Internet Access (Portcullis House)
House of Commons Commission
Written answers and statements, 16 October 2006
John Whittingdale (Maldon & East Chelmsford, Conservative)
To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if the Commission will take steps to make wireless access to the internet available in Portcullis House and the Palace of Westminster.
Nick Harvey (Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Defence; North Devon, Liberal Democrat)
An interim wireless solution has recently been installed in the atrium area of Portcullis House. This new service, which is currently being tested, will be publicised more widely in the next few weeks. The service will allow Members using centrally provided Dell laptops (running Windows XP) full access to the parliamentary network in the atrium area. We are planning a fuller solution to this requirement, which will extend wireless coverage to other suitable areas of the parliamentary estate and also provide "guest" access for users with non-centrally provided (Wintel) laptops.