My hon. Friend anticipates something that I was intending to say, but did not say. She is absolutely correct to point that out. The figures clearly show that this measure is not being implemented, even though the Minister claimed in Committee that it was being implemented.
New clause 16 is about public lending right. Hon. Members might be surprised to know that it does not extend to e-books where they are borrowed remotely, which by their very nature, of course, they are. It is ludicrous that 2.3 million remote loans were made in the last year, none of which were counted for public lending right. The method by which a book is borrowed should not determine whether authors and illustrators receive fair payment for their work. That predicament has been significantly worsened by the closure of public libraries that has occurred on the Government’s watch as a result of its failed—as we now know—austerity policies. The new clause would close the loophole, and
it is supported by the Society of Authors, the Association of Illustrators, and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society.
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In 2013, the Government seemed to be saying that they would do something about the problem. Following the independent review of e-lending in public libraries in England, they said that they intended to reflect technological changes. Had they done so, other inconsistencies involving e-books—such as the fact that they are subject to VAT, while physical books are not—could also have been resolved in the Bill, but they have not done so, and the problems therefore remain unresolved. Our new clause is very simple. The Government have already acknowledged the existence of the issue at hand, and it is in no one’s interest to leave it unresolved. The Government were disappointingly un-co-operative in Committee, but I hope that that will change today.
New clause 30 is intended to tackle a proliferation of devices that, either alone or in conjunction with other technology, give access to copyright-infringing material. The best-known example of such a device, although by no means the only one, is the internet protocol television box. According to a recent Government report, there was a 33% increase in the illegal downloading of television programmes between March and May 2015 compared with the same months two years earlier. When we discussed the issue in Committee, the Government claimed that that was covered by other laws such as the Fraud Act 2006 and the Serious Crime Act 2015 but, as the Minister knows, the broadcasting and creative industries do not think that that is enough. They argue that the legal routes are much more complex and can be pursued only by the police, whose resources—especially IT specialist resources—are already thinly spread. In other words, the laws are not purpose-built. Our new clause should command the Government’s support, particularly in the light of its enforcement strategy.
The intellectual property Minister has said that the Government will be
“looking at new areas where we might need to create new legal tools to tackle new modes of infringement.”
She continued:
“we will look at the legislation around set-top boxes, and whether we have enough effective remedies to tackle their misuse.”
Well, we do not. New thinking is needed, and it is presented in our new clause. If the Government will not legislate in this Bill, when will they legislate? If they are serious about meeting their obligations in their own enforcement strategy, they should support the new clause and ensure that profits reach creators, not criminals.
New clause 31 has not been tabled by the Opposition. We tabled it originally, under a different number, but then we withdrew it, so that the Culture, Media and Sport Committee could table the measure on a cross-party basis, and added our names to it. I know that other Members will want to say more about new clause, which is intended to deal with the buying of tickets by “bots”, and the extortionate prices for which those same tickets are sold on secondary sites, making live sport and music unaffordable, and preventing access to entertainment for the public. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) for the tireless and energetic campaign that she has waged on the issue.