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Administration Select Committee

Answer

Sir Colin Shepherd: To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if the Committee has considered how the appendices to the Scott report will be made available to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.[28978] Mr. Michael J. Martin: At its meeting on 23 April, the Administration Committee, following a request from the Speaker, considered whether the laying of the appendices to the Scott report in CD-Rom form would be acceptable to the House, with or without paper copy, and what other provisions should be attached to such laying. Following similar consideration by the Information Committee at its meeting on 29 April, Madam Speaker has endorsed the following recommendations: (a) that two CD-Rom copies and two paper copies should be deposited in the Votes and Proceedings Office by the Department of Trade and Industry in the normal way after the House has agreed to the proposed Address for an Unopposed Return; and that a further two paper copies should be available in the Library as loan copies; (b) that the CD-Rom should be made available to the Deliverer of the Vote in numbers which he deems necessary to satisfy the requirements of hon. Members until the end of the Parliament; (c) that the CD-Rom should be compatible with, and available on, the parliamentary data and video network; (d) that a machine capable of accessing the CD-Rom should be available in the Library for the use of hon. Members. The Administration Committee considers that acceptance by the House of the appendices in CD-Rom should not be seen as creating a precedent, but rather as an acknowledgement of a possibly unique situation. Until every hon. Member has access to the parliamentary data and video network or has their own CD-Rom reader, the Committee does not consider it acceptable for CD-Roms to be the usual way of presenting papers to the House. However, if a similar proposal were to arise in the future, the Committee would be prepared to consider it on its merits.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

28978; 277 c473-4W

Session

1995-96

Subjects

Arms to Iraq Inquiry House of Commons papers CD-ROM