HC Deb 05 February 2002 vol 379 c850W
Ian Lucas

To ask the Chairman of the Information Select Committee if he plans to facilitate the broadcast of proceedings of the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament on the parliamentary television service. [32129]

Michael Fabricant

The proceedings of the Welsh Assembly are already available on channel 22 of the television annunciators.

The previous Information Committee took the view that consideration should be given to broadcasting the proceeding of the Scottish Parliament on the annunciators once there was an economic method of conveying the signal to Westminster. At present, unlike the proceedings of the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament is not broadcast by satellite and there are no plans to do so. House officials have been in regular discussion with their counterparts in the Scottish Parliament on this matter and will continue to keep it under review. In the meantime, there is a webcam service which can be seen at www.scottishparliamentlive.com.