UK-US Trade Deal Negotiating Objectives
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I will first take up my noble friend’s question about Scotch whisky. Yes, it is true that there is this 25% tariff on Scotch whisky, but my understanding is that that is linked to an unfortunate state aid issue linked to Airbus. This is unfortunate and disappointing. My noble friend will know that we are looking to work through those issues. We very much hope, wish and expect that the tariffs on Scotch whisky will come down. My noble friend makes a very good point—I know that she has raised the issue of environmental standards on several occasions. Once again, we will not lower our standards as we negotiate new trade deals.
Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)
My Lords, should the EU be minded at some stage in the negotiations with us to allow new trade barriers, tariffs and quotas to be erected that affect trade between the EU and the UK, will it not be all the more important that we get on with some urgency to negotiate for the reduction of tariffs, quotas and trade barriers between ourselves and the US? If we do so, will that not encourage our exporters and consumers to believe that the damage caused by the unsatisfactory progress of negotiations with the EU will be offset? Will it not also encourage exporters and consumers in the EU to put pressure on their negotiators to think better of it and not allow new trade barriers to be erected between the EU and the UK?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I am sure the whole House will agree when I say that trade barriers and tariffs are a disincentive to business and that we do not want them. We realise that some are now trading under WTO terms, but the whole point of negotiating with the US, and in particular with the EU, is to get to a point where we lower those barriers. That will obviously be good for businesses and jobs. On the point that I think the noble Lord was making, as I said earlier, we have for some time been prepared to negotiate with the EU at the same time as negotiating with the US. We have the people, the working groups and preparations in place. I see the two working very well in tandem. The linkages that will be made between my department—the Department for International Trade—No. 10 and other departments will be made for both negotiations.
Museums and Galleries
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I confirm that we are very strong supporters of the museum sector. The 2017 Mendoza review of museums found that some have faced challenging financial circumstances but that, alternatively, others have grown and thrived. My noble friend is right: where there are trustees, it is up to them or museum leaders to decide how to run their organisations. On the other hand, where there is public funding, appropriate mechanisms for accountability should be built in to protect the taxpayers’ investment.
Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister is not subject to the same curmudgeonly mood that sometimes overtakes me, but does it sometimes strike him that the more access there is for tourists, the less there is for others? If he thinks that there is any kind of problem here, does he have any thoughts about how to manage it?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
It is a dynamic sector. The noble Lord will know that there are over 3,000 museums in the UK, and there has been a net growth of 9%. That is very good news, although some museums have closed, so we constantly keep an eye on what goes on. It is very important to maintain access. The point should be made that 48% of visitors come from overseas. It is critical that we make sure that there is access for overseas visitors just as much as there is for domestic visitors, including from the education sector.
Sport, Recreation and the Arts
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie(5 years, 5 months ago)
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Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
Well, my Lords, it will be difficult to follow that. I would like to start by thanking my noble friend Lord Moynihan for securing today’s debate on this hugely important and rather wide-ranging subject, and for his excellent speech. We have heard so much about the benefits of sport and the arts that I almost feel I should give my remarks with a Dispatch Box that rises up and down to ease the back, or jogging on the spot, or speaking in iambic pentameter. But I will spare noble Lords that; in fact, given his poetry, the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, is certainly better qualified for this form of exercise.
The interest in today’s debate has illustrated the incredible power that sport and the arts have in inspiring people to get out into their communities and connect with others, and the enjoyment and benefits this can bring. I will speak about the arts, but let me focus first on the benefits of sport and physical activity, which we all know can be good for us in many ways, both mentally and physically. As the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, said, it can strengthen communities, but I will add that it can strengthen the economy, too.
Looking at the physiological facts—here I have my own verbal exercise—moderate-intensity activity stimulates the body’s cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal and metabolic systems and, achieved over time, causes them to adapt and become more efficient. As my noble friend Lord Haselhurst said, that is clearly a good thing. Muscle-strengthening activities help maintain functional ability, stimulate bone formation and help reduce bone loss. They also help with glucose metabolism and reducing blood pressure. Indeed, there are reports in the press today about research by the London School of Economics and Political Science which suggests that exercise is as good as medicine for lowering blood pressure, as the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, pointed out.
When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins, which reduce your perception of pain and trigger a positive feeling. All this adds up to a reduction in risk of approximately 30% for all-cause mortality when comparing the most with the least physically active, according to the UK’s Chief Medical Officers, who produce guidance about recommended physical activity levels. Being active has been shown to treat, manage and prevent a range of physical and mental health conditions, including heart disease, cancers, diabetes, stress, depression and anxiety.
Talking of diabetes, we know that there is a pressing need to look at the rise of type 2 diabetes. Only this week, the Times reported that two dozen people a day are having feet and toes amputated because of diabetes. Foot amputations are up by a quarter since 2010. Another pressing matter for society and this Government is poor mental health. Again, we know that the risk of depression is approximately 20% to 30% lower for adults who participate in daily physical exercise.
It is not just health; physical activity can be a tool for social good, too. For example, as my noble friend Lady Sater said in her remarks, in prisons it can have benefits for the physical, mental and social well-being of prisoners and it can reduce recidivism. As she said, it can also provide a meaningful alternative to those at risk of committing crime, and I can assure her that we are working with the relevant departments and agencies on these very topics.
All of this is at the heart of what we are trying to achieve through the Government’s sport and physical activity strategy, Sporting Future. In the strategy, we set out five key outcomes that we are striving towards: physical well-being; mental well-being; individual development; social and community development; and economic development. We want to use sport and physical activity to create a healthier, happier and more productive nation. Helping people to be more active in whatever way suits them is a crucial part of this. For some people that may be sport; for others it means fitting physical activity into their busy daily life. I am reminded that when my late father, George Younger, was interviewed about how he got exercise during his long and busy political career, he said, “Oh yes, very important, I tend to run up the stairs”. He would learn much from this debate; things have moved on.
We particularly want to reach people who have not traditionally got involved, or who think that being active is not for them. Sport England has committed to spending at least a quarter of its budget on tackling inactivity. For example, it is investing up to £100 million in 12 local delivery pilots across the country to solve inactivity challenges in specific locations and scale up what works in other areas. Such areas include Doncaster, South Tees, Hackney and Greater Manchester.
Investment is also going into mental health projects such as Mind’s Get Set to Go project, supported by Sport England and the National Lottery. Since 2015, this project has helped more than 3,500 people with mental health problems take part in specially designed physical activity projects. The evaluation has shown the important role that physical activity can play in building resilience and supporting mental health recovery. As was recently revealed by the new Active Lives Children and Young People survey, it is encouraging to see that some 3 million children lead active lives, doing an average of 60 minutes or more of physical activity a day.
But let me be clear: there is another side to this story. Some 2.3 million children and young people— that is almost a third—are doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity a day. This is unacceptable. We must do more, and the Government must do more, to encourage young people to live healthy, active lives. To answer a question raised by my noble friend Lady Sater, this is something we will tackle through the new cross-departmental school sport and activity action plan, with DCMS, the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care working together. We will make it a priority to ensure that all young people have sufficient opportunities to engage in sport and physical activity.
Government is working ever closer. For example, just last week five Ministers appeared in front of the DCMS Select Committee at the same time to discuss the social impacts of culture and sport—the first time this has happened.
My noble friend Lord Moynihan raised an interesting point about introducing legislation—I think he called it, as a start, sports law. The Government have no such plans currently, but he made some interesting points and I will certainly take them back to the department.
Good-quality facilities and spaces are important factors to keep people engaged over the long term. Sport England is investing up to £40 million in large-scale sports facilities projects up to 2021, and a further £15 million per year in smaller-scale projects through its Community Asset Fund. We recognise that playing fields are a vital part of sporting infrastructure up and down the country and are one of the most important resources for sport in England. Every school must, by law, have access to enough playing field space to meet its sports and curriculum needs. Sporting Future made clear our support for bringing together sports and physical activity facilities with other community services. It also highlighted the benefits of multisport facilities in improving usage and sustainability.
The noble Lord, Lord Addington, and others mentioned volunteering. I want to see strong local partnerships come together with the amazing workforce of community volunteers that we know sport relies on, to understand the needs of different areas and to reinvigorate their local facilities and green spaces.
We can be proud of our sporting heritage in this country. We are spoiled for choice when it comes to sporting heroes, and I am sure noble Lords enjoyed this year’s “Sports Personality of the Year”, which I happened to watch last weekend. I offer my congratulations to the worthy winners of the various awards.
I thank my noble friend Lady Byford for her comments about broadcasting, including TV and radio; I have noted what she said. The Government have said that they do not intend to reopen discussion on listed events. It is for sports bodies to strike the right balance between reaching a wide audience and generating revenue. We have a proven track record in hosting major events that inspire people—look at the impact London 2012 had on volunteering and on perceptions of disability.
The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, spoke about volunteering, particularly in sports. As he pointed out, the latest Active Lives survey showed a decline in sports volunteering. We need to look into the reasons for this, and we will certainly do so. We understand that volunteering for major sporting events remains robust, so that gives some reassurance.
In the legacy of London 2012 we also see sports and the arts come together. The forthcoming East Bank site at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will host BBC Music, a new V&A museum and a new venue for Sadler’s Wells. I am delighted that the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, spoke in this debate. I applaud his role in the success of these projects, involving a combination of sports, the arts and artists, as he mentioned in his speech.
Major sporting and cultural events offer unparalleled opportunities for everyone to get involved and can lift the spirits of everyone around. For example, the volunteer programme for Hull’s City of Culture year in 2017 had engagement from every street in the city. My noble friend Lady Bottomley waxed lyrical about the benefits of the National Lottery, in conjunction with mentioning Hull. I applaud her for that. I also pay tribute to Sir John Major’s great vision: it was, is and continues to be a great success story.
ONS data for London 2012 showed that on a day-to-day basis, people were happier. I presume that means there was a “happy index” somewhere—but I have to admit I have not seen it.
I listened to the excellent speech from the noble Baroness, Lady Bull. Of course, during her long career she has combined sport and art, although I think it fair to say that her remarks were focused more on the arts. This provides a nice bridge to move the debate on. Noble Lords will recognise that engagement in the arts, culture and creative practice are also very good for us—whether that is singing in a choir, visiting a museum, using a library, or volunteering at a heritage event. The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, spoke about the Parliament choir, of which I declare my own membership and support. It is a great choir and although I am a lapsed tenor, I hope to come back at some point.
These pursuits may be our life’s passion, a hobby, or a place to socialise and reflect; we do these things because we intuitively know that they bring enjoyment, meaning and purpose to our lives. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chichester was right to highlight the importance to communities of choirs, the benefits of choral scholarships, focusing on all backgrounds, and the uplifting of the soul through great music, including carols. In this context, my noble friend the Earl of Arran used the phrase “wings of a dove”, which was really quite poetic. As the right reverend Prelate said, the skills engendered fuel the production of many of our great events, including royal weddings.
As the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, said, it was fantastic to see the Health Secretary Matt Hancock speak recently on the power of arts and health. Noble Lords should be aware that there is now growing evidence that taking part in the arts and culture has a significant impact on our health throughout our lives, preventing illness, improving mental health and aiding recovery from ill health. As the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, said, art can shake you up—hopefully, he did not mean in such a way that the doctor has to be called. It is so encouraging to see enthusiasm for work on arts and health across government.
I have already spoken of the connection between good mental well-being and physical health.
Lord Howarth of Newport
I did ask whether the Minister would kindly write to me and the all-party parliamentary group describing the Government’s plans for developing their cross-departmental strategy to enlist arts and culture in the improvement of the nation’s health and well-being. When he has had advice, will he be able to do that?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I was about to come to that, but now that the noble Lord has raised the question, I am delighted to say that I will of course write to him. It is a good point.
One example of the connection between good mental well-being and physical health is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which is funded by Arts Council England and runs Strokestra, a programme which brings together musicians and stroke patients to harness the power of musical techniques to support rehabilitation. An evaluation of this project reported that 86% of participants felt relief from symptoms. I liked the expression that the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, used—“medicine for the soul”. That stuck in the mind, amongst other things, during this debate.
Our libraries, as recreational spaces and community meeting places, are developing ways to support health conditions associated with ageing, with trained Dementia Friends and shared reading courses for people with dementia and their carers. Various speeches today raised these issues. Museums are at the forefront of developing programmes and schemes to support those living with dementia, often using their collections.
Many people also volunteer for heritage organisations or events. Seventy per cent of those who volunteered at recent heritage open days reported feeling more relaxed afterwards, with 64% also feeling more active and healthier. Sixty per cent of the people involved in the Manchester Museum and Imperial War Museum North’s Inspiring Futures programme reported a sustained increase in well-being. This was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott. We want to see as many young people as possible engaging in culture. In October, the Culture Secretary announced £5 million for the Youth Performance Partnership Scheme—a demonstration of the Government’s commitment to children’s participating in the arts, which we know can be so transformative.
So how are we supporting this work? The DCMS is committed to promoting the role that arts and culture can play in a healthy, happy society. We will continue to work with our colleagues across government to ensure that this impact is felt. The noble Baroness, Lady Bull, asked whether we would agree, as a Government, that we must find ways to address the conundrum that those who benefit from art most need the help to access it. It is a fair point. We do agree. The Government want as many people as possible to access arts and culture. Arts Council England continues to support arts and culture organisations to expand and also diversify audiences—a point well made. For example, Creative People and Places provides £47 million as an investment in arts provision and building audiences in places where people have fewer opportunities; I am reminded of Liverpool, where opera is transmitted into the city centre via cinemas.
The Government continue to fund approaches that integrate the arts and culture into communities, such as the £20 million Cultural Development Fund. This fund helps towns and cities put arts and culture at the heart of their growth plans. DCMS is also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the special funding announced in the Budget for Heritage on the High Street as part of the major new Future High Streets Fund.
The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chichester asked a wide-ranging question on the EU, and whether we could give a commitment, and an indication, on how the Government will repair our reputational and economic damage from the current political uncertainty. That is a big question. I will answer it by saying that the Government recognise the importance of cultural collaboration, and the UK wants to build on our long history of working with the EU to continue to produce and promote excellent culture. That is why, in the July White Paper, the Government proposed a wide-reaching agreement on culture and education with the EU that is broader and more collaborative than anything the EU has agreed before.
The political declaration and agreement with the EU on the terms of our future relationships delivers on this proposal. The proposed agreement on culture and education covers a number of key areas of mutual benefit. I would like to mention the work undertaken by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing, co-chaired, as he said himself, by the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, to whom I pay tribute for bringing together expert voices from across both sectors, not only to recognise the great work going on across the country but to continue to shape the direction of arts and health going forward. I was interested to hear his remarks about the benefit of painting linked to mental health. I reflect on Winston Churchill’s experience; he was known to suffer from what he called the “black dog”, and painting was clearly a cathartic hobby for him.
The noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, spoke about doping in sport, and the many points that he made are very important indeed. He knows that I will say this, but doping in sport is completely and utterly unacceptable. We completely support the work of UK Anti-Doping.
The noble Lord, Lord Addington, asked whether we should ensure that local government is helped. Local authorities are a major funder of culture through libraries, museums and arts as well as sports, and many recognise the importance—because of the many benefits—of maintaining this funding. The Government encourage them very much to do this. The noble Lord also spoke about the National Lottery. I have spoken previously about the role of Sir John Major, and assure the noble Lord—and the Chamber—that the Government will continue to monitor lottery revenues.
We enjoy good well-being in the UK. According to the Office for National Statistics, people’s satisfaction rate with their lives stands at 7.7 out of 10, which has held reasonably steady since measurement began in 2010. But there is much more to do to help inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved. I am passionate that sport and arts should be for everyone, and that they are at the heart of a happy and healthy nation.
Disabled Students’ Allowance
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The Government are clear that disabled students should receive support wherever and whatever they choose to study, so that they are able to study alongside their fellow students on an equal basis. They are paid in respect of the additional expenditure that a higher education student is obliged to incur because of their disability. I should say that they are not intended to cover disability-related expenditure that the student would incur even if they were not in higher education.
Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)
Without pre-empting the outcome of the Government’s review, will the Minister at least agree in principle that it is desirable that there should be continuity of support for people with clearly diagnosed disabilities, and that there should be the minimum of impediments to disabled people taking part in study and in all other aspects of our national life?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I partly agree with the noble Lord. As I said earlier, it is important that we give the correct form of support to those who are disabled. It is also up to the individual providers—the universities and colleges—to make the right decisions themselves as to how they can look after those who are disadvantaged and who have disabilities. There is evidence that this is happening, but more should be done.
Apprenticeships
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister accept that if we are no longer in the single market and under the European Union requirement for the free movement of labour, there will be much greater incentive for employers to increase the number, and improve the quality, of the apprenticeships they offer to our disadvantaged young people?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The noble Lord is absolutely right: that is why we are putting so much effort into developing our own apprenticeships. The Institute for Apprenticeships is looking particularly at setting high standards to ensure that employers have the right people on board and that this country has the necessary skills to ensure that we can stand on our own two feet after Brexit.
Arts: Business Rate Relief
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
It is the same process. The review will cover six key areas, including considering the role of business rates within the wider tax system and their responsiveness to economic conditions.
Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)
My Lords, will the Government in the course of this review take a coherent view of the funding needs of arts organisations and museums and ensure that they are not casualties of a broader-based reform that is not focused on their needs?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
As I said, the sector covering museums and arts organisations is very much already in the minds of those involved in the review.
Wales Act 2014
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I will say, as was set out in the St David’s Day agreement by the Prime Minister, that this is a very important Bill that is coming up. It will enable the referendum to be held on the income tax devolution, and the Command Paper said that the funding floor would be introduced in the expectation that the Welsh Government would hold a referendum. So I can give these guarantees. These are important for the future.
Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)
My Lords, will the Minister take no notice whatever of the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford? Is it not a mark of respect for the people of Wales and in the spirit of devolution that the Welsh Assembly Government should be able to order their policies on health and education in the manner that they judge best and that is accountable to the people of Wales who have wished to elect a Labour administration?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
That is exactly it; we believe that it is right to pass more powers on to the people of Wales. That is the main message that I want to give today.
Employment: Zero-hour Contracts
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Viscount Younger of Leckie
My noble friend makes a valuable point. Opportunities for zero-hours contracts allow, for example, students to enter the labour market. I have heard about instances of workers who used to work on the Tornado project using their legacy engineering skills in just such a way. They were particularly happy to do that. Also, zero-hours contracts particularly help the partially retired, who can work in a scaled-back manner.
Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)
Does the Minister think that zero-hours contracts are reconcilable with the responsibility that employers have in all circumstances to respect the dignity of the people they employ?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Certainly, the bottom line for zero-hour contracts—this is one thing that the consultation will look at—is how employers and employees enter into them. Although there is nothing wrong per se with the contracts, you get opaqueness where there are differences of opinion or a lack of transparency in the contracts between the employer and the employee.
Intellectual Property Bill [HL]
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, I echo the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, to the extent that he has welcomed the Minister’s constructive response to some of the issues raised by my noble friends on the Front Bench and myself in Committee and on Report on the matter of the criminal offence. More broadly, perhaps I may I express my appreciation of the Minister’s scrupulousness and fair mindedness in the way he has responded to a range of issues raised by noble Lords throughout the various proceedings on the Bill. I thank him for that.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, I am grateful for the contributions to this short debate on the government amendment of the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson and Lord Howarth, and my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones. I should say to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, that I have long since realised that as intellectual property Minister I cannot please everyone all of the time. I am certainly aware of the opposition from certain quarters, including CIPA, to the criminal sanction aspect of the Bill.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank, in particular, the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara and Lord Young of Norwood Green, who have put their names to the amendment, for their collegiate and constructive approach. I also extend my thanks to those Members on all sides of the House who have taken part in the debates on the Bill. I am grateful for the detailed consideration that they have included in this process, both inside and outside the Chamber. The House has engaged in its role of proper scrutiny, improvement and revision and the Bill which is being sent to the other place is greatly improved. I would also like to put on record my thanks to my Bill team and other officials for their expertise and support throughout this process.
The amendment clarifies the scope of the criminal offence further and provides greater security and confidence to the UK’s designers. I commend it to the House.
Intellectual Property Bill [HL]
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Lord Howarth of Newport
I very much appreciate what the noble Viscount has just told the Committee. It is very good news indeed. I wonder whether the information provided will include records of conversations, discussions or meetings that may have taken place. A link in the online version of the annual report would be sufficient to achieve that transparency, which would be very helpful.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I thank the noble Lord for that question. We feel that we have gone as far as we can. Many of the meetings are highlighted on different websites, as the noble Lord will know. We have gone as far as we can to make the viewing of meetings transparent.
I will now address some of the questions raised in the debate. The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, asked whether the annual report was not just a view about the Intellectual Property Office. He argued that it should be wider and suggested that it should be a report on how we are doing as a nation. The report will be the view of the Secretary of State, taking into account the extensive wider relationship that the IPO has with the creative and innovative industries. I hope that the earlier answers that I gave clarified and provided an answer to that general point.
The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, made a number of references to the importance of the creative industries. He was right to do that. As I said during the passage of the ERR Act, the Government fully recognise the importance of the creative industries. They have also done much for UK creators, and are doing more, including supporting the design sector through the Bill. We are pressing ahead with the anti-piracy measures of the Digital Economy Act. We are also supporting the creative industries abroad through our growing IPO attaché network, which provides practical support to UK businesses by building relations with intellectual property agencies in host countries and improving the influence of the UK overseas. The UK now has attachés in China, India and Brazil, and is recruiting a fourth attaché for south-east Asia. However, the intellectual property system is not there to support just one sector. It is right that we look across the economy to its impact on a range of sectors. To that extent the noble Lord makes a fair point.
My noble friend Lord Jenkin suggested that it was not enough to report facts to Parliament, but that the report should set out proposed actions in a statement. As I said earlier, the report will be laid before Parliament, and publication announced by Written Ministerial Statement. I always welcome the opportunity to debate intellectual property issues with Members of the House, and it is of course open to any noble Lord to call a debate. Therefore I do not consider it necessary that we put this requirement in the Bill.
My noble friend Lord Jenkin also questioned whether exceptions would weaken the incentive to invest in intellectual property. However, exceptions can create opportunities for others, with little or no harm to the owners of rights. How does it harm an author if someone copies extracts of her work in the course of non-commercial research into it, or if blind people can read it in accessible form? The Government are introducing exceptions to create growth and value; not to transfer it between one interest group and another. The Government are looking for the right balance between many interests, as I am sure my noble friend is aware.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, asked how we would define what is new and what is original. In many cases, it is easier to know originality when one sees it rather than to attempt to define it. The noble Lord makes a fair point but the courts have a fairly settled approach to this so I hope that he will accept that they have the ultimate sanction on making decisions on that particular issue.
The noble Lord commented that strong intellectual property rights are not always beneficial. The Government agree with the noble Lord that a balance needs to be struck between IP rights holders and users. I know that the noble Lord has made this point in a previous debate. The report will make it clear when interests such as development are weighed against economic considerations.
The noble Lord raised an interesting point about graphene and whether the annual report would mention it. I am interested in this particular invention because when I last visited the Intellectual Property Office I was given an interesting briefing on this matter. It is one of the issues that the IPO is taking extremely seriously. However, we cannot say in advance what the report might say on individual issues, including graphene, or on particular technologies. The report will focus on the activities of the Intellectual Property Office so that, if the IPO carries out activities in an area, such as graphene, they will be included.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, asked how the Government would ensure that development would take place through patent thickets and he cited the example of the pharmaceutical sector. The IPO has published a report investigating the phenomenon of patent thickets and commissioned further research from academics to understand if there is a particular impact on small and medium-sized businesses. The annual report will provide an assessment of the research that is undertaken in this area. It is essential that policy is based on the best available evidence.
The noble Lord raised another interesting point concerning gene patenting and the gist of his question was whether it was right. The Government have noted with interest the judgment of the United States Supreme Court, to which the noble Lord referred. He will also understand that this particular area of patent law is governed in the UK by the biotechnology patents directive, a carefully negotiated consensus across Europe on this particular issue of which the noble Lord may be aware. Our law continues to develop on this matter with references to the European Court of Justice.
The noble Lord asked how we should protect health developments from businesses patenting medicines. The annual report will cover the activities of the Intellectual Property Office and their impact on innovation and growth, which I mentioned earlier, where these activities impact on other policy objectives. The report will make it clear how different objectives were balanced.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, also asked how the IPO considers global interests and stops the restriction of knowledge in the developing world. Our vision is that it must cover both incentives to invest in, for example, new medicines and, as part of wider government policy, access to medicines. The noble Lord also commented on the impact of international treaties, such as TRIPS. Where the Government are negotiating in these areas, I assure the noble Lord that the report will cover their impact.
The noble Lord asked whether the report will cover the Government as a whole. As a round-up, this is a report of the Secretary of State in respect of the IPO, and the IPO does not operate in a vacuum. The report will cover issues where the IPO works with other government departments.
The noble Lord raised a further issue concerning patents and asked whether patents were granted too easily and whether they stifle innovation. I am satisfied that the IPO only grants patents with a high presumption of validity. Its patent-granting process, the first in the world to achieve ISO quality accreditation, ensures that only those inventions that are new, take a significant enough step forward and are capable of industrial application are deemed to be worthy of patent protections. I hope that that is of some reassurance to the noble Lord.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, it is not only a form of cheating but a form of free-riding that is clearly unfair. I look forward to the Minister’s positive response to the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, the amendment proposed by my noble friends Lord Jenkin and Lord Clement-Jones seeks to protect the distinctiveness of product packaging. The amendment relates to an ongoing concern by brand owners relating to what has been called “lookalike” or “parasitic” packaging. This is where businesses are said to mimic the packaging of brands with a reputation, whereby consumers believe that the lookalike product, normally cheaper than the branded product, shares its characteristics, such as its quality. My noble friend Lord Jenkin described the issue in similar fashion. This is considered to be riding on the coat-tails of a brand’s reputation.
The Government recognise that brands are a significant contributor to the UK economy. I can assure my noble friends that we are very much alive to the concerns of brand owners about so-called lookalike products. Indeed, the IPO has just published research that that it commissioned into the phenomenon of lookalike packaging, which we would urge all interested parties to consider. The report is publicly available and can be found on the IPO’s website. In relation to the harm that lookalike packaging does to both consumers and business, the findings were, perhaps surprisingly, fairly equivocal. In particular, although a high number of consumers felt disadvantaged by the accidental purchase of a lookalike, a substantial number saw it as an advantage. Furthermore, there is a fine line between confusing packaging and the use of “generic cues” to signal to customers. For example, the colour green can indicate “mint” on toothpaste. There is no particular business associated with this colour.
The Government are considering the findings of the report and look forward to discussing them with the industry but, as previously stated, the evidence was not convincing enough to initiate immediate action. Although the Government agree that brand owners should be entitled to preserve the distinctiveness of their products, a delicate balance exists between the proper protection of rights and the openness of the market to innovation and competition. Any proposal that changes the status quo should be considered with caution.
In particular, the Government do not agree that the amendment is an appropriate addition to the suite of protections already available to brand owners. The amendment would unduly broaden the scope of the rights currently enjoyed by owners of intellectual property relating to product packaging and upset the balance to which I have referred. In particular, the amendment would prohibit the use of packaging that tells consumers that a product has similar qualities to those of a competitor’s product, even where that is true and consumers are not misled in any way. The law already provides for the protection of distinctive packaging. Let me explain why.
First, where packaging is distinctive, it may be registered as a trade mark. It is an infringement of a registered trade mark where use of a sign takes unfair advantage of its reputation—the riding on the coat-tails that I mentioned earlier. Given sufficient reputation in the marketplace, this protection can apply to even simple examples of packaging, such as the colour purple, which Cadbury currently has protected as a trade mark for chocolate products.
Secondly, noble Lords will, I am sure, be familiar with the remedies under the common-law tort of “passing off”. The case of Penguin v Puffin is an example of the redress that is available under this tort when a competitor sails too close to the wind in mimicking rival packaging. There is a more recent example, where the threat of legal action from Diageo, the makers of Pimm’s, over the use of the term “Pitchers” by Sainsbury’s resulted in an agreement over new packaging for the Pitchers product.
A number of questions have been raised. My noble friend Lord Jenkin of Roding stated that there was plenty of evidence that parasitical lookalike packaging misleads consumers. I refer him to the report recently commissioned by the IPO, to which I alluded earlier in my speech. The study, called The Impact of Lookalikes: Similar Packaging and Fast-moving Consumer Goods, is very long—more than 400 pages—but the results cover a wide range of issues. The Committee might find it useful if I highlight some of the findings, as the issues were raised today.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Stevenson of Balmacara in his proposal that the Government should publish a document of some sort setting out their thinking in relation to the suite of exceptions that they propose to legislate for. It will not be satisfactory if the first opportunity that Parliament has to consider these exceptions is in the highly constrained circumstances in which we consider unamendable orders, in fairly brief time, in Committee.
It would be very helpful if the Government would lay out their thinking in a report and better still—essential, I would suggest—if Parliament had the opportunity to debate that report, so that when we come to consider the specific orders and enact legislation on them, we do so in the context of a proper understanding of the thinking and strategic purpose of the Government. The Government have some very delicate and difficult judgments to make, exception by exception, and Parliament needs to take responsible decisions. Parliament will be better educated, and better placed to make appropriate judgments on this, if we have the opportunity to go through the preliminary stage that my noble friend suggested. The report need not be quite as ambitious as the one that he proposed in his amendment, which would set out,
“the government’s long term plans for the future of intellectual property in the United Kingdom”.
That could be quite a bulky document. However, if the report is focused on the issues raised in the exceptions for which the Government are minded to legislate, it would be very helpful to Parliament and to others as well.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, I understand that the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson and Lord Young, are keen to discuss the Government’s plans on copyright exceptions arising from the Hargreaves review and their copyright consultation. The Government have already made their vision for the future of intellectual property very clear. They have endorsed the recommendations of Professor Hargreaves after his thorough report. We want to see a framework that maximises growth across the economy, not just for industries that are users of the intellectual property framework but for everyone.
I will set out for your Lordships a number of documents that establish the Government’s strategy for intellectual property. These include the report by Professor Hargreaves himself, published in May 2011; the Government’s response accepting the professor’s recommendations, published in August 2011; an international intellectual property strategy published in the same year, as well as an IP crime strategy covering a five-year cycle; and, most recently, the Modernising Copyright document, to which the amendment refers, which flowed directly from the Government’s response to the Hargreaves review and their subsequent copyright consultation that ran from December 2011 to March 2012. Taken together, the documents very clearly lay out the Government’s vision for intellectual property as an essential element of growth, and back up that vision with real plans for the next five years. Those plans are reflected in the IPO’s corporate plan, which I, as the Minister for Intellectual Property, have signed off.
I also remind noble Lords that the previous Government conducted many of their own reviews, such as the Gowers review, Digital Britain, Creative Britain and the 2009 copyright review. Following this number of reviews, now is the time for action and implementation, and I am pleased to say that this Government are now moving to implementation.
I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, for his engagement and interest in the Government’s plans to implement their proposed changes to copyright exceptions. This work, as the noble Lord is aware, is being taken forward not in the Bill but through secondary legislation, which we will all have ample time to debate. However, I understand why the noble Lord has raised the issue and recognise that while many are in favour of the proposed changes, some stakeholders still have concerns. Therefore, I will now try to respond.
First, the noble Lord asked for more information about the timetable for the technical review of copyright exceptions that the Government are conducting. As the noble Lord indicated, the IPO is seeking comments on the first set of draft exceptions by 17 July and has offered open meetings in the week of 8 July. This first set of technical drafts covers proposed new exceptions on private copying, parody, quotations, and changes to the existing exception for public administration. The next set of technical drafts will cover education, preservation and archiving, research and private study, and text and data mining. It is my intention that these will be published before the end of the week.
This will leave one remaining exception: that for disabilities. However, noble Lords may be aware that the UK is currently involved in discussions in Marrakech to agree a treaty on improving access for the visually impaired to published works. Therefore, it may be necessary to await the outcome of that important work before issuing proposals to update the disability exemption. I am sure that all noble Lords support this important work, which has the aim of facilitating access to books for visually impaired people across the world.
On the time available for public comment, the Government are keen to ensure that sufficient time is provided for all the technical drafts to be considered properly. Therefore, the same time to comment—six weeks—will be allowed for each technical draft. If any noble Lords here today wish to respond to the technical review exercise, the Government will be very happy to hear from them. In addition, I will be happy to meet any noble Lords who have a keen interest in this area.
I now turn to how, subject to satisfactory completion of the technical review exercise, the Government plan to bring the draft legislation before this House and the other place. These are statutory instruments, but the Government have committed to lay them before each House for affirmative resolution. This will provide an opportunity for Parliament to comment and to express its views. The noble Lord expressed concern about the time to debate the issues. I do not share the noble Lord’s fear that there will not be enough time for discussion on these issues. This House and the other place do not seem to shy away from debates on copyright. Copyright exceptions have already been the subject of debate on the Floor of both Houses in the context of the ERR Act and have been scrutinised by not one but two Select Committee inquires. However, I recognise the great interest in this area and, as I indicated, during the passage of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, the Government remain open to the idea of additional debates on the draft regulations if there is a desire from Members of this House and of the other place. I am happy to repeat that offer here today.
Intellectual Property Bill [HL]
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie(10 years, 11 months ago)
Grand CommitteeRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, consistency is not necessarily a virtue and I think that we should be very careful in the field of intellectual property. We legislate not simply out of tidy-mindedness or a desire to achieve a satisfying consistency by transferring rules and regulations that may have applied relatively successfully in one area to another. However, it seems that the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, has made a strong case for consistency in the treatment of registered designs and unregistered designs in terms of the proposed criminal offence. I would be grateful if the Minister could give us his explanation.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Viscount Younger of Leckie)
My Lords, before I begin, I hope noble Lords will allow me to take the opportunity to correct a reference made in my closing speech at Second Reading. In the context of wider points about infringement and the copying of designs, I spoke briefly about the right to license certain intellectual property rights. This is where rights become available to third parties for exploitation under certain conditions. As an example, I cited a figure of 2,097 applications to use designs in this way, but the example in fact referred to patents.
Now that that formality is out of the way, I shall turn to the substantive points that have been debated about the Government’s proposal to introduce a criminal sanction for the deliberate copying of a registered design. I begin by reminding noble Lords of the purpose behind the Bill, which is pertinent to the points that have been raised in the debate. Our objectives, as set out in the consultation on the designs legal framework, are: simplification; improving the services offered by the IPO; strengthening rights, including enforcement; and improving how disputes are resolved. There is clearly a balance to be reached in some of these objectives. Simplification cannot be achieved at the expense of loss of protections in the marketplace. Equally, strengthening rights cannot be at the expense of follow-on innovation.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, Clause 13 will introduce a criminal offence for the deliberate copying of a UK or EU registered design. This should help to reduce the scale of unlawful design copying in the UK while increasing the level of protection that is available for holders of registered designs. The Government believe that they have achieved a fine balance in the substance of the clause to ensure that the criminal offence targets only those people who deliberately steal someone else’s ideas and creativity. As we have already discussed today, there are a number of reasons why this clause applies only to registered designs, and this decision forms part of the fine balance of protection that it achieves.
The focus of the offence being on registered designs rather than unregistered designs also reflects the majority of responses to the designs consultation. As with other legislative changes, the Government plan to evaluate the impact of the change within five years of implementation. The offence gives registered designs the same level of protection as copyright and trade marks, creating a coherent approach to enforcement and protection. It also brings design rights in the UK to a level with other European design leaders such as Denmark, which noble Lords will know is noted for design in its furniture manufacturing industry, as well as Italy and Germany.
Criminal sanctions already exist in these countries and are considered necessary as a deterrent and to punish those who deliberately copy for commercial gain. For example, in Germany in 2011, a total of 12 trials were held concerning a criminal charge based on design copying. In three of the cases, the charges were dropped during the trial. In eight out of the nine cases in which a sentence was passed, the court issued a fine. In one case, a prison sentence of nine months to one year was imposed. These figures show clearly that the offence is brought forward only selectively, but that a need for the sanction does exist. This may help to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, in his concerns over the criminal sanctions. He alluded to the fact that they might be a little too draconian.
On the same subject, the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, raised the issue of the costs to this country. In their impact assessment, the Government have estimated a cost of £8.18 million over the course of 10 years. This figure was arrived at by estimating the costs to the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, and potential legal aid costs. However, it is difficult to estimate the benefit of the offence to business. The organisation Anti Copying in Design has estimated that the cost of infringement to the design industry is around 5% of the total value of design to the UK economy. Based on the most recent estimates from NESTA of £15.5 billion as the value of design investment in the UK, this equates to an annual cost of infringement of £0.775 billion.
In relation to costs, the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, also asked what the provisions are for maximum penalties. As the noble Lord may be aware, the Ministry of Justice is currently bringing Sections 85 to 87 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 into force. These provisions will increase the fines for all intellectual property related offences in the magistrates’ courts in England and Wales. This work needs to be allowed time to be implemented before further increases in penalties can be considered.
The noble Lord also asked a plain question: can the justice system cope with this? We do not believe that the offence will create a burden on enforcement agencies. Trading standards departments have the resources to pursue only a certain number of intellectual property cases each year. As a discretionary power, it will be up to each department to balance the importance of pursuing a design case against the other kinds of intellectual property crime in which it is interested. This is in keeping with many other statutory provisions under which local authorities have no duty to enforce, but can and frequently do, instruct trading standards departments to take action. The Crown Prosecution Service will treat any new offence with the same approach it does for the other forms of intellectual property, using its usual discretion and margin of appreciation, including such factors as evidential sufficiency and the public interest in pursuing a conviction.
Lord Howarth of Newport
Perhaps the noble Viscount will allow me to intervene. Does the figure of £8.18 million over 10 years include the costs to local government as well as to central government; namely, the costs of trading standards officers? Whether or not it does, the public expenditure cost of £8.18 million that is already cited is a multiple many times over that of the expected cost of infringement per annum. We are going to spend more on enforcement than we will lose on the costs of infringement. On the face of it, that does not seem to be good value for the public purse or for the economy.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, the noble Lord has cited certain figures and I think it would be wise for me to give him a fuller answer than I have before me. Although I would say this, I believe that our arguments are robust. However, I will follow up his points and write to him.
Clause 13 specifies that various conditions must apply in prosecuting the offence. In particular, it must be established that the person accused of the offence should, first, have copied a registered design; secondly, knew that the design they copied was a registered design; and thirdly, copied the design without the consent of the registered design holder. Under the clause, it is also an offence knowingly to use a copied design in the course of business activities in order to profit from that copying. This would include acts such as marketing, exporting, using or stocking the design in the course of business. A prosecution will be successful only if the evidence is sufficient to satisfy the criminal legal burden of proof; that of being “beyond all reasonable doubt”. This is a high standard to achieve and will help to ensure that the offence does not affect innovation or legitimate and competitive risk-taking within business. The offence will not apply if the defendant can show reasonable grounds for believing that the design in question was invalid or where the person charged with the offence shows that there was no infringement of the registered design.
The clause provides that a trial may be on summary trial in a magistrates’ court or trial on indictment in a Crown Court. Of course, this will depend on the severity of the case. In a magistrates’ court, conviction could result in a term of imprisonment of up to six months in England and Wales and Northern Ireland and 12 months in Scotland, or a fine up to the statutory maximum, or both. In the Crown Court, conviction on indictment could result in imprisonment for up to 10 years, or to a fine, or both. The offence in this clause will be applicable only to designs registered prior to infringement, not to those registered after the copying has taken place. Under the clause, trading standards departments will have the power to enforce registered design copying, as they do now for trademark and copyright offences. They will also have powers of forfeiture.
Noble Lords raised a number of points. The noble Lords, Lord Stevenson and Lord Browne, raised the issue of the “chilling effect” of criminal sanctions. I reiterate that the clause is not intended to have a chilling effect on innovation or legitimate and competitive risk-taking within business. This is something that we were very much mindful of during the drafting of the offence as our policy intention was to target only those people who deliberately use somebody else’s ideas and creativity. Further, the offence depends on the infringing product having been made “exactly or substantially” to the registered design, and this should catch only those who set out to copy a registered design, not those who make distinguishable follow-on designs. This is why the offence requires the defendant to have known or have reason to believe that the design he or she copied was registered by someone else. Furthermore, this will have to be shown to the criminal standard of proof of “beyond all reasonable doubt”, which is an exceptionally high standard for prosecutors to meet in court.
As I mentioned earlier, this chilling effect has not been seen in Germany and the assertion of a chilling effect does not appear to be borne out by the experience of other jurisdictions that retain a criminal sanction for design copying. Germany is renowned for having a highly effective design system and it retains both civil and criminal sanctions. Although it is difficult to draw direct causality between Germany’s use of criminal sanctions and its successful system, we know that Germany has 10 times as many registered designs as the UK and it is unlikely that the criminal sanction has had an adverse effect on the number of registered designs or on the strong innovation performance of German SMEs, which is so evident to us all.
The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, asked whether it was fair to prosecute those who unknowingly stock or sell copied designs and cited the examples of Apple and Samsung. The innocent use of a copied design in the course of business would not be caught by the offence; for example, a retailer would be protected if a third party had manufactured the copies and sold them to the retailer as their own. In this case, the retailer would not be acting with the knowledge that the design was a copy and would not be found guilty of committing the offence. The activities that constitute using a design under the offence reflect the definition for “use of a design” contained in Section 7 of the Registered Designs Act 1949. Innocent acts are protected, therefore, under the clause because it contains the test of,
“knowing, or having reason to believe”,
that a design is copied.
Lord Howarth of Newport
I am most grateful to the Minister and apologise for intervening on him again. I just wonder whether the chilling effect may not work in another sense. As the Minister says, there is no evidence from the German experience that the existence of criminal sanctions has had any chilling effect on the registration of designs. But what evidence does he have to reassure us that people who might be uncertain as to whether the design that they wish to develop was so close to another design that it could be proved in court to be sufficiently similar to incur a penalty, they would therefore decide not to bother? Given the difficulties of definition in this field, is it not possible that the chilling effect may be to deter innovation and enterprise on the part of people who are worried that they would be moving too close to a design that was already registered?
Lord Howarth of Newport
I am grateful to the noble Lord for that clarification. Given that clarification, I have to say that I find myself profoundly opposed to what it is that I think he is seeking to achieve. While of course it is right that designers from the Bauhaus stable—Wagenfeld, Corbusier or Eames, although he was not from the Bauhaus—deserve to be recognised and to enjoy the protection of their intellectual property for a reasonable length of time, we are talking about a period that goes back to before 1957, half a century ago. I cannot see how it can be in the public interest that a monopoly should continue to be held in those designs. That is not least because no protection is being given to the designers themselves. The design rights have been sold on and inherited. Surely it must be desirable to limit the term of monopoly so that more people are able to have the benefit of iconic artefacts created according to these very beautiful and important designs at reasonable prices. The protectionism that the noble Lord is seeking to perpetuate through his amendment is not in the interests of our society, of our culture or, indeed, of our economy.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, I turn now to Amendments 24A and 24B. I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Jenkin for the constructive spirit in which he has offered them and indeed that he has agreed to wait for the results of the meeting to which he alluded. These amendments are related to the repeal of Section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 through the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. For the benefit of the Committee, and indeed of the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, I ask noble Lords to let me summarise briefly the reasons for the change.
The Government wish to ensure that all categories of artistic work enjoy the full term of copyright protection; that is, the life of the creator plus 70 years. Some artistic works that were industrially produced had 25 years’ protection. Once the repeal comes into force, which will take place after the consultation on the timing of the repeal and publication of a new impact assessment, these works will have the same term of protection. If a particular type of table is an artistic work protected by copyright, one will not be able to make a physical replica or reproduce an image of that table in a book without permission. Similarly, one will need the rights owner’s consent to make wallpaper that reproduced an artistic work, such as a print. Designers and companies that own rights in classic design furniture have been supportive of this change. As my noble friend Lord Jenkin said, next week my officials are meeting representatives of one such company as part of the Government’s ongoing dialogue with interested parties. We shall see what comes of that.
I am grateful that my noble friend Lord Jenkin continues to pay such close attention to the details of this change and for the intervention from the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, but I am not convinced that any further changes are necessary or desirable until the consultation has been completed.
Intellectual Property Bill [HL]
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Lord Howarth of Newport
Perhaps I may probe the noble Lord a little further on his views on what the optimum period for protection for design rights ought to be. It seems to me that, as a principle, protection of intellectual property ought to be for the minimum period consistent with encouraging innovation. There is a very large difference between the position in the European Union and the position under UK law. If the European Union provides protection for up to three years and under our own domestic law we provide protection for up to 15 years, that is a huge discrepancy. Will the Minister help us to understand the Government’s thinking on what really would be the optimum period of protection? Fifteen years seems a very long period. I appreciate that there are all sorts of situations and all sorts of varieties of design, and that longer protection may be more appropriate for some than for others, but what does he think should be the guiding principle?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I thank the noble Lord for that quite technical question. It is true that there is a clear discrepancy between three and 15 years. I think that it would be best if I write to the noble Lord and copy in other noble Lords with a substantive answer to clarify precisely how these time periods were arrived at and to give some background information on how they came about. I think that that is the best way forward.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, Amendments 3 and 9 address the transitional provisions associated with the changes to ownership of designs, as set out in Clauses 2 and 6.
I will first turn to Amendment 3, which seeks to amend Clause 2 on ownership of unregistered designs. The clause as drafted changes the default ownership requirement for commissioned designs from the commissioner to the designer, as the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, emphasised. The clause does not apply retrospectively, and designs created before commencement are therefore not caught by the change in the law.
In addition, an exception is made for designs created after the commencement date but under a contract that was entered into before the date of commencement. This recognises that certain enabling contracts would have been entered into before the change in the law and reflects the legal conditions in existence at the time. The Government believe that these exceptions will protect existing contracts and provide businesses currently entering into contracts with adequate time to adjust to the law.
The Government also recognise that this change is significant for the design industry and that raising awareness will be important. I hope to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Young, and all noble Lords that the Government will therefore work with stakeholders to ensure that they are aware of the change before the law comes into force. The Government will ensure that there is sufficient time to educate businesses before the commencement of this clause.
Amendment 9 proposes similar transitional arrangements in respect of Clause 6, relating to ownership of registered designs. The Bill includes provisions in Clause 22 that are broad enough to permit appropriate transitional arrangements to be put in place as and when the relevant parts of the Bill are enacted. These can be used in relation to Clause 6, and the Government therefore believe that this amendment is not necessary.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, or perhaps it was the noble Lord, Lord Young, asked what progress was being made in educating business. My officials have been working with stakeholders such as design and legal representatives for some time. We will continue to work through them as we take the Bill forward.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, raised an important point about how one might protect the commissioner, as opposed to the default position of the designer. In response to the issue of whether the commissioner should own the rights automatically, we believe that ownership should be a matter of contract. The noble Lord is correct. It is a matter that businesses should decide upon as they commission designs.
As to the matter raised by the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, regarding the commissioner being a sole trader, perhaps he could clarify his point.
Lord Howarth of Newport
I was trying to probe as to whether there was some distinction between the position of a designer who is employed by the commissioner and the position of an outside contractor whom the commissioner contracts to produce a design. In either case, we must be concerned to ensure that the legitimate interests of the commissioner are not neglected in this transition so that the design rights do not in future lie with the commissioner but with the designer.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The noble Lord again makes a good point. The default position is that it is down to the wording of the contract. However, having said that, I will write to the noble Lord to clarify what further protections there might be for the commissioners. As a matter of clarification, where a designer is employed, the employer will be the owner of the design. I hope that, in the mean time, this provides sufficient reassurance to the noble Lords, Lord Young and Lord Stevenson. I ask the noble Lord, Lord Young, to withdraw his amendment.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Stevenson for raising what I think the Committee will agree is a very important issue. Intellectual property law is infernally complex and difficult. It is labyrinthine, as my noble friend remarked a little earlier this afternoon. For the businesses that the Government rightly seek to assist through this legislation, there are real difficulties in understanding the law.
It is of course a long-standing principle that ignorance of the law is no excuse. However, the department will of course want to facilitate a good understanding of the law. It would be helpful if the noble Viscount would unfold his thinking to us about how this is actually to happen. Does the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills have the address of every business in this country, including sole traders and the myriad little businesses that come and go, perhaps entering different incarnations, which are very hard for anybody to trace? Of course he does not. Perhaps he expects them to have recourse to the websites of the business department and the IPO: is it envisaged that those websites should provide an encyclopaedic account of intellectual property law? I imagine it is not, although I am sure that the IPO, not least through the opinion service that this Bill legislates for, will always do its best to help people to understand the law as it may apply in their circumstances, and to know what opportunities the law creates for them.
My noble friend referred to the design professions and their representatives. However, I do not think anybody can be confident that the design professions necessarily represent perfectly everybody who practises in the relevant fields. Hard-pressed business people operating from day to day will often find it pretty difficult to know the rules of these very complex games. This debate is useful because government ought always to reflect on the practical impact of their legislation on those whose lives and businesses it will affect. As I noticed and readily acknowledge, the purpose here is to give assistance to business. However, the task of enabling small traders to steer their way through this labyrinth, small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, is massive. I am grateful to my noble friend for tabling this amendment and look forward very much to the Minister telling us a bit more about how the Government see this working in practice.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, this amendment would place a duty on the Secretary of State under this provision to report to both Houses of Parliament six months after the commencement of the Bill. The aim of the report would be to notify Parliament what plans the Government had put in place to educate business users about the changes to the law this clause brings about.
I agree with what I believe is the principle behind this amendment: that when changes to the law are made which could impact on businesses or consumers, the Government should provide guidance to users. The Government have already engaged with all key stakeholders through their consultations on the changes now set out in the Bill. I am grateful for the words from the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, who mentioned that he was aware of this.
This engagement continues as the Bill progresses through Parliament. In addition, the Government will be producing a plain English guide to the Bill, particularly aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, which will be issued before Report. The Intellectual Property Office continues to work through the representative bodies for the design sector to ensure that their members have the guidance they need on the new legislation, if it comes into force.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, asked how we can further penetrate the myriad businesses that may be affected. In the letters that we have pledged to write, we will add some information on publicity and distribution, which I hope will be helpful. He also asked further about this issue. I can reassure him that over the past year, almost 18,000 businesses benefited from face-to-face advice from the Intellectual Property Office, which also used online engagement extensively. I am proud to say, as the IP Minister, that it now has 18,000 Twitter followers, more than any other intellectual property office in the world.
The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, asked whether we could provide more information on what plans there were to educate as well as to inform business. These plans will build on the extensive work that the Intellectual Property Office already carries out through its business outreach programme and through schemes such as the training for business advisers across the UK. I hope these answers help to give some substantive responses to the questions raised by the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, and the noble Lord, Lord Howarth.
The Intellectual Property Office, on behalf of government, already reports on the support and guidance that it provides to businesses through its annual corporate report and chief executive’s report. Therefore, the Government are not persuaded that a commitment to Parliament to report on this specific area of business support needs to be set out in the Bill. Accordingly, I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, while strongly endorsing the thrust of my noble friend’s amendment, I simply ask the Minister when he replies if he will explain to the Committee how we can have confidence that the department and the Intellectual Property Office will be able to maintain the appropriate security of online communications. Also, can he assure us that they will be able to preserve documentation in perpetuity?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, Amendment 21 would place a duty on the registrar to encourage the use of online tools and digital platforms in the conduct of design registration. I welcome the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara and Lord Young of Norwood Green, raising this issue as it is an objective the Government already take seriously. IPO customers have indicated a genuine preference for the convenience offered by such services, and the IPO has further sought to incentivise such behaviour, for example by the use of lower fees for the electronic filing of trade mark applications. Currently more than 80% of trade mark applications occur online and therefore the Government see no reason why this figure cannot be achieved for online design applications. The IPO has recently migrated trade mark registrations to a fully electronic document management system and is starting to develop a similar system for design registration. The latter forms a commitment in the published corporate plan of the Intellectual Property Office, which I signed off earlier in the year.
Given the efforts that the office is making in this regard, I remain to be convinced that a specific duty needs to be set out in primary legislation. I understand the comments and the question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Howarth. The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, raised this issue too, in terms of ensuring that we can have confidence in the security of the Government’s digital services. I can assure noble Lords in the Committee today that the IPO’s policies for keeping information secure and for maintaining them in line with the Government’s wider commitments in this area are in place.
I hope this will provide sufficient reassurance to the noble Lord and that he will withdraw the amendment.
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, I begin by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, for his amendment. I do not underestimate the strength of his views on this particular issue and the remuneration for orphan works. I have listened very carefully today to his argument. As he well knows, I listened carefully in Grand Committee and, indeed, outside the Chamber to his views, which are well known.
It is one of the core principles of the Government’s proposals that remuneration is payable for the use of an orphan work. Making payment discretionary would risk undercutting the market. It would also risk rights holders not receiving the remuneration that they would otherwise be due. Therefore, to avoid unfair competition, it should not be cheaper to use an orphan work than a non-orphan work. Where cultural institutions are acting commercially, it seems only fair that they do not receive preferential treatment to other parties licensing in the market.
I can assure the noble Lord that in setting the tariff of remuneration the Government will ensure that, as far as possible, it reflects the appropriate tariff for the same type of use of a similar non-orphan work. Where an orphan work is not being used commercially the licence fee will reflect that. In such cases, the fee could be minimal. My officials are consulting the competition authorities about how tariffs are determined.
I will address a number of questions raised by noble Lords, in particular the noble Lord, Lord Howarth. First, he suggested that excluding digital photographs from the orphan works scheme might be a possibility. A stakeholder working group will be considering the possibility, at least initially, of excluding from the scheme photographs without an analogue context—so photographs merely taken from the internet would not qualify for an orphan works licence.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, suggested removing the principle of upfront payment and his views were very clear on that basis. We cannot, however, expect cultural institutions to ride over the rights of creators even in the interests of the public good. Of course we hope that there will not be returning rights holders. We hope that diligent search will identify any such people. However, the principle of upfront payment is an important one. Abandoning the principle of upfront payment is a guarantee to creators that even if their works are missed in the search, they will not be deprived of an income. The fact that rights holders may be content to allow their works to be used is not a reason for trying to reduce their legal rights. In many cases, the payments may be minimal, indeed nominal.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, also raised unclaimed licence fees—an issue alluded to by the noble Earl, Lord Erroll. The authorising body will hold unclaimed licence fees in an escrow account. Unclaimed fees could be used to subsidise the cost of running the orphan works scheme, or to pay for preservation costs in public institutions or industry training. There will be further consideration of these options with the input of stakeholders.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, raised the issue of a renewable term and the fact that he was not in favour of it. To allow for business certainty, there will need to be some limit on how long an orphan work can be used before a new authorisation would be required. Any returning rights holder would receive remuneration for this period of time and would be able to stop further use at the end of the period if they so wished. The metrics for determining the durations of licences have yet to be decided. In some cases, it might be a period of time; in others, it might be something else such as a print run. Therefore, there will be further consideration of how charges are determined but licence fees will be appropriate to the type of work and use proposed. I hope that, with those reassurances, the noble Lord will not press his amendment.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, the novelist Edith Wharton has a character in one of her early stories, a woman novelist, who discusses with her former lover what should be done with their love letters. She says:
“A keen sense of copyright is my nearest approach to an emotion”.
Noble Lords may be feeling rather similar by this stage of the proceedings. I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in the debate—my noble friends Lady Blackstone, Lord Howie of Troon and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara, as well as the noble Earl, Lord Erroll—for their very helpful contributions.
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, first, I appreciate the warm comments that have been made by my noble friends Lord Clement-Jones, Lord Jenkin, and Lady Buscombe, and also by the noble Lord, Lord Howarth. I agree that it is highly desirable from the Government’s perspective to understand and resolve issues outside the Chamber. I very much hope that will continue; I am sure it will. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, for the collegiate approach that he takes to these issues. It is much appreciated on this side.
I want to focus, as other noble Lords have done, on the report—or perhaps I should say the response to the informal consultation, a copy of which I have here —which I have read with interest. It is refreshing to read that views were in general very positive on having a report. I noted that the Motion Picture Association thought that the report should be developed in full and open dialogue with the copyright sector. That is all in the right spirit. Certainly, the Government believe that the proposed annual report will increase the transparency of IPO activities and they welcome the support from the respondents. Again, that should be a very good thing to highlight given some of the comments that have been made today.
The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, asked about issues that might be covered within the report. I confirm that I will want to look very carefully at all his points to see what we can say about them in the report, so I thank him for his input on that.
The noble Lord spoke also about the judicial review. I am afraid that all I can say at the moment from the Government perspective is that we have received a pre-action letter concerning copyright measures in the Bill to which we have responded. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.
The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, stated that he did not want to prejudge the debate on copyright exceptions. As I hope he will be aware, I am keen that Parliament should have the necessary time for debate on the statutory instruments—I think that I made that clear in Grand Committee.
Lord Howarth of Newport
The Minister very kindly answered a Written Question on whether an individual impact assessment would accompany each of the regulations introducing new exceptions. While I normally follow the noble Viscount with ease and find his presentations pellucid, I did not find the answer to his question without ambiguity. While I recognise that the impacts of some of the regulations may overlap, I think that it is extremely important that, when Parliament is considering this very important secondary legislation, we should have in each and every case the best impact assessment that the Government are able to provide. Will he assure us that that will be the case?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I thank the noble Lord for that point. I shall look again at what I said and what we produced. If we can improve on it, we most certainly will. I shall get back to the noble Lord on that point.
The Government are keenly aware of and sensitive to the concerns of creators in relation to metadata. They believe that an industry-led approach is most likely to identify the key issues and the most effective solutions. They warmly welcome the establishment of a metadata working group which brings together key players from across the industry, including the Association of Photographers, Stop43, the BBC, the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies, Getty Images and News Corporation. We will consider carefully any recommendations aimed at government and, if they are proportionate and effective, will certainly support them. I also commit to keeping Parliament informed on progress.
The Intellectual Property Office will also be working with the Technology Strategy Board to consider other options to tackle the issues around the misuse of digital images as well as search and stripping of metadata. I hope that in the light of what I have said in my brief comments my noble friend can withdraw his amendment.
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie(11 years, 3 months ago)
Grand CommitteeRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Lord Howarth of Newport
Before the Minister responds, the noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, apologised that she had to depart from the Committee because of a commitment, but she asked me to say that, as chair of the British Library, she associated herself with the points that I put forward in my remarks.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, the amendments cover both the scope and detail of the proposals for a UK orphan works scheme. Amendment 28L would limit who could be authorised to grant licences to use an orphan work and de facto would mean that only a collecting society already operating in the sector could be authorised to grant licences. The amendment assumes that all orphan works will be licensed by collecting societies. However, many orphan works are simply not of a type that is licensed collectively—unpublished works, diaries, old photographs and oral history recordings, for example. There will therefore need to be a separate independent authorising body for orphan works which are not covered by any collecting society.
Amendment 28M seeks to make clear that the orphan works scheme applies to a work where there are multiple rights owners and one or more of these are not known or cannot be traced. The Bill already makes provision for this. The requirement for a diligent search for the copyright owner will be described in greater detail in the regulations. This will include all relevant rights-holders where there is more than one.
Amendment 28N would mean that a separate diligent search had to be undertaken for every orphan work that someone wants to use. The clause already provides that a work must have been subject to a diligent search for the rights holders before it can qualify as an orphan work. However, requiring a separate diligent search for each individual orphan work could result in potential licensees having to conduct repetitious searches. For example, five poems by the same poet whose name is known, published by the same publisher, would require five separate diligent searches.
Amendment 28P is concerned with creators who have assigned some or all of their copyright in a work that goes on to be a suspected orphan work. The diligent search for rights holders will cover all potential rights holders in a work, including the creator. This amendment would also provide an author with a new right to remuneration for the use of an orphan work, even when the author had assigned the relevant copyright in the work to someone else. Only those who are rights holders will be entitled to remuneration for the use of an orphan work. This is exactly the same as for non-orphan works.
Amendments 28Q and 52 seek to clarify what the term “authorised” means in this subsection. In particular, they seek to ensure that those authorised to license orphan works cannot grant themselves a licence. This is an important point and one on which the clause is already clear—in new Section 116A(5)(c) introduced in Clause 68. Any body authorised to issue orphan works licences cannot license themselves to use an orphan work.
Amendment 28R would mean that a licence to use an orphan work must be time-limited and not run beyond the copyright term in a work. I can confirm that regulations will provide for limits for orphan works licences. These will be appropriate to the type of use being licensed and could be a time limit or a limit according to intended use—for example, a print run. In reality, sometimes it will not be possible to tell whether the copyright in an orphan work has expired.
My noble friend Lord Clement-Jones spoke to Amendment 28S, which I shall address at this point. The amendment seeks to clarify that orphan work licences can be granted even when it is not known whether an exclusive licence has been granted. An orphan works licence may be granted where a diligent search does not find all the relevant rights holders, including an exclusive licensee. The noble Baroness, Lady Warwick, raised this particular issue. Where the diligent search reveals the existence of an exclusive licence, the work will not qualify as an orphan work. Where an orphan works licence is granted following a diligent search but subsequently an exclusive licence holder appears, the exclusive licence holder will be treated in the same way as any other absent rights holder that appears. The detail of this will be set out in the regulations. That is why the clause specifically applies to cases where it is uncertain where the copyright subsists.
I turn to Amendment 30. This concerns the very important issue of remuneration being set aside for rights holders when an orphan works licence is granted. I can set on the record that the regulations will provide for the treatment of remuneration. I also draw my noble friend’s attention to the wording in the clause:
“The regulations must provide for the treatment of any royalties or other sums paid in respect of a licence”.
I believe that the term “royalties” is not used in all sectors but it is understood in the Bill to mean the same as “remuneration”. The phrase “other sums” would also cover any other types of fees to be set aside for rights holders. Therefore, the Government’s view is that the clause already provides for remuneration to be dealt with by the regulations.
I should like to pick up one point made by the noble Lord, Lord Howarth. He asked whether there will be proportionality in undertaking a diligent search. I hope that I have that right. Much work is already being undertaken in diligent search work for different types of work. This is being considered by the working group, which includes representatives of museums, libraries and archives.
I hope that in the light of the explanations and assurances that I have given, the noble Lord will agree to withdraw the amendment.
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie(11 years, 4 months ago)
Grand CommitteeRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, this has been a helpful and somewhat lengthy debate, which has included some passionate speeches from all sides of the Committee. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions.
I will clarify a couple of points. First, in relation to a point that was made by my noble friend Lord Plumb and led to a mini-debate concerning the figures in relation to retaining the Agricultural Wages Board, my noble friend is right to highlight the cost of the board. I have been advised that over recent years, the annual cost of running it has been around £180,000 and, for the ADHACs and the AWCs, the cost is around £20,000. That is just for the record. Secondly, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, brought up the issue of rates of pay for farm managers. He quoted a rate of £14.10 per hour. I should like to clarify, and I hope he will agree, that he quoted the overtime rates, not the basic rates. The minimum hourly wage rate is £9.40 and the overtime rate is £14.10.
I will address directly some of the procedural issues that have been raised by noble Lords. The first issue was the question of whether the Agricultural Wages Board met the requirements of the Public Bodies Act procedures. This was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, my noble friend Lord Plumb, and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Health. The Public Bodies Act is only one legislative route open to the Government to abolish the board. It is not the only route and it is perfectly open to the Government to decide upon another legislative option.
It would be politic to explain a little more about this. The Public Bodies Act created a specific set of arrangements for the reform of a wide range of public bodies by means of secondary legislation, which included the consent of Welsh Ministers, even where they exercised only minor functions. Welsh Ministers have specific, minor functions under agricultural wages legislation, for example in relation to the appointment of members of the Agricultural Wages Board, and ministerial consent was therefore needed to the proposal to abolish the board under the Public Bodies Act. The Welsh Government refused to give consent without powers to set agricultural wages and other terms and conditions being transferred to the Welsh Ministers. The Government could not agree to this for two main reasons. First, we regard this as a non-devolved matter relating to employment and, secondly, this would involve using the Public Bodies Act to extend devolution in a way that was never intended. I hope that that goes some way to explain why the Agricultural Wages Board stood out on its own.
Lord Howarth of Newport
Will the Minister also be good enough to explain to the Committee why it is acceptable for the Government to use the Bill to alter the effect of the Public Bodies Act, whereas it is not acceptable for the Opposition to use the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill to alter the effect of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I note the point that the noble Lord is making but I was addressing purely the issues relating to the Agricultural Wages Board. I do not want to address or make a comparison with any other issue.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I will move on to the issues that have been raised about the consultation period. Several noble Lords raised this issue, including the noble Lords, Lord Whitty, Lord Howarth of Newport and, indeed, Lord Knight of Weymouth.
The policy on the abolition of the AWB and related committees was first announced in July 2010, so there has been plenty of time for stakeholders and interested parties to make their views known. In particular, key stakeholders had the opportunity to do so during meetings of the Agricultural Wages Board and the Agricultural Wages Committees. The department felt that a four-week consultation period was proportionate and realistic, given the length of time that the policy had already been in the public domain. This is also in line with the Government’s new consultation principles.
In this respect I will address a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, when he expressed concerns about those principles. The new principles allow for a tailored approach to the circumstances and needs of a particular case. Twelve weeks is not necessary in every case. The principles say that the timeframes for consultation should be “proportionate and realistic”. The department considers that the timeframe for this consultation was appropriate, given that the policy had been known for some time, as I explained a little earlier.
As mentioned, we also sent the consultation document to 13,000 bodies and held six meetings throughout the country to enable views to be heard. This very much involved Defra, which was also very much involved in disseminating information to those bodies and to many businesses to make them aware of the launch of the consultation.
Lord Howarth of Newport
I apologise for troubling the Minister again, but would he also explain, because I think people in Wales would be very interested to know his account of this, why one week’s consultation was good enough for Wales when four weeks was allowed for England?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I have to say that it was news to me—I have heard it today for the first time—that there was one week’s consultation. It is my clear indication that it was not one week. It was a lot longer than that. I do hope that it was at least four weeks, but I will certainly get back to the noble Lord to clarify this, as it is important.
The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, in expressing concerns about the consultation responses, also stated that he wanted clarification. On the question of where the consultation responses are, all the responses are publicly available in the Defra library. Moreover, Defra officials specifically alerted the former Unite leader to the availability of the responses.
On the content of the responses, it is worth pointing out to noble Lords that there were 939 respondees, of which 345—37%—agreed with the proposal to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board; some 575—61%—were against, and 2% were “don’t knows”. The main point I want to make is that of the 575 against, 242 came from the same website.
Arts Funding in North-East England
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie(11 years, 5 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My noble friend makes a good point, and much is being done to encourage funding in the arts outside London. I am delighted to report today that a report has been produced called Philanthropy Beyond London, written by the chair of the Birmingham Opera Company. The report makes 19 recommendations to regional cultural organisations, the Government and Arts Council England to take matters forward.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, will the Minister accept that not only culture but the economy and democracy in the north-east and all across England would flourish more if Whitehall would abandon its jealous and rigid controls over what local authorities are permitted to raise, spend and do? I encourage him to have a conversation on the subject with his noble friend Lord Heseltine.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
As mentioned before, it is not our business to interfere with how local authorities spend their funds. Arts Council England is working extremely closely with Newcastle City Council at the moment to find a way forward through the problems highlighted today by the noble Earl. The Government have a number of initiatives on the go, including the Catalyst programme which is designed to release endowments and to encourage legacy giving. There are many initiatives afoot to help the arts and culture sector.
Broadband: Street Cabinets
Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Lord Howarth of Newport
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have so far received about their plan to allow broadband street cabinets to be installed without the prior approval of local planning authorities.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, the Government wish to roll out the best, superfast broadband of any major European country by 2015 to meet demand and hasten economic growth. Six representations have been received, from English Heritage, MPs’ constituents, a local council and private individuals. English Heritage raised the possible impact on the physical amenity, but wished to contribute supportively. The others had similar concerns and asked about plans to consult, which I can confirm will take place.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, will the Government think again about allowing broadband providers to install their bulky and intrusive equipment wherever they decide is convenient for them without a requirement for planning permission or even for local consultation? While no one wishes to thwart the distribution of superfast broadband, can we not handle this in a civilised way and in a spirit of genuine localism? Should not the claims of amenity and quality of the built environment be weighed alongside the claims of economic development and adjudicated through the local planning system, as has long been the practice in our country?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I can understand the noble Lord's concerns. However, the changes to the formal planning process do not mean that broadband providers have carte blanche to install street cabinets or poles wherever or whenever it suits them. They must still notify planning authorities of their siting plans and consider requests for changes to be made. In exceptional circumstances, planning authorities can remove permitted rights to develop by using an Article 4 direction. The main broadband suppliers have agreed to develop a code of practice with DCMS whereby the siting of cabinets must have regard to proximity to any existing street furniture, minimising the visual impact and of course ensuring optimum safety on the streets. Sensitivity to locals is the byword, with planning and assessment made in advance.