CHAPTER 4: Information Services
Visual aids
16. In our last Annual Report, we described
how the Committee had examined a proposal that Members be allowed
to use visual aids to support their speeches during Grand Committee
proceedings in the Moses Room. The Committee's view was that visual
aids might be useful in supporting debate during the committee
stage of complex public bills by illustrating speeches on amendments.
They might also be suitable for use during other proceedings in
Grand Committee, such as questions for short debates and debates
on select committee reports. Committee reports often include tables
and charts; and it might prove helpful for these to be visually
accessible during the debate.
17. Allowing Members to use visual aids in Grand
Committee would have significant implications for the House's
procedures, and so we referred the proposal to the Procedure Committee.
In October 2008, that Committee concluded that, whilst the House
should not resist the opportunities presented by new technology,
the Grand Committee was not the right forum for introducing visual
aids. The Procedure Committee invited the Information Committee
to undertake further work on possible uses of visual aids, with
a particular emphasis on Select Committees and other evidence-taking
committees. Since committees already have the ability to take
evidence presented using visual aids, in January we decided not
to pursue the matter further for the time being.
18. We welcome the refurbishment of Committee
Rooms 1 and 2, following the departure of the Law Lords to the
Supreme Court. The horse-shoe tables in the rooms include built-in
screens and data points for internet access, so the facilities
are now available for Members and committees wishing to display
and view visual aids. In addition, both rooms are equipped with
the following, all of which will facilitate the use of visual
aids:
- webcasting facilities,
- broadcasting facilities,
- modern audio-visual equipment,
- video conferencing facilities, and
- wireless internet connectivity.
Developments to the online Hansard
19. We reported last Session that the Committee
had asked for a pilot to be developed to link the online text
of Hansard with the archived webcasts of the Chamber to enable
users to watch, listen to and read a past debate on the same screen
at the same time. In April 2009, we saw a pilot demonstrator linking
the online text of Hansard with the archived webcasts of the Chamber.
We were impressed with the demonstrator and decided that development
should continue with a view to offering a full service to the
public by summer 2010.
20. The parliamentary website has a trial version
of a new presentation of the online Hansard text. The main difference
is in the way in which the text is split up. The current online
Hansard is split into multiple pages on the basis of file size.
This results in html page breaks happening in the middle of a
debate or the middle of a speech, which can be inconvenient and
frustrating for the user. In the new presentation, each debate
has a separate page. This means that some pages are very long
and others are very short. Further features are planned to be
added to this new way of dividing the text, including indexes
by Member, direct links from a Member's name to a list of other
contributions that they have made, better links to relevant documents,
and others. When the new pages are fully functional, they will
replace the existing presentation rather than running alongside
and duplicating it. The new web appearance can be seen via the
following page: http://services.parliament.uk/hansard/Lords/index.html
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