Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

The noble Baroness is always sweet reasonableness. If I could take ““soon”” as the definition of when it would be available, I would be reasonably happy. I recognise the understandable concern expressed by all parts of the Committee about this issue. It is clear that we would like to be further advanced than we are. There have been some difficulties. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State made clear in another place on 18 January we expect the BBC to lead the delivery of the help scheme. However, the Government will have a continuing responsibility for setting the policy, including helping with procurement and determining eligibility for the scheme. That will be reflected in the scheme agreement that is currently being finalised with the BBC. I would have preferred to have been able to say that the scheme has been finalised. There has been delay, which reflects the fact that there have been substantial changes at the BBC. When the new board of governors was succeeded on 1 January by the trustees, eight of the 11 trustees were new and were not party to previous deliberations with the Government. It is not surprising that they wanted to consider the issue and reach a view on the detailed terms of the agreement. Now that the overall licence fee settlement has been determined, we are able to discuss detailed governance arrangements with the BBC Trust and the Executive Board. We will conclude those discussions very shortly and see the emergence of the scheme. It is right that we are pressed on this matter. I cannot give a specific date, but if the noble Baroness's request for ““soon”” is my interpretation of ““weeks not months””, then we are at one. If by ““soon”” she means ““next week””, we have cause for some disagreement. I want to assure the Committee that we recognise the proper anxiety about this. We are eager to see the scheme published. We have made considerable progress and we are working closely with the BBC team to develop the procurement strategy. On behalf of the DCMS and the BBC, we issued a notice in the official journal of the European Union seeking a potential scheme operator. A briefing session has been held and a long-list of potential bidders drawn up. The aim is for the main contractor to be let by the end of the year. The grass is not growing under the Government's feet. After all, Whitehaven is not too far away from us in terms of date, although a little further away in location, and we intend to meet that date. This scheme has to be in place before then.