Digital Economy Bill

On that point about benefit, is the purpose of part 5 to claim rights of ownership over all data?...

I think my right hon. Friend has just made a bid to serve on the Bill Committee. He has clearly t...

My right hon. Friend raises, quite rightly, the impressive programme for the roll-out of superfas...

I thank my right hon. Friend for her intervention. When she was Secretary of State, she was invol...

May I congratulate the Secretary of State on her new post and welcome her to it? I pay tribute to...

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I have a similar constituency, so I know well what i...

I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to shaping the digital world to ensure that no one ...

The hon. Lady makes a very good point. I am aware of that point; it has been raised with me, and ...

On sharing information, does the Secretary of State agree that technologies such as blockchain wi...

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. We are already looking at this and trialling it. The...

rose—

I can never resist the hon. Gentleman.

The Secretary of State forced me—she virtually begged me—to stand up. I hear all the self-congrat...

I am sure my right hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey) will be delighted to be admired...

The Secretary of State is asking me questions now. It is normally the other around. If she is goi...

The hon. Gentleman should listen to the rest of my speech and then support the measures the Gover...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, notwithstanding the comments of the hon. Member for Rhondda...

My hon. Friend hits the nail on the head, as he always does. He is absolutely right. I want to ma...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I want to make some progress, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me.

To engage citizens dig...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will take two quick interventions.

Given that the extent of fibre to premises is so low in this country at only 1%—we are in danger ...

Order. The intervention was too long. A lot of Members wish to speak in the debate. It is very se...

I will take the other one and then address both interventions.

This is related to the right hon. Gentleman’s point. What comfort can the Secretary of State offe...

I suggest that the hon. Gentleman contact me, and I will make sure that those points are raised. ...

I would be very grateful if my right hon. Friend outlined how the reforms—for example, to prevent...

If my right hon. Friend will allow me, I will come on to that later in my speech.

As well a...

I of course support the Government’s intention to protect children from inappropriate content, bu...

The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point about having age-appropriate and good-quality s...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I am about to conclude and I know many Members wish to speak, so I hope the hon. Gentleman will f...

I think we can all agree with the Secretary of State that we are living in a digital economy. Ind...

And all sizes!

Yes, all sizes, as well.

We know that the International Trade Secretary believes that our b...

I agree that denying children access to online pornography is essential, as is ensuring the priva...

The right hon. Gentleman raises two very important points. There is no clear idea of how the Bill...

My hon. Friend touches on an important point. She will know that one proposed change relates to t...

Absolutely. That is one of the areas on which we will seek much greater clarification.

Whil...

On the crucial issue of “The Great British Bake Off”, of which I am an enormous fan, I hope the h...

I thank, or at least I think I thank, the Minister for that intervention, but it is clearly not g...

A number of fuel poverty initiatives have requested data sharing so that help and assistance can ...

Data sharing, as with much of the new and fantastic technologies of the digital economy, can brin...

Before the hon. Lady proceeds, she might want to acknowledge the two-year open policy-making proc...

I hope the Minister will not continue to use my speech to make inaccurate points. I am very well ...

On that very point about data sharing, does the shadow spokesperson not agree that technology suc...

It is certainly the case that distributed ledger technology can have great applications in promot...

It is a pleasure to welcome the Digital Economy Bill, not least because it still has my name on t...

Steady!

It is a beautiful Bill!

We were very close in our ministerial team!

The Bill is something of a Christmas tree and c...

The right hon. Gentleman will know that I raised the issue of BT with him on a number of occasion...

I do agree. I shall say a few more words about it in a few moments, but I generally agree with th...

The right hon. Gentleman says that it will make it easier for providers to repair, but it will no...

I believe that access to wholesale infrastructure providers’ masts is regulated by Ofcom in any c...

I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman is much missed by Members on both sides of the House as w...

I think it would be unrealistic to expect Google to establish whether every single site was legal...

I welcome the opportunity to speak about such an important Bill, which contains several measures ...

Does my hon. Friend agree that, despite the Secretary of State’s claims in her opening speech tha...

It is realistic to assume that more like 25% of my own constituency will not be covered. The conc...

It’s almost as good as yours.

Yes, Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is very good, too. But self-praise is no praise.

My...

Hear, hear.

rose—

I think the hon. Gentleman liked that.

Yes, I think he did.

Self-praise is no praise.

You get no praise at all then—pot/kettle, by the way. My eyes are still running at the thought th...

I am glad that my hon. Friend has reached this part of his speech. Like me, he welcomes the move ...

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I look forward to tabling specific amendments in Comm...

Order. I suggest that Members speak for up to 10 minutes, including interventions. We should then...

I am grateful for this opportunity to make a contribution to the debate on the Second Reading of ...

The right hon. Gentleman raises some interesting points. Unlike sewerage and water, broadband can...

Of course I agree with that; I am trying to argue that universal should mean universal. Ten megab...

As seems common these days with proposed business-related pieces of legislation, the Bill has sev...

There is much to welcome in the Bill. The hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) mentioned the EU...

It is a great delight to follow the former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Basingst...

Mr Vaizey, I was thinking of calling you next. If you want to go down the list, carry on and I wi...

It is always good—is it not, Mr Deputy Speaker?—to see the right hon. Gentleman doing abject.

I am very grateful, Mr Deputy Speaker, that you only showed me a yellow card, not a red card. I w...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman, an excellent former Minister, for giving way and it is good to ...

Benefits will accrue to mobile phone users through improved coverage. The hon. Member for Rhondda...

I shall speak on part 3 of the Bill, but I should like to put on record my support for the recomm...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the key element that is missing is that companies should be respon...

Indeed. My hon. Friend makes a valid point. I do not believe that the Bill goes far enough, but i...

As has been acknowledged by Members on both sides of the House, the creative economy in the UK is...

I rise to speak about part 4 of the Bill and in support of musicians, singers, composers and othe...

indicated assent.

I am getting nods from the Secretary of State, so I am glad that I have got that right.

The...

My hon. Friend is making a very clear argument about fairness that will have support across the H...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point and I completely agree. As I said, the arguments I am mak...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire).

This Bill...

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. My constituency is not like his in many ways, but rural i...

I completely agree. We need to get the same access that all urban areas have, because otherwise w...

I am sad that the Secretary of State has just left the Chamber. I have spent the last year causin...

It is an honour and a pleasure to speak in this debate. Broadband connectivity is possibly the mo...

May I say, because this issue has come up several times, that the Bill proposes to put the speed ...

I thank the Minister for his intervention, which will very much reassure those for whom that matt...

I recall that I once had a visit from a former Member of this House who said that he loved visiti...

I rise with great satisfaction to welcome both new Ministers to their places and to welcome the B...

It would be really good if, in much the same way, depictions of beheadings and other monstrous ac...

My hon. Friend makes an important point. During that long process of conversation, legislation an...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful point and I fully agree with it, but does she agree that the ...

My hon. Friend is right, although the intention of many of these commercial sites is indeed final...

I have expressed serious concerns about compulsive-addictive gambling, which is exacerbated by on...

That is a separate debate for a separate Department, I believe, but I do take that point, and of ...

Order. Colleagues have behaved very honourably this afternoon in sticking to the informal 10-minu...

I am pleased that this Bill is focusing on the digital economy. However, I feel that some areas n...

As we have heard today, the Bill casts its net wide and sets out to address an enormous range of ...

I wish to speak specifically about part 3 of the Bill, which deals with age verification for onli...

The average smartphone user in the UK uses their device for more than two hours daily. So, when w...

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is a great source of frustration that mobile phone companies, w...

My hon. Friend makes a valid point and I share that frustration, which my constituents have also ...

I wish to raise two points. First, I echo the plea that hon. Members have made from both sides of...

It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate. I shall focus on the universal service obligation ...

While there is much to welcome in the Bill, and I am glad to read many of the details, I would li...

I welcome this Bill and much of the important detail it provides on broadband and mobile connecti...

I am pleased to speak briefly to the Bill. I am glad that it has come before the House and that w...

I welcome the Bill and the Government’s commitment to the universal service obligation and a qual...

It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), who made some impo...

My right hon. Friend the Minister for Digital and Culture visited my constituency last year. We m...

I very much welcome this opportunity to take part in the debate. Like many of my parliamentary co...

I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady on vouchers. My worry is that a USO through BT will have a ...

I hope that Connecting Cheshire will allow communities to band together and use vouchers in areas...

I am sure that the hon. Lady will agree that it is a real source of concern that the only way of ...

The Secretary of State’s previous role was at the Home Office, which has an interest in online cr...

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Antoinette Sandbach) and an e...

It is a great pleasure to follow the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mark Menzies)...

It is an honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse) who,...

It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Nigel Huddlest...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does he agree that this is also about the inability...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He raises an important point. My hon. Friend the Me...

Madam Deputy Speaker, you are the fourth occupant of the Chair since I sat in the Chamber four ho...

It is a pleasure to wind up on behalf of the Opposition. I congratulate all hon. Members who have...

They say that success has many fathers, and I hope that is true of the Bill because this debate h...

I read press reports about the Government Digital Service being broken up and distributed around ...

I reassure my right hon. Friend that the Government Digital Service goes from strength to strengt...

It is a credit to the Government that we are one of the Digital 5, but is it not also true that w...

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s supportive comment about how the Government have done on d...

Does the Minister accept that the impact of the measures will be limited given that, as a number ...

No, I do not. We have tried to devise them in such a way that they have an impact on both oversea...

I appreciate the more-than-90% high-speed broadband availability that the Minister talks about, b...

The comfort I can give the hon. Gentleman is that if he votes for the Bill we will have a univers...

The Department and the UK Government have allocated specific funds to the Northern Ireland Assemb...

There is a fund to ensure that we get fast broadband out to as many people as possible. There is ...

I just want to be clear, because many of my constituents will be listening carefully, on what 10 ...

My hon. Friend raises an important point. I see 10 megabits as the absolute minimum, but the defi...

rose—

We can take up some of them now.

I shall try not to match the number of interruptions that the Minister made during my opening spe...

The data-sharing elements of the Bill are designed to improve public services, to make sure that ...

Several Members referred to when the draft charter for the BBC will be published. I hope that thi...

The hon. Gentleman tempts me on the BBC charter. I can tell him that it will be published shortly...

Talking of publishing documents, I wonder whether, given the brilliance of the Bill and the forth...

The Government as a whole are an enthusiast for industrial strategy, and digital must underpin th...

While we are on the subject of how hard I worked as a Minister, let me point out that I worked in...

I know that my right hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central are good fri...