asked the Chairman of Committees:
Further to his Written Answer on 16 October (WA 175), when the solution to the technical error affecting House of Lords Official Report entries on the internet will be rolled out. [HL878]
Further to my Answer to QWA HL7624, I am pleased to report that progress has been made in solving problems with searching Hansard on the internet by name. Investigations revealed that the problem was not caused by any defect in the search engine. The actual source of the difficulty was an incompatibility between the mark-up of the electronic feed of Hansard, as output by the new system introduced this year for generating Hansard for both Houses in-house, and the mark-up of the feed previously used by the search engine. Those involved have been co-operating energetically to ensure that full functionality is restored. I am pleased to say that all new data and all data relating to the current session are now fully compatible with the search engine. A small amount of data relating to Lords Hansard from July 2006 to the end of the last Session in November, and to Commons Hansard from May 2006 to the end of the last Session, will be upgraded when the Bound Volumes of Hansard appear online, beginning during the Christmas Recess.
In addition, from Monday 18 December Hansard from this Session will also include a new “Hansard by Member” feature which can be accessed via a link on the Hansard home page: http://www.publications. parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm.