Digital Economy Bill

Lord Holmes of Richmond Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 13th December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on introducing the Second Reading of this most important Bill, and in doing so declare my register of interests.

I am nothing short of ecstatic that we have a Digital Economy Bill in our House this evening—not because it is perfect or because it has the level of ambition I would like, but because it goes to the heart of a fundamental truth, which is that we are in the midst of a digital revolution which will make the Industrial Revolution look like a kids’ tea-party. Many people may still think that they can have an interest in health, defence and education, and that there is a separate world of digital “over there”; this Bill speaks to the truth that digital will transform every element of our lives and of our economy. It is beholden upon all of us to ensure that that transformation is a change for the better.

I was fortunate, alongside the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, to be part of the Digital Skills Committee that reported last year. It is gratifying to see so many of our recommendations in the Bill that is before us this evening, not least that the internet and access to it has to be viewed as a utility. A utility provides a number of basic services, but in a sense that is the base of this. Only high-speed internet access will not just enable people to get online but enable our economy to really boom in the future that is ahead of us. Similarly, there is what my noble friend the Minister said about digital literacy being seen as significant as numeracy and standard literacy. We have to grasp this, because digital literacy and everything around character education will be what our young people—the next generation—require to go forward into the labour market which will face them and which we are already in the midst of today.

We are probably only two-thirds through the debate this evening, but I will put on record my thanks to noble Lords who have already spoken, who have done much of my work for me. I am reminded of a quote from one of our greatest Britons, Churchill, which I will add to my comments this evening: “The brain can only store what the bottom will endure”. Your Lordships will note the brevity which follows.

I will concentrate on a number of issues which have already been touched upon but which fall within my areas of interest and are worth rehearsing, not least PSB prominence. What is the Minister’s view on that? I think it is absolutely essential that PSBs continue to have prominence across all their offering, not just the main channels. I am delighted that a number of noble Lords have already raised this issue, not least in terms of children’s broadcasting. There were a number of comments on this earlier, including from the noble Lord, Lord Foster of Bath, and the Liberal Benches have the absolute honour of having among their number probably the greatest children’s television broadcaster of all time, who we will be hearing from later in the debate. It is absolutely fantastic to focus on ensuring the prominence of the PSBs, not least the children’s channels.

Similarly, noble Lords may be unsurprised that I would focus on the protected list. It is absolutely essential that we take the opportunity of the Bill to revisit the list. The reasons why it came into being in the first instance are obvious; now it is absolutely ready for review. The great shared moments have already been mentioned. There are so few things now that truly unite us across society, but the events on that list are certainly some of those key moments—not least last summer’s Olympic Games, which drew communities and individuals together. That is surely a positive thing, and it is surely good to revisit that list. It is probably worth noting that PSBs’ output of sports coverage is 5% but their viewership is 60%. That is how significant it is.

I welcome the clauses in the Bill on digital skills training, but agree with comments already made by a number of noble friends and other noble Lords around the how. This is an important but complex and potentially resource-intensive thing to bring about, so I will certainly be looking to work with noble Lords across the House to ensure that we bring this to life, because it is essential. It is that combination of the hard infrastructure to enable and the superstructure of skills to be built on top of it that will enable people not just to be able to operate in the labour market but to be able to be full participants, full citizens, in society as it is going to be, going forward.

Similarly, as noble Lords have mentioned, not least my noble friend Lord Grade, the repeal of Section 73 is long overdue. Bearing in mind that long overdue nature, what exactly will be necessary in the transition period? Perhaps we can have discussions and assist with that transition period through Committee and Report. I urge the Minister to consider in his response this evening whether, when the Bill receives Royal Assent, Section 73 should evaporate with the commencement of the relevant provision when the Bill comes into force right from the outset.

I come to what is probably the main part of the Bill in terms of its impact on all of us, and it is all about fibre. We need all of us, and people out there, to keep pushing the case for fibre. I call upon the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam, perhaps to make a remake of his BAFTA-winning 1981 film. Perhaps we can get some focus around that if we have a movie release called “Chariots of Fibre”. The difference that the addition of a “b” can make to a film is extraordinary.

However, it cannot just be about fibre. As other noble Lords have mentioned, there is a case for the USO at the moment, but we need to keep that under review as well as considering the role of satellite provision and other provisions that we are only starting to consider. I look forward to my noble friend Lord Borwick coming back from the States in January full of ideas to put into the Committee and Report stages of the Bill, because the ground is moving beneath our feet as we speak. Fibre is a key part, but not the only one.

That goes to the heart of my main plea to the Minister to look across a number of elements of the Bill and really work with colleagues to consider just how ambitious we can be. The speeds that are set out are not ambitious. As for where that will lead us, we are where we are today because of a previous lack of ambition. The fibre-to-copper debacle that we have at the moment is absolutely a consequence of a lack of ambition. It is like steaming towards an airport in a jet plane but, a mile out from the runway, we are all asked to disembark and clamber aboard one of Montgolfier’s balloons. Beautiful though they are, that is not the way. As previous speakers have said, this is not a great surprise that we could not have known about; it was known at the outset, but there was a lack of ambition and a sense of, “Let’s do things within a certain envelope”.

We have no option but to be ambitious. We are facing one of the greatest challenges that this nation has ever faced and the greatest economic challenge that this nation has faced in our lifetimes, but with a phenomenal opportunity within it because we are at the forefront of digital innovation and fintech. We need to ensure that we are ambitious across all of that and more. We understand what the next generation need in order to be full participants of society so that they are able to fully play their part in a phenomenally fragmented and complicated labour market. If we can have that ambition and put that into the Bill, this truly could be one of the most significant pieces of legislation that we pass this Session.