Georgetown: The National Assembly has taken several steps to improve Information and Communication Technology (ICT) delivery within its operations as the Assembly will be launching its newly revamped website, its Paperless Parliament Pilot Project and the live streaming of all National Assembly sittings on May 15, at 13:00h in the Parliament Chambers.
The much anticipated website is being designed by Consultant Cirrus Multi-media and will include a media centre, a searchable database of committee reports, records, hearings, votes and other parliamentary documents pertaining to the current Parliament; searchable database of legislative acts, bills, documents laid, resolutions, motions, notice papers, questions and answers, minutes of the National Assembly, subsidiary legislation, petitions and other parliamentary documents.
There will also be a special section on budget and financial legislation; an overview of the composition and functions of the National Assembly, including a description of the specific role of the parliamentary chamber and non-plenary bodies (committees, commissions, etc); a “Guided tour”(virtual tour) of the parliamentary building; practical information on access to the parliamentary building, and parliamentary library; pictures and contact information for all Members of Parliament; summary or complete records of parliamentary debates; audio and video Web telecasting of parliamentary sittings.
The website being launched is a beta version meaning that it is a work in process with ongoing work and changes being made.
The multimillion-dollar initiative to stream all sittings of the National Assembly is the fruit of a partnership between the Parliament Office and the Canadian Government through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives.
This fund supports and implements projects, the world over, in partnership with local, national and international organisations, educational institutions and local governments. In February, the Office had signed a Memorandum of Understanding which saw the Canadian Government providing for the funding of this project.
The Parliament Office will run a pilot project for four months in which the Speaker and a select group of Parliamentarians and members of staff will commit to share all information electronically.
While this is done, the office will commit to conducting a study of the amount of paper and financial and other resources that will be saved, while acquainting MPs and staff of the benefits of the electronic sharing of information, by a process of extrapolation, the true benefits to the National Assembly will be realised.
During this pilot project, all members involved will report regularly to a designated officer who will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the project and preparing regular reports for sharing with the Parliamentary Management Committee and the United Nations Development Project (UNDP).
To facilitate this project, the Parliament Office had in December received 15 Samsung Galaxy Tablets, five Dell Optiplex desktop computers and one Dell laptop computer by the UNDP.
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