Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

I thank the Minister for his kind words. Obviously, we entirely support amendments Nos. 4, 5 and 6, which achieve in a much more detailed and comprehensive way what we propose in amendment No. 7, which stands in the names of my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Foster), the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr. Vaizey) and myself. As the Minister says, we raised and discussed the issue in some detail in Committee, and bodies outside the House, such as the Royal National Institute of the Blind, Sense and the Disability Rights Commission, were very keen to ensure that such a provision was written into the Bill, rather than relying on an understanding of good will in the negotiations that had taken place privately with the Government. As has been said, in this case, local authorities are more likely to have more comprehensive data on those who are registered blind or partially sighted but who are not over 75 and not on benefits and so registered with the Government or the Department for Work and Pensions. Such individuals are more likely to be signed up with the local authority, although not all of them will be, because local authorities administer and run different schemes, such as those for free bus passes, that attract people who are partially sighted or registered blind to sign up. As was discussed in some detail in Committee, a significant body of people would benefit from the switchover provision but would not be identified if we relied entirely on data held centrally by Departments. In response to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Bath, the Minister revealed, for example, that the Government estimate that perhaps 60,000 people would fall into that category. So it is welcome that Government amendments Nos. 4, 5 and 6 should be written into the Bill to deal with that target group. The only slight caveat that I would add is that, if the Government had carried out a full quality impact assessment, as they are required to do under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, they might have picked up the flaw that may otherwise have been missed. That target group might have been identified perhaps earlier in the process and the Government could have written the provision into the Bill from day one. None the less, we have been able to get these amendments written into the Bill in a fairly short space of time, since the debate on Second Reading took place only a few weeks ago in December. That is welcome, and I offer wholehearted support for these Government amendments, which meet the requirements that we raised in Committee.