What I believe the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, is saying, and it is very important, is that there is an accidental anomaly in the Bill. As someone who, like the Minister, pored over every word of it, I take some responsibility for this, but it is extraordinary— I even referred to it as bizarre—that the bar that is set for an ongoing licensee is higher than the bar for a bidder. Surely common sense requires that someone bidding has to reach the same standards of honesty and probity that are required of an ongoing licensee. There is an anomaly, and I am trying to help the Government to get rid of it because it should not be there. Obviously there should be a bar, but it should apply to anyone applying for a licence just as it does to anyone who has an ongoing licence that is being looked at.
Digital Economy Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Puttnam
(Labour)
in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 8 February 2017.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Digital Economy Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
778 c1819 
Session
2016-17
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2017-02-13 16:05:50 +0000
URI
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