Office of Communications Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Dr Kim Howells (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Pontypridd, Labour)
Well, that is what is he is saying. I am not saying that the taxpayer should pay for it. I am saying that the sector should pay for it.
I am pleased that Opposition Members want to ensure that Ofcom has adequate funds to fulfil its functions. The hon. Gentleman is right to argue that Ofcom and its constituent parts should have the self-confidence to retain its staff and the resources to ensure continuity. As I have told the Committee several times, I am absolutely determined that the creature we are creating will not immediately assume any of the regulatory powers that are currently undertaken by the existing regulators. The staff who work in their offices should not feel that their jobs are
threatened by the advent of Ofcom. It will assume a regulatory role only after Royal Assent to the main and substantive communications Bill.
Grants are not the way to achieve our objective. It will be for Ofcom to consider during the preparatory stage what it needs to cover the cost of preparation and to negotiate a loan from the Secretary of State to cover that. Once it enters the regulatory stage, it will need to set statutory fees at a level that covers the cost of the resources that it needs to regulate. Ofcom will be obliged to consider carefully both the costs needed and the level of fees required. The paving Bill provides for that in paragraph 8 of the schedule.
Ofcom will not be able to adopt a cavalier attitude to costs—its accounts will be subject to the National Audit Office, and the Public Accounts Committee will be able to examine them. The way in which it sets fees will be subject to judicial review. In due course the House will be able to consider the provisions on funding in the draft of the main Bill.