Parliament Work Experience by Year 12 Student Katie E

Pre-Covid I directly contacted Anthony Browne's office requesting a work experience placement. After almost two years of Covid delays I was luckily allowed to do my placement shadowing and assisting my local MP. This included three days in the London offices as well as two more days in the local constituency offices.

For the duration of my stay I was able to complete a range of tasks and attend many different meetings; including Prime Minister’s question time and the Treasury Committee meeting on economic impacts of sanctions on Russia. As well as a tour of Westminster, which was incredibly enriching, I was able to roam around the grounds freely discovering new places each time I did.

Earlier on in the week I was asked to complete several visit briefings on the companies my MP would visit further on in the week. During the last two days in the constituency office I then shadowed him whilst he attended these meetings. It was inspiring to see how local businesses operate and how Anthony could support them in reaching their goals. The places we visited included Hardwick Forest with a member of the Wildlife Trust; Pinksters Gin owned by Stephen Marsh and Vernalis/HitGen in Granta Park.

Towards the end of my visit I was introduced to the head of the campaigning side of the office, which focused more on the political party output rather than the MPs. The head of this department introduced me to various opportunities I could take part in in the future. He was also kind enough to offer me another week of work experience in his office.

This experience was extremely rewarding as I gained more opportunities in the career I want to pursue; gaining more contacts was also another huge reward. In addition to this, working in a professional environment was another great positive of the placement as this was something I had not yet experienced. It was extremely inspiring to see a collective of people doing so many different jobs and this all coming together to create such a significant impact. There were so many positive rewards from this placement but I think the most significant one was that it opened my mind to a whole new range of career paths in politics. Overall I really enjoyed this incredible opportunity and would strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to pursue any sort of political career in the future.