At the cutting edge?

I'm going to be part of an experiment!

Next week we start the standing committee discussion on the Climate Change Bill. This is the bit where about 20 MPs spend a few weeks doing detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the legislation, tabling detailed amendments etc., all in an upstairs committee room out of the glare of publicity.

What is going to be different is that on a 'pilot' basis we are going to be allowed to have laptops in front of us! There will be temporary power supplies put in, and instead of having sheafs of notes we can simply refer to our screens. The Hansard reporters will be part of the process, so instead of passing them copies of our speaking notes after we have spoken (which is the usual practice) we will be able to e-mail them across the room!

There was some discussion of internet access, and we'll all be checking out whether we can access the nearest Starbucks WiFi hotspot, or perhaps use our phones as bluetooth modems.

Although the traditionalists will be turning in their graves - and we've already been warned not to use our laptops for 'other purposes' during the committee - there is a chance that this could improve the scrutiny. Just imagine that the Minister makes a statement and you can quickly surf the net and find a statistic that disproves his argument - mind you, if it works, the Government will probably find a reason to ban it...