Parliamentary Question Cases
Contents
eCase is integrated into the Houses of Parliament written questions and answer service. On a daily basis, all questions that have been tabled will be pulled from this portal and loaded into eCase automatically with a unique Case Reference number, along with all the current MPs’ and Lords’ details. Key information will be included in the question details, including the MP who has requested the question, the UIN, the date the question was Tabled on, the PQ finalised on date and the date for answer (Case Target date).
All new Parliamentary Questions (PQs) will be found in the Awaiting Allocation tab on the Workbasket. They will remain in this tab until they are allocated.
NOTE A URL will be available on each PQ. This will take you through to the written questions and answer service for ease of updating the answer to the question.
If there are any changes to the current MPs’ or Lords’ details, these will be updated in eCase on the next feed. This is particularly useful when there is a general election and lots of details change. You do not need to do this manually, it will be updated automatically in eCase. A superuser can change MP details in eCase, and if these changes conflict with what is coming in on the feed, these will be highlighted so they can be fixed.
PQs can be added manually to eCase via the New Case button for an individual PQ, or using a TSO file for multiple PQs. To upload using a TSO file, go to the HoP Queue link under the More menu, then the Management section.
HoP Queue
To view any recent transactions, go to the HoP Queue. The HoP Queue can be found
under the
More link under the Management section. Along with looking at recent transactions,
this screen can be used for uploading a TSO file or viewing when different
transactions have been scheduled to run, when the last run occurred and when
the next run will be. You also have the
ability to run one or more of the transaction types on an adhoc basis.
Awaiting Allocation tab
When the Parliamentary Questions are created on eCase from the HoP feed, they can be found in the Awaiting Allocation tab. Anyone who can create cases will be able to see these PQs in the Awaiting Allocation tab. They will be able to view the PQ or Take Ownership of the PQ. Once the Take Ownership link has been selected, the Action link will change to say Manage and your name will appear in the Assignee column. The PQ will still be in the Awaiting Allocation tab as you have not allocated the case yet. Select the Team who will be allocated the PQ, update any additional details in the Case Details screen and click on the Allocate button. Once you have allocated the PQ, the PQ will move from the Awaiting Allocation tab to the Hub Coordinators or drafters My Work tab.
Find out more…
How to allocate a case from the Awaiting Allocation tab
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Reject Assignment (Hub Coordinator)
If the PQ case has been allocated to a drafter from a Hub Coordinator, the drafter will have the ability to reject the case back to the Hub Coordinator. The drafter will have to enter a note to say why they are rejecting the case. To do this, click on the Reject Assignment (Hub Coordinator) on the Create Draft tool bar.
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Reject Assignment (Case Creator)
If the question is not for your Policy area, contact the Parliamentary team and then click on the Reject Assignment (Case Creator) on the Create Draft tool bar to assign back to a specific person in the Parli team.
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Link a Case
When a new case is added onto eCase you have the opportunity to search for any cases that are similar in nature to it. This can be through the key terms used or the contact details. It allows you to view historical information, provide consistent responses or see where multiple requests have been made by the same correspondent.
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Watch a Case
You can watch a case at any point in the case history, or you can allocate other people as watchers. This allows you to keep track of cases that are of interest to you or other people. You can request for the cases to be shown on a Watching Casestab on your Workbasket, or to receive email notifications as the case progresses.
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Mandatory Clearances
Mandatory Clearances can be set on a case at any point during the case process. The clearances are highlighted so that the drafter is aware that the people/teams assigned in this area are required to quality check the case before a response can be sent and the case closed. Once the quality checks are accepted, the status of the mandatory clearances will be set to complete and the response can be sent.
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How to add a Mandatory Clearance
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Contribution
A contribution in eCase is a request for further information, by a case owner to an advisor or specialist. Refer to the Contribution section.
When a new contribution is requested, you have the option to select contribution types of:
- Request for Draft - where you are asking the contributor to draft the response to FOI case.
- Request for Information - where you are asking for information to assist you in drafting the response to the FOI case.
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Contribute to a Case
Respond to a contribution
Reply to All from an email Contribution Request
Enter response yourself
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Quality Assurance
A Quality Assurance (QA) request can be sent from eCase, via email, to have the response checked before sending out to the correspondent. This can be done using the Contributions/QA link, and then the New Quality Assurance Request. If the Standard Quality Assurance Request email template is used, the recipient of the QA can click on the approve or reject link directly from the email they have been sent. Refer to the Quality Assurance section.
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Quality Assurance
Respond to a QA request
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Grouped PQs
Parliamentary Questions (PQs) can be linked together - so you can view historical information and responses. eCase will suggest possible cases to link based on the key terms you’ve tagged the case with or you can search for other PQs via the Case Search screen.
Where multiple PQ requests have been received that are the same or similar, you can group these together to action them as one. The lead PQ of the group will be worked as normal. All similar PQs can be linked to this lead PQ and then grouped together. Once the PQs have been grouped, and the lead selected, all the linked PQs will disappear from the Workbasket, and only the lead PQ will stay visible.
When the lead case is due to be closed, you have the option to close all the linked cases in the group. You can also unlink any that you want to answer separately. If you unlink a PQ, this will then reappear in your Workbasket for answering. When a linked PQ is closed, its answer and response date will be prepopulated from the lead PQ.
If new PQs are logged, and they are asking the same question, the lead case can be reopened, and the new PQs linked to the group. When closed, the answer will be pre-populated on this PQ, so you can respond quickly.
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Grouped Parliamentary Questions
Grouping PQ cases to create a Group
Link PQ cases to create a Group
Managing Grouped Cases
Closing Grouped PQ Cases
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Answer the PQ
Select the Answer link on the left menu. Expand the Download Response Template section and select the relevant document template. Request a contribution if required. If the contributor has attached a document to their contribution, this will now be available in the Documents section with a document type of Contribution/QA. Review the document and upload the document as a response document using the Upload Case Response Document section.
NOTE if you have used a proforma document for your PQ Document Template, eCase will mail merge the template and place the document automatically in the Upload Case Response Document section as a Response Document. If you send this form out to the contributors, it will save you time by not having to download the template and upload it again. When you receive the completed details back from the contributor, you can then use the Upload New Version... link. The View History link will become available where you can view all versions of the document.
Once the response document has been uploaded, you have the option to send the case to SPADs, Private Office, or back to the Parli Team. Click on the relevant button on the Create Draft tool bar. Each of these areas will also be able to send to each other and back to the drafter. Once the Private Office is happy with the response, they will click on the Send to Parli Team button. This will move the case back to the team who have the Manage Parliamentary Responses privilege on their user account.
A member of the Parli team will then Take Ownership of the case. If a signed copy of the Response Document needs to be attached to the case, go to the Answer link, expand the Upload Case Response Document section and click on the Upload New Version... link.
Go back to the Answer section. Make sure the Answer Type is on Full and that the Answer matches what has been signed off.
In the Sent Date field, click on the calendar icon to select the date the Answer has been sent to the Houses of Parliament Question and Answer system, then click on the Answer Completed button. If you are sure you want to mark the answer as complete, click on the OK button.
To close the PQ, click on the Close Case button on the Parliamentary Team menu.