Question

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans he has to make the information displayed on the House of Commons Annunciator available to hon. Members and their staff via a smartphone app.

The annunciator system was replaced with a new system on 14 December 2018. The replacement provides an improved platform from which to implement further service enhancements. In parallel in 2018 we prototyped some tools to explore how we might provide the annunciator plus additional extended information in a mobile app. A key learning was that to provide Members with a smartphone app with the timeliness and accuracy of the annunciator service required further feasibility work. Funding for this feasibility work is available in the new financial year and also for some user research with Members to confirm what other new features related to the Annunciator would be of most benefit. No explicit timing for this work has yet been defined but it is hoped to have completed the feasibility review by the autumn.