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Schools hospitality

The department receives a special appropriation to provide modest hospitality to school groups visiting Parliament House. School visits are coordinated by the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office, working in partnership with the Parliamentary Education Office and the Visitor Experience Office of DPS.

In 2019–20 expenditure for the schools hospitality program activity was $0.216 million. Results against performance criteria are summarised in the annual performance statement (page 25).

Performance summary

In 2019–20, 86,315 school students participated in educational tours of Parliament House, down from 124,831 in the previous year (see Table 7). The reduction was due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the closure of Parliament House to the public. The uncertainty caused by COVID-19 led to significant activity for the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office in managing cancellations and re-booking of school visits.

Table 7: Students visiting Parliament House, by location and year, 2015–16 to 2019–20

Year

ACT

NSW

NT

QLD

SA

TAS

VIC

WA

Other

Total

2015–16

3,004

64,438

654

16,056

5,849

1,621

18,950

5,159

13

115,744

2016–17

2,783

65,653

686

15,828

5,610

1,683

19,971

5,440

117,654

2017–18

3,030

64,366

788

17,131

5,896

1,942

20,810

5,125

119,088

2018–19

2,904

69,333

715

17,766

6,340

1,784

21,054

4,935

124,831

2019–20

1,230

46,660

444

14,883

4,565

1,730

12,695

4,108

86,315

All visiting students participated in a guided tour and visited both the House and Senate chambers; 74 per cent (64,155) received hospitality and 71 per cent (61,344) participated in the Parliamentary Education Office program (see pages 61–62 for more information on the activities of the Parliamentary Education Office).

Outlook

In partnership with colleagues from DPS and the Parliamentary Education Office, staff are preparing for the resumption of school visits to Parliament House from July 2020. At 30 June 2020, 112,041 students from 1,597 schools had been booked for the following 12 months, noting that these figures remain subject to change due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19. Last year at the same time 125,263 students from 3,432 schools had been booked.