Work Experience at Don Foster MP’s Constituency Office

Since Don Foster became the MP for Bath in 1992, he has offered students in the local community the chance to have work experience in his constituency office. This type of placement is a great opportunity for young people to see what the day-to-day life of politics - at a local and national level - is all about.

Don’s policy is to take students who are 16 years and over. The types of jobs you would be required to do are many and varied. They range from the mindless to the more analytical. The placements are primarily aimed at immediate post-GCSE level, although we do occasionally have opportunities in the constituency for interns and University students.

Don Foster and his team are committed to giving students ‘real life’ exposure to a busy working environment in which students are able to receive basic training, take responsibility, and contribute to the success of their placement.

Although dependent on the vagaries of parliamentary timetable, Don tries to offer students a day of ‘shadowing’ his activities in Westminster.

Don aims to ensure that no work experience student is discriminated against, either directly or indirectly, on the grounds of sex, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or racial origins, marital status, age, sexual orientation or religion.

If a student has a disability, we do our best to make special arrangements to accommodate this. The constituency office itself is situated on the first floor of a listed building with front steps. While working space can be arranged on the ground floor, we may not be able to accommodate those with more severe mobility difficulties.

Work experience is generally available during July and August. There is a significant amount of competition for placements, and we are limited with the dates we are able to offer, so we do encourage applications well in advance.

Students are required to pay for their own expenses, and work experience placements generally last for no more than one week.

Applicants are required to come to the office to sit an hour’s worth of written tests, and to have an informal half-hour interview.

We do hope that many of you will be able to benefit from this placement opportunity in the coming years.

How to apply

• Download an Application Form (Word Format File 20.5kb). To download the file, right-click on the link and select 'save as'.
• Email your completed Application Form to bodled@parliament.uk - or post it to Don Foster MP, 31 James Street West, Bath, BA1 2BT.

After we have received your application we will send you an acknowledgement letter. Due to the volume of applications we receive, this may take a few weeks.

Thank you for considering us for your work experience.