Office of Communications Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Mr Nick Harvey (North Devon, Liberal Democrat)
I rise to support the amendments. My colleague the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Allan) and I tabled an amendment suggesting that something similar should happen every six months during the interim period. We have some anxieties about setting up the shadow Ofcom without Parliament retaining the ability to comment on its initial decisions.
Much of the politics and many of the key decisions are, rightly, being put off until the communications Bill provides the opportunity for Parliament to debate them in detail. My concern is that some of the decisions that will fashion Ofcom—what it is, what it will become, and how it will operate for some years—will probably be taken during the interim period by the shadow body itself. For that reason, I favour Parliament retaining the ability to comment on and have some say in those decisions in the early days. To bring Ofcom's first appointees before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee would be advantageous. Those people would find that a useful baptism—in
fact, knowing the character of that Committee, it might be something of a blooding.
The hon. Member for Vale of York questioned the Minister about the size of the new Ofcom, and the Minister replied that the total number of staff in the existing regulators was 1,111. I would be absolutely horrified if Ofcom's long-term staffing levels were to approach that number. In that sense, I found the potential scope of the project quite worrying. I would also be horrified were Ofcom to divide into operating departments along the lines of the existing bodies, as that would defeat the entire purpose of setting it up. It is essential that the new body's employees do not continue to think in their old boxes.