Lord Bruce of Doningtonasked the Chairman of Committees:
Whether work to improve the acoustics of House of Lords committee rooms can be started without delay. [HL3510]
§ The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham)New sound systems have been, or will be, installed in several Lords' committee rooms as part of the 10-year rolling programme of works. Microphones were installed in the Moses Room in 1993, and other improvements, such as quietening the ventilation system and installing additional loudspeakers, were made last year. Voice-activated microphones will be installed in Committee Room 4 in the coming Summer Recess as part of a refurbishment process that will also include the installation of air-conditioning. Committee Rooms 1, 2 and 3 will be similarly upgraded in the 2001 Summer Recess. There are no plans to upgrade Committee Rooms 3A, 4B and G, although microphones can be set up in Rooms 3A and 4B at the request of a committee.