Digital Economy Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-13
Topic: Technology
Anthony Young (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I declare an interest as an ex-BBC governor and a former BT employee—in the days when you could hear a call go through a telephone exchange. I have a sense of déjà vu all over again, as someone once said, about this Bill, as I endeavoured to get the previous one through the House. Despite a total of about 700 amendments, it fell into the wash-up—an ignominious fate for any Bill. I wish the Minister a better experience. Like the previous Bill, this one is complex and covers a wide range of issues. Given the time of night, I will cover only a few of them. I am somewhat disappointed that my noble friend Lord Mitchell is not with us after his barn-storming contribution. I want to deal with the issue of broadband. We should ensure that we do not fall into the trap that we sometimes do. I heard the first cry of what I could call the megabyte cuckoo. It is megabits not megabytes. There are eight bits to the byte. If only we could deliver 10 megabytes rather than bits, that would be a vast improvement. Some say that this is not ambitious enough and in some ways I share that view, but if we could deliver a true 10 megabits, it would be a good start if we could guarantee minimum speed, quality and price, which a lot of people understandably complain about I did not agree with my noble friend Lord Mitchell on his silver-bullet solution, which suggested BT and Openreach as the cause of all the problems. We do not need a monopolies commission to deal with this, because Ofcom has the powers if, as it has already indicated, it feels that there should be a greater degree of separation between BT and Openreach. In fact, a lot of fibre has been delivered to this country. Does it go far enough? No, probably it does not, and it is still a work in progress. But I was fascinated to hear the criticism that BT should not have invested in BT Sport. So it is quite okay for Sky to have a monopoly. That seems to be a strange analysis. Of course, getting it right on broadband is key to our economy There is broad agreement on the role of Ofcom, which is important, for a full external regulation of the BBC. The charter is done and, personally, I do not see the point in endlessly replaying the issue of the over-75s. I did not like it any more than anyone else did, but I would welcome the Minister’s perspective on the five-year review. I also welcome the modernisation of the licence fee, which now includes programme downloading and watching on demand, and phasing out the ring-fenced £150 million to support broadband rollout. Increasing the licence fee in line with CPI over the next fee period to 2021-22 is also good news. So surely was the £200 million-plus to expand the work of the BBC World Service in recognition of its importance. It still makes for a challenging environment for the BBC, but I think that the corporation is equipped to meet it. I would like the Minister to reassure us that, as many other speakers have said, future licence fee settlements will be more transparent, with adequate time for consultation I am not sure about statutory underpinning, but I welcome the debate. It is an important issue and no doubt the noble Lord, Lord Lester, will deal with it with his usual flair and careful analysis. However, I do not accept that it is absolutely the answer; the noble Lord, Lord Grade, was right to sound a note of caution The importance of public service broadcasting being given prominence on electronic programme guides and listed events has been well and truly covered, and I do not intend to go over those again Clause 29 of the Bill will repeal Section 72 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to safeguard the intellectual property rights of public service broadcasters and their huge investment in content, but why do we need to wait two years, as other noble Lords have asked? Can the Minister agree to a short consultative process to ensure faster implementation, recognising that the creative industries contribute something like £84.1 billion to the UK economy Last but by no means least, I turn to the question of digital skills. I welcome the Government’s recognition that these skills are just as key as literacy and numeracy, and perhaps we can look forward to some modification of the EBacc if that is the case. However, I will not hold my breath on that one, although the Government are right to acknowledge the importance of these skills. Whether we totally accept the dire predictions of the noble Lord, Lord Baker, and my noble friend Lord Puttnam, who is not in his place—I see that in fact he is, and waving not drowning—both noble Lords are right to warn the Government that the workforce has to be prepared for the next phase of the digital revolution I look forward to what is going to be an interesting debate in Committee, and I wish the Minister good luck in reply to this very wide-ranging debate.