Digital Britain

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I will now repeat a Statement made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The Statement is as follows: "Britain’s digital industries are among the most successful in the world. The global technological revolution means that, if we make the right decisions now, they can continue to grow and Britain will continue to prosper from them. Today, the Digital Britain report, part of the Government’s industrial activism approach, spells out how we can make the most of the opportunities today and in the years to come. The report covers four broad themes. First, we will only make the most of the digital revolution with the right infrastructure. Just as the bridges, roads and railways were the foundations of Britain’s 19th-century industrial strength, our digital communications infrastructure will help power our future success. Businesses, other organisations and individuals increasingly want access to high-capability, high-speed networks that are both fixed and mobile. This is key to Britain’s competitiveness. As a first step therefore, we are reaffirming our commitment to ensure universal access to today’s broadband services, delivered through a public fund, including money that has not been used for the digital television switchover process. However, we also need to ensure that Britain has the best next-generation fixed broadband for the entire country. Many other countries around the world are already investing heavily in this. Here, in the United Kingdom, we have already seen an energetic market-led rollout of next-generation fixed broadband networks. The economics of building what are essentially new networks, as opposed to increasing the capability of existing networks, means that, left to the market, true super-fast connectivity will only reach two-thirds of homes and businesses over the next decade. The other third would be excluded. In the United Kingdom, largely as a result of competition and regulatory intervention, telecommunications prices for the consumer have fallen significantly in recent years and are expected to fall further as technology advances. We have concluded, therefore, that the fairest and most efficient way of ensuring that people and businesses are not left out is to use some of that saving in the form of a small levy on all copper fixed lines, to establish an independent national fund which will be used to ensure maximum next-generation broadband coverage. To complement improvements to fixed connectivity, we also need to modernise our wireless networks. This report sets out in some detail plans for the structured release of sufficient high-quality mobile wireless spectrum, Europe-wide, for the creation of the next generation of mobile networks. Those two measures together will ensure that the United Kingdom is among the earliest countries to deploy those networks and that UK consumers continue to enjoy the benefits of vigorous competition. Today’s report also sets out our intention to upgrade all our national radio stations from analogue to digital by 2015, with digital audio broadcasting—DAB—firmly placed as the primary platform. But having the right infrastructure alone will not be enough unless everyone can use and benefit from the opportunities that new technologies offer, so participation is the second big theme in today’s report. Technological progress reduces costs, so affordability is partly being addressed by the market. However, we are complementing that market progress with government action. A £300 million Home Access scheme gives children in low-income families access to computers and the internet. As well as being able to afford the technology, people need capability and skills. We address those in a number of ways in the report. I am pleased to announce the appointment today of the entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox as the new digital inclusion champion. We are also publishing the report by my noble friend Lady Morris of Yardley on digital life skills. The third key theme of the report is about content—sustaining and strengthening our creative industries and securing plural provision of key public service UK content in the digital age. As noble Lords will know, the ease with which digitised content as opposed to physical content can be copied makes it increasingly hard to convert creativity and rights into financial reward and businesses. The Government believe that taking someone else’s property and passing it on to others without consent or payment is wrong. Developing legal download markets will best serve both consumers and the creative industries, but we will also legislate to curb unlawful peer-to-peer file-sharing. Ofcom will be given a new duty to reduce that practice significantly, including two specific obligations: the notification of unlawful activity and, for serial infringers, identity release to enable targeted legal action by rights-holders. We also propose technical measures by internet service providers, such as bandwidth reduction for serial infringers, if other measures prove insufficient. We will also implement a new, more robust system of content classification for the video games industry, building on the Pan-European Game Information system with a strong UK-based statutory layer of regulation, ensuring protection for children now and in the future. I now turn to the evolving role of the BBC, Channel 4 and the need to protect public service content, particularly in the nations and regions of our country. In the digital age, a strong, confident and independent BBC is as important as ever. The Government support multiannual licence-fee settlements for the BBC so that it can plan ahead and act independently of day-to-day political pressures. We also believe that it is in the BBC's own interests to evolve into more of a public service partner with other media organisations and to see itself as an enabler of digital Britain. We have therefore been encouraging discussions about a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Channel 4, which we believe would benefit both as well as securing the future of Channel 4. These talks are ongoing and we are ready to help in any way we can. Noble Lords from all parts of this House and Members of another place have repeatedly said they believe that strong local and regional news, including a plurality of provision, is essential for the health and vibrancy of our democracy. The regulator Ofcom’s recent public service review also highlighted the importance of news in the nations and regions. We welcomed its report and the BBC’s response supporting partnerships. Partnerships are very welcome, but may be insufficient to meet the scale of the challenge. We believe this will require a secure and sustainable funding stream in addition to those partnerships. The licence fee is the existing major intervention for UK content. There is nothing, as noble Lords will know, in either the BBC Charter, or legislation, to say the BBC must have exclusive rights to it. Independent of the level at which the licence fee is set after 2013, we will consult on the option of sharing a small element of it post-2013 to help ensure high quality, plural provision, particularly in the regions and nations. Subject to that consultation, we will use some of the current digital switchover under-spend to fund pilots of this model in Scotland, Wales and one English region between now and 2013. We have, however, made it clear to the BBC and others that we are open to alternative proposals should they wish to make them during the consultation. Alongside the Digital Britain report, we are publishing a range of related documents, including the outcome of the review by the Office of Fair Trading of the media merger regime and local and regional media. The fourth key theme in the Digital Britain report is the continued modernisation of government itself. The digital revolution has huge potential to improve the services Government and public bodies provide and to reduce costs. Leave out if short on"— I am sorry, my Lords, it says here "Leave out if short on time", which I believe I am. "The report sets out how public services will be delivered primarily online and electronically, making them quicker and more responsive to the public while saving money for the taxpayer. This report"— even without the paragraph I have just missed— "will help accelerate Britain’s recovery from the biggest economic shock the world has seen since the Second World War. It is a central part of our industrial strategy. It will be key to our economic growth, social cohesion and well-being as a nation and I commend it to the House". My Lords, that concludes the Statement.