00	23:00
01/07/2011	Friday
02/07/2011	Saturday
03/07/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
04/07/2011	Monday		18	76	203	88	220	122	325	362	415	197	323	402	151	116		3,018
05/07/2011	Tuesday		134	227	429	440	208	347	212	484	371	373	374	227	224	7		4,057
06/07/2011	Wednesday		160	244	245	249	224	272	375	342	332	338	177	26	19	0		3,003
07/07/2011	Thursday		63	176	298	223	377	325	291	325	333	222	254	255	7	15		3,164
08/07/2011	Friday		120	113	238	227	123	222	124	264	215	48	130	64	0	0		1,888
09/07/2011	Saturday		0	341	414	431	418	510	446	431	340	0	0	0	0	0		3,331
10/07/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
11/07/2011	Monday		0	47	551	237	294	301	408	413	403	388	483	315	122	56	17	4,035
12/07/2011	Tuesday		306	298	392	384	163	340	369	465	404	308	427	502	105	105		4,568
13/07/2011	Wednesday		118	465	400	285	355	260	417	354	379	417	394	259	26	13	22	4,164
14/07/2011	Thursday		97	113	313	347	257	349	283	475	294	268	343	133	28	0		3,300
15/07/2011	Friday		58	232	301	357	138	289	378	155	65	106	20	17	0	0		2,116
16/07/2011	Saturday		103	333	389	694	175	170	436	437	429	71	93	29	0	0		3,359
17/07/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
18/07/2011	Monday		90	264	302	216	180	258	282	422	357	428	359	217	188	42		3,605
19/07/2011	Tuesday		350	214	283	382	389	232	227	297	206	196	416	147	102	12		3,453
20/07/2011	Wednesday		82	246	216	191	129	135	223	328	206	253	122	109	44	0		2,284
21/07/2011	Thursday		151	160	164	224	16	9	56	180	47	32	149	130	0	0		1,318
22/07/2011	Friday		15	61	14	35	24	0	0	0	0	233	0	0	0	0		382
23/07/2011	Saturday		2	1	1	5	0	2	17	46	81	0	0	0	0	0		155
24/07/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
25/07/2011	Monday		24	28	15	19	19	17	42	84	79	2	2	0	0	0		331
26/07/2011	Tuesday		94	23	18	16	25	32	36	55	26	7	16	0	0	0		348
27/07/2011	Wednesday		43	36	3	1	73	3	4	9	5	1	13	0	0	0		191
28/07/2011	Thursday		31	217	226	231	40	26	12	18	19	8	38	197	0	0		1,063
29/07/2011	Friday		112	195	352	420	409	346	419	483	299	0	0	0	0	0		3,035
30/07/2011	Saturday		94	290	419	451	348	431	461	375	331	0	0	0	0	0		3,200
31/07/2011	Sunday		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
			2,265	4,400	6,186	6,153	4,604	4,998	5,843	6,804	5,636	3,896	4,133	3,029	1,016	366	39	59,368

Table 14:

PARTICIPANTS ON SPONSORED TOURS

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
January	5,790	5,147	6,879	5,364	4,322	5,659	7,991	7,404	8,895	8,058	8,854	8,257	8,158
February	10,851	10,862	11,495	9,275	7,326	10,066	11,446	11,701	11,985	13,441	12,899	12,964	13,129
March	15,446	15,583	15,873	13,083	8,210	13,672	12,119	13,696	14,125	11,727	12,284	15,174	13,815
April	9,787	10,900	6,137	7,578	7,433	8,371	6,448	9,842	10,128	13,931	12,622	10,761	11,628
May	11,356	14,081	4,102	12,874	9,636	9,738	5,596	13,067	13,653	12,524	12,974	7,071	9,165
June	15,323	17,095	8,948	12,642	15,633	15,046	13,565	16,814	16,148	14,909	13,717	12,204	14,655
July	15,725	15,232	15,752	16,339	10,400	13,404	13,309	14,744	16,196	14,255	10,621	11,112	12,207
August	2,997	2,344	2,440	1,877	3,216	3,503	2,566	4,505	4,918	4,239	5,152	4,740	3,122
September	4,167	3,182	3,371	2,256	6,741	7,000	4,635	4,947	6,335	6,180	7,566	6,433	9,749
October	7,942	9,890	8,598	10,969	9,576	9,744	10,341	13,741	13,469	13,646	11,252	12,561
November	13,111	13,060	10,549	8,761	7,405	9,165	13,459	10,431	11,030	10,168	10,713	14,320
December	6,701	4,968	4,944	7,113	6,092	6,288	5,369	6,844	6,651	5,976	6,906	7,780
Calendar year	121,195	124,344	101,089	110,133	97,993	113,660	108,849	129,742	135,540	131,062	125,560	123,377
Financial year	N/A	118,701	124,999	92,563	100,267	105,529	113,815	108,089	129,940	131,754	129,865	127,918	122,084

Table 15:

SUMMER OPENING TICKET SALES

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	Average	Total
Ticket sales	36,340	86,148	79,687	72,691	79,833	80,925	88,094	89,852	90,835	96,594	75,984	87,594	80,381.42	964,577
Number of open days	35	47	46	39	41	56	53	53	53	52	41	44	47
Average per day	1,038	1,833	1,732	1,864	1,947	1,445	1,662	1,695	1,714	1,858	1,853	1,991	1,722

Table 16:

SATURDAY OPENING TICKET SALES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION

Month	July 2010	October 2010	November 2010	December 2010	January 2011	February 2011	March 2011	April 2011	May 2011	June 2011	Average	Total
Ticket sales	13,834	9,693	6,091	3,251	4,574	6,837	5,673	10,150	3,980	9,489	7,357	73,572
Number of open days	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	2	4	4
Average per day	2,767	1,938	1,523	1,084	1,144	1,709	1,891	2,030	1,990	2,372	1,936

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1 First Report of the Administration Committee, Session 1999-2000, Revised framework for re-opening the Line of Route during the Summer Adjournment, HC (1999-2000) 98.

2 For example, page 3 of the Strategy for the House of Commons Service 2010–15 states that the House will “work at every level to earn respect for the House of Commons by: ... encouraging public participation in parliamentary business, including the work of select committees and the legislative process, developing our outreach and education services and making the House more welcoming to the public.