Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

The hon. Member for Chesterfield (Paul Holmes), along with many other Members, raised this important issue on Second Reading and in Committee. All of them, including the hon. Gentleman, did so with distinction. Although the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr. Vaizey) sometimes confuses principle and workability, I have to tell him that when Members table amendments or make proposals that would improve legislation, the Government are always open to entertain and consider them. In this case, there is no question but that the proposals and comments of Members, especially the hon. Member for Chesterfield, the work done on the proposals by the hon. Members for Wantage, for Bath (Mr. Foster) and for Poole (Mr. Syms), as well as comments and representations from digital switchover consumer expert groups have contributed to our proposing the amendments. Permitting local authorities and health and social services boards in Northern Ireland to disclose this information to the scheme will help blind and partially sighted people, allowing the scheme operator more readily to identify those who are eligible. That will mean that the claims procedure can be streamlined, avoiding the need to fill in forms to establish eligibility, making the scheme easier for them to access and benefiting the scheme operator. We have worked closely throughout the switchover process with the digital television consumer expert group—comprising leading charities representing vulnerable people, including the Royal National Institute of the Blind and Sense—on how best to identify those who are registered blind or partially sighted. The over-75s will be identified from data held by the Department for Work and Pensions, but we estimate—as other hon. Members have done—that about 20 per cent. or 50,000 people can be identified only from data held by local authorities or health boards. I explained in Committee that we were very sympathetic to the views of hon. Members and that we were actively engaging in consultation to ensure that data on registered blind or partially sighted people could be obtained by relevant bodies. Those consultations have now been completed and I am very grateful for the advice that officials received from all at RNIB, particularly Leen Petré, and also from Sense, particularly Katie Hanson, about how to tackle the problem. I know that both organisations are very supportive of the amendments that we are proposing today. I am now able to introduce this group of amendments, which, taken together, will permit the relevant authorities to disclose information from their register on registered blind or registered partially sighted people. The provisions cover the UK and we have, of course, consulted the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Departments affected by the new provisions to ensure that they are effective across the entire UK. I deal now with the specific amendments. Government amendment No. 4 extends clause 1 to enable a local authority or a health and social services board in Northern Ireland to disclose ““visual impairment information”” to a ““relevant person””—in practice, the help scheme operator, for switchover help functions. Government amendment No. 7 covers similar ground to Government amendment No. 4 and Government amendment No. 5, linked in turn to amendment No. 4, defines ““visual impairment information”” as information of a prescribed kind, drawn from registers of blind and partially sighted people. We have yet to finalise details of what will be prescribed covers, but it will probably be limited to name, alias, date of birth and address, possibly the national insurance number, if known, and preferred method of communication—for example, large print, tape or Braille. The order will be made by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Amendment No. 6 defines a local authority for England, Wales and Scotland. The definition restricts the application of the amendment to the definition to local authorities with social services functions as registers are not maintained by other councils. The provisions are permissive and will not oblige the relevant authorities to disclose information. That is in line with the provisions relating to social security and war pensions information. The powers are triggered by a request from the scheme operator, which we envisage will be timed at the start of the qualifying period in a region. There is no obligation to provide information, but we hope that local authorities will want to co-operate. The powers mean that the provisions that would make disclosure unlawful are not a consideration. I deal now with the question of costs, which was raised in Committee. Having discussed the issue with the RNIB and Sense, we are satisfied that, although the hon. Member for Poole and other members of the Committee were concerned that the costs might be large, they are, in fact, minimal. We may be looking at an expense of perhaps a few hundred pounds at most per authority. At this stage, therefore, the process of reimbursement might—ironically—be more expensive if done administratively than otherwise. However, as I have already said, it is our intention to help and enable during the Bill’s passage. If we were to discover that the advice and information that we have taken so far from the RNIB, Sense and some local authorities turned out to be contrary to what I have just said, we would of course look at it further with Digital UK. We will still need to discuss the practical details with the Local Government Association and we will keep an open mind on reimbursement of costs. I hope that hon. Members across the House will understand that these issues are best dealt with in discussions and, if necessary, through a memorandum of understanding between the scheme and the LGA.