Office of Communications Bill [Lords]
6:30 pm
Mr Michael Fabricant (Lichfield, Conservative)
Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. I do not know how I missed that.
Given that ruling, the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam has a point. The award or withdrawal of licences would have to be published, or there would be difficulty in withdrawing or awarding them, but Ofcom will make other decisions relating to its internal workings. Under normal circumstances they may not be published and they certainly would not affect outside organisations directly, in the short term, if they were not published. It is not so foolish of my hon. Friend the Member for Vale of York, as the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam suggests, to table amendment No. 15. Without it, internal decision-making processes in Ofcom that might have long-term ramifications for the future of technology in this country would not be published, and people would not be able to see through the exterior of the Ofcom organisation.
I believe that the points are clear. We want democracy, transparency and openness; or glasnost, as Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev would have said. The question before the Committee today is whether the Minister wants glasnost.