Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

As noble Lords will know, I am always eager to treat all aspects of, and consideration on, Bills in which I am involved as the top priority, and I am working with expedition to ensure that we deal with this Bill as expeditiously as possible. That means that I cannot meet the noble Lord’s request. However, it will be recognised that the Government have a clear objective with regard tothe passage of this Bill because we are aware of the significance of Royal Assent in relation to setting up the scheme. By the same token, we cannot reach that end date and not meet the obvious expectation in all parts of this House and another place that the nature of the scheme will be published and clear. There are dual objectives to be arrived at as rapidly as possible. Far from the Government showing lethargy in this respect, quite the opposite is true. We have our foot down as hard on the accelerator pedal as is legitimate in terms of speed, but we have some constraints. As I have said, there are other significant actors in this situation and there are reasons for some slight delay, so we are a little further from the end than we would have wished. In general, I hope that the Committee will recognise that, in pressing this issue today, the noble Lord is pressing at an open door with regard to what we want to achieve. I hope that he will think the amendment is unnecessary.