Mrs Anne McIntosh (Vale of York, Conservative)

It might be helpful to tell the Committee that I have shares in BT. You are now aware, Mr. Stevenson, that most of my portfolio of shares is in the transport sector, which we have occasionally discussed elsewhere. I do not have enough BT shares to declare them in the Register of Members' Interests or for them to influence my approach to the Bill, but I thought that the Committee should have that information.

Clause 2 is pivotal to the Bill. I shall speak at length on this group of amendments. I preface my comments on amendment No. 11 with a reference to the explanatory notes, which set out the purpose of the Bill. They state:

The Office of Communications Bill would make it possible for the Secretary of State to create OFCOM before the main Communications Bill achieved Royal Assent, which should enable regulatory functions to be transferred to OFCOM more quickly thereafter.

The Government aim to clarify what Ofcom will do between enactment of the Office of Communications Bill and Royal Assent to the communications Bill, which will give the new regulator powers. The paving Bill enables the Government to establish Ofcom so that practical steps can be taken to prepare the regulator to receive the functions that the communications Bill will confer on it.

The explanatory notes make it clear that the single function of Ofcom under the Bill before us is to prepare to assume functions at a later date. They state:

Establishing OFCOM, planning and managing the practical transition from the existing five regulators will be a complex task, which will take much time and effort to complete. The Office of Communications Bill would make it possible for the Secretary of State to create OFCOM before the main Communications Bill

achieved Royal Assent, which should enable regulatory functions to be transferred to OFCOM more quickly thereafter.

During our proceedings we have lamented the separation of the paving Bill from the meat in the main Bill. I emphasise that that separation is unfortunate for the full consideration of the structure and function of Ofcom.

Paragraph 7 of the explanatory notes states:

The Office of Communications Bill . . . enables Government to establish OFCOM, so that practical steps can be taken to get the regulator ready to receive the functions a Communications Bill would confer upon it. The Bill should enable a more orderly transition.

In fact the Office of Communications Bill will, perversely, lead to a more disorderly transition and, I fear, to absolute confusion. The explanatory notes state that the purpose of the Bill is threefold: to

establish the Office of Communications; give OFCOM a preparatory function; and place the existing regulators under a duty to assist OFCOM to prepare.

That is similar to the role of the Opposition in preparing for Government—

See this speech in context