Report (1st Day)

Part of Digital Economy Bill [HL] – in the House of Lords at 6:30 pm on 1 March 2010.

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Photo of Lord Whitty Lord Whitty Labour 6:30, 1 March 2010

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment 13B. This part of the Bill deals with Ofcom's responsibility for spreading infrastructure, in the areas for which it is the regulator, across the whole of the nation. Whatever form of infrastructure we are talking about, it is common experience in rural areas of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that the consumers, citizens and businesses that are located there have worse access, lower speeds in relation to broadband, more intermittency and generally a worse service than in urban and suburban areas. This applies not just to the remotest areas of Scotland, but also-I declare an interest in terms of my home address-in the borders of Dorset and Wiltshire. It is clear that if we are requiring Ofcom to report on progress in installing infrastructure in general, as this clause does, then the way in which we judge whether Ofcom has been successful-or Ofcom has judged the industry to be successful-must pay particular attention to the effect in rural areas.

In Committee, I was told that there was no need to spell out all the different potentially disadvantaged groups that Ofcom had to have regard to because that was written in Ofcom's basic constitution. I sort of accept that. I was also told there was no need to require Ofcom to report separately to the devolved Administrations, so that they can tackle problems that may arise in their particular areas, because Ofcom always does that. However, this is a specific and new reporting requirement. It is one required by this Bill and it is one to which reference was made in the first debate today on the new clause on Ofcom's responsibilities in relation to infrastructure. Whether you are talking about the changes in the effective operation of your mobile phone as you drive through the rural lanes of our country, whether you are talking about the speed of broadband or whether, equally importantly, you are talking about the ability to access public services and other information in rural areas digitally, then it is an important dimension of Ofcom fulfilling this responsibility that its reporting system should very specifically and very clearly cover the interests of rural consumers.

I am perfectly prepared to concede that the Government might have a better form of wording here. If anything, there probably should be a stronger form of wording. However, specific reference in the Bill to the rural areas in respect of this reporting mechanism is important. As distinct from one or two of my amendments later on, it ought to be a relatively easy amendment for the Government to accept. I beg to move.