One of the debates which may have been overlooked in the States Chamber this week would have struck a chord for those listening in.
Since the pandemic in 2020, States Meetings have been streamed through Microsoft Teams, as well as BBC Radio Guernsey’s broadcasts.
The audio and accessibility qualities of the States’ Teams stream was put into question by Deputy Jayne Ozanne, who sought to shine a light on what could be done to improve the offering.
“The Committee is fully aware of the recent audio issues. I am pleased to reassure members that measures are being taken to improve the situation.” Said Deputy Sarah Hansmann Rouxel, the President of the States Assembly & Constitution Committee.
The SACC President shed light on why things like Deputies’ names and titles had disappeared from the Teams streams: “Broadcasting of the States is carried out via formal agreement with the BBC, Microsoft Teams was introduced as an emergency measure during the covid pandemic.
“However, it was decided to retain the Microsoft Teams broadcast as there were a number of listeners, including media outlets, who find the service useful. The practice of displaying the people’s name on screen stopped just over a year ago because of resource constraints.”
“It is not merely typing in a name, I assure you, it is managing the Teams system, which cannot take place from inside the chamber, and therefore an entire resource, ie, a person, needs to monitor that process as it is happening.”
In a supplementary question, Deputy Ozanne asked if there was anything that the island’s elected representatives could do, with some being “vertically” away from the microphone, which drew a round of laughter from her colleagues.
The President of Policy & Resources, Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez next probed the process of streaming online, and queried what had led to the resource constraints stifling the teams stream.
“I wonder whether, obviously, what has changed.” Deputy de Sausmarez said, adding: “I haven’t gone back to look at the timing, but one of the things that has changed, probably around the same time, was the change to the rules, which meant we now have timed speeches.”
She hit the nail on the head, with Deputy Hansmann Rouxel confirming the timed speeches had an impact, although it wasn’t the only factor.
“To reassure members, this is something that does form part of the resource issue, having a member time monitor and time speeches. However, that is not the only resource constraint, but it has been a factor in making the decision to stop managing teams with an extra member.”
Shortly after, Deputy Adrian Gabriel, The Chairman of the local Commonwealth Parliamentary Association branch, confirmed that there was a fund that could be of interest.
“It will be remiss of me not to mention and to remind members and members of SACC certainly, that the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities, the CPWD has a ‘Capital Investment Fund’, which is available to all branches for a small fund, primarily for raising accessibility CPA member parliaments to persons with disabilities.”
He continued to add that the “priority of that fund is to improve physical accessibility, or the procurement of assistive technology. So if we wanted to improve our technology. There is a global fund available, which we could apply for when it’s successful, to implement a better service than we have now.”
That potential grant application resonated with the President of SACC, who confirmed the committee would be looking into the possibility of a technological upgrade: “I was not aware of the fund specific details, but we’ll be in touch to see what we can do.”