Application deadline for this year's Fast Stream
see
Starting salary
About £25k minimum, with night
allowance where appropriate
No. of graduate positions
Up to 6 graduate positions annually
First year usually based location
Westminster
Head office location
Westminster
Disciplines accepted
2:2 degree in any discipline
How to apply
Apply through the Civil Service Fast
Stream programme at
Clerkships in Parliament
Clerkships in the House of Commons and
House of Lords (which are offered through
the Civil Service Fast Stream Development
Programme) provide rewarding and
interesting careers to those with an interest in
Parliament, the constitution, and public and
political affairs. Careers may appeal to those
whose interests are divided between the
academic and the practical, and who enjoy
proximity to the parliamentary process
without wishing, themselves, to engage in the
cut and thrust of politics.
Essential qualities for all these posts include
an interest in current affairs, the capacity to
work as a member of a team and the ability to
produce information which is clear and
accurate and advice which is persuasive, both
in writing and orally, when under pressure.
In both Houses political impartiality is
essential to ensure the confidence of
Members of all parties.
Clerks are employees of the appropriate
House, not civil servants, and serve
Parliament, not the Government of the day,
although conditions of service and the
grading structure are linked to, and kept
broadly in line with, the Home Civil Service.
A full career structure is offered.
The Clerk's Department in the Commons is
responsible for providing advice and services
to the House as a whole, the Speaker and
Deputy Speakers, the Committees appointed
by the House and their Chairmen and to
individual Members of the House. Clerks
advise on how the business of the House and
Committees may be conducted properly
within the rules laid down by the House.
Purely procedural work accounts for about
one-third of the Clerks' posts within the
Department, the remainder, and the majority
of posts at other grades, being involved with
the servicing of select committees. In the
Lords the Parliament Office (as the
department of the Clerk of the Parliaments
is called) administers all aspects of the
business of the House – select committees,
legislation, the Lord Speakers office,
administration, human resources. About one
half of the posts relate to select committees.
Both Houses also second Clerks to posts in
Brussels, and within certain government
departments.
In both Houses, as well as developing the
usual skills of administration – preparation of
briefing, drafting memoranda and reports and
participating in meetings – Clerks learn how
to provide advice at times of high political
pressure in such a way that it will be accepted
by all opposing interests.
A feature of service in Parliament is the
liability to work unsocial hours, either early
in the morning or in the evenings until the
rising of the appropriate House on one or two
days a week, though recent changes in sitting
hours, particularly in House of Commons,
have reduced this latter obligation. There is
greater flexibility of working hours when
Parliament is not sitting. Thus, while
working hours in a year may be broadly
comparable with the public service generally,
they are worked in a less rigid pattern. Leave
can normally be taken only when the
respective House is not sitting, but the summer
recess provides an opportunity to take a longer
period of leave at one time than might be
possible elsewhere in the public service.
Clerks of the two Houses are also called
upon to provide procedural and other services
for international parliamentary assemblies
like the Council of Europe, North Atlantic
Assembly, Inter-Parliamentary Union and other
bodies. They may also be required to
accompany select committees on overseas visits.
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