Queen’s Speech

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, I am pleased today that the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, is responding to the debate, as I want to focus on the tech and creative industries, which are increasingly interdependent and important to us. I welcome the new cross-departmental role that the Minister herself plays, across both the DCMS and BIS. The Minister is a champion of intellectual property. She also recognises the massive adverse impact that Brexit would have on the tech and creative industries, including our software industry. I so much agree with my noble friend Lady Bonham-Carter in her rallying cry on the dangers of Brexit, and indeed with my noble friend Lord Foster. This is, of course, particularly in respect of the digital single market, but many other issues impact on the future prosperity of these industries.

I share the concern of my noble friends and the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, that the Government need to go much further in allaying our fears for the BBC’s future. As the Minister heard during last week’s Statement on the White Paper, we believe that the BBC’s independence will be eroded by having direct government appointees on the new unitary board: chairman, vice-chairman and four other members of the board. Given the Culture Secretary’s form on appointments to the board of the National Portrait Gallery, we have little confidence on this side of the House in his impartiality.

We also have the inclusion of “distinctive” in the BBC’s remit. Once created, does a programme have to remain distinctive for ever? What is the correct level of risk-taking and innovation? All this will be judged by Ofcom, with some rather sinister government guidance in the background, as on page 55 of the White Paper:

“The government will provide guidance to the regulator on content requirements and performance metrics to set clear policy parameters for the creation of this new regime”.

This spells future trouble, as my noble friends and the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, pointed out, and could lay the ground for reasons to deprive the BBC of the licence fee. The Government are warned: we will scrutinise the charter extremely carefully when it appears and we will demand a vote on it. Despite Channel 4’s continuing success as a public service broadcaster, we see from its recent annual report that there is still uncertainty about its future, with the Secretary of State seemingly keen on at least part-privatising it with no benefit to the public. These two institutions are vital pillars of the creative industries and we must not put them at risk.

Then we have the new digital economy Bill, the rollout of so-called high-speed broadband and the universal service obligation. Let us be clear: the USO will not be superfast or a minimum of 25 megabits per second. Instead, it will be a miserable 10 megabits per second, when the average in the UK is already 29 megabits per second. This is a huge disappointment, particularly to rural households and businesses. The Government should be far more ambitious. Superfast broadband of at least 25 megabits per second is a utility. It should be universal and the Government should invest in it. There will be long-anticipated proposals to clarify and improve the electronic communications code to ensure we have the infrastructure that the UK needs. The ECC and planning rules must now, at the very least, ensure improved access for operators to BT’s ducts and poles.

A range of IP issues will be covered in this Session—not only in the Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill, as part of the new digital economy Bill will cover that. The Government will make changes to the penalties for online copyright infringement. I welcome that in principle but look forward to debating the details of the definitions in both cases. I also welcome the provisions in the Bill which, it seems, will result in improvements for small businesses in protecting their design rights after the Trunki case. I welcome the IPO’s recent strategy paper on IP enforcement, especially the section on strengthening the legal framework. But how will this be put into practice? Will the digital economy Bill enshrine the necessary backstop powers, as my noble friend Lord Foster mentioned, to ensure that platforms take proper responsibility for preventing piracy if voluntary persuasion does not work? Will it contain provisions against illegal streaming? What is clear from the paper is that the EU IP enforcement directive will be of real benefit to UK IP creators. I hope that the Minister will be arguing for a pan-European enforcement agency at the same time as for the retention of vital territorial licensing.

Finally, a word on finance for the tech and creative industries. Where is the funding for scale-up, follow-on and growth? Where is the understanding that IP can be used as collateral? The Business Growth Fund backed by the major banks is a good start, and I commend the London Stock Exchange’s ELITE programme. However, we still have a gap in the market. We need to ensure that companies can put long-term skilled jobs on their payroll. What are BIS and the Treasury doing to ensure this? There is great concern that changes made in the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 have significantly restricted the number and range of companies that venture capital trusts can invest in. Can the Minister assure us that the Treasury and BIS are going to amend the rules to ensure the availability of growth finance?

The agenda in these sectors is huge and often underplayed. I could mention digital skills and arts education. I could mention the sore need to deregulate commercial radio. I could bemoan the Home Office legislation which is oppressively restricting that mainstay of street artistic life: busking. I could expand on how artists are being driven out of much-needed studio space by rising property prices. I could inquire what has happened to the secondary ticketing review, which is of great importance to live music. I could even argue with the arts White Paper. Like my noble friend Lord Foster, I am gravely disappointed that there appears to be no intention to lower the stakes on FOBTs or even hold a triennial review of stakes and prizes. I hope that the Minister will be able to give a comprehensive reply to all our questions in this respect.