Communications: Digital Britain

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement and for the advance notice of both the Statement and his report. However, I am sorry to say that it was something of an anti-climax. The report will be greatly disappointing for anyone looking for concrete action from the Government to equip Britain for the digital economy. We all recognise the huge value of the digital and communications sector to the United Kingdom. It is vital for our long-term prosperity that we develop a world-class, highly competitive and universally accessible digital sector. Indeed, given the Government’s deepening recession, I should have thought that it would become a priority to look at that sector, which has huge potential for growth in productivity. Britain has great natural strengths in creating digital content, but we do less well on the delivery of that content. We have fallen down the league table of digital adoption skills. Indeed, 40 per cent of households have no broadband at all, with connections even falling last year. Yet the interim report published today conveys no sense of urgency. There are no concrete pledges and only eight new reviews. Does the Minister not recognise that the digital, communication and creative sectors of our economy, and indeed far beyond, will have been waiting to hear what steps the Government will take to help usher in a fully digital age, and that the promise we have received of more reviews is hardly inspiring? Is there any chance that the full report, which is promised for the summer, might be more positive? The overall impression given by the interim report is that this Government are treading water. We have already had numerous reviews on these issues: from the Cox review of creativity in business, in March to December 2005, to the Caio review and report, The Next Phase of Broadband UK, in February to September 2008, and the ongoing Broadband Stakeholder Group, among others. I hope that the Minister can answer questions on matters which the interim report did not make clear. The report says that the Government will, "““work with … operators … to remove barriers to the development of a … wholesale market in access to ducts””." If BT, which owns the ducts, does not co-operate, will the Government force it to open them to other suppliers, as we Conservatives have pledged? On copyright protection, instead of a solution, the Government propose to set up a new quango with a new tax on internet users. Why do we need another agency when Ofcom is already equipped and able to do that job? And why should legitimate internet users have to pay for the copyright infringement of transgressors? On the universal service obligation for broadband, we welcome the long delayed commitment to ensuring that everyone has access, but who will pay for this? The aspiration is a fine one, but we really need to know what the Government’s strategy is. The Government say that the commitment should be for 2-megabit access. Given that the national average access speed is 3.6 megabits, is not the scale of the Government’s ambitions pitifully low, saying simply that they want to ensure that the whole population has access to half the current average speed by 2012? It is one thing to promise universal access to broadband, but if it is too slow to be useful, especially in rural areas, the exercise is entirely pointless. On peer-to-peer file sharing, the Government talk about consulting on legislation, but can the Minister tell me how ISPs are supposed to identify illegally shared files, given what happened in France, where many users simply reacted by encrypting their files when the French Government introduced similar measures? These are just some of the questions that must be answered, so I am dismayed that all that we have been offered is the promise of more reviews. A Conservative Government will make it a major priority to ensure that over half the population has access to high-speed broadband within five years, providing a platform for thousands of new businesses and jobs. Does the Minister agree that this should be an objective that they will deliver? The country should not have to wait for a general election for this to start; the Government need to take action now.