Parliamentary Data And Video Network

Lord Marlesford
asked the Chairman of Committees:Why the Parliamentary Data and Video Network (PDVN) is subject to interruptions to the main electricity supply in the Palace of Westminster; and whether he will take steps to see that standby power supplies are made available to the PDVN. [HL734]

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham)
All data service centres and major distribution points are already protected by battery back-up and the Palace of Westminster already has a standby power supply. There is no specific generation equipment allocated to the PDVN.

Lord Marlesford
asked the Chairman of Committees:On what occasions during the last six months there have been interruptions to the e-mail service offered by the Parliamentary Data and Video Network (PDVN), indicating the date, duration and cause of interruption in each case. [HL735]

The Chairman of Committees
Since the replacement of the network infrastructure in August 1999, there have been six interruptions to the e-mail service to multiple users across all or part of the Parliamentary estate, totalling 6.1 hours. The Director of Communications will write to the noble Lord with full details.