Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Main Page: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Vaizey of Didcot's debates with the Home Office
(11 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD)
1. What recent discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on broadband coverage in Scotland.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
My Department and the Scotland Office have had regular discussions with the Scottish Government on broadband coverage in Scotland, including on the delivery of two projects for the highlands and islands and for the rest of Scotland. These projects will make superfast broadband available to more than 670,000 homes and businesses.
Mr Reid
I thank the Minister for that answer, but approximately 17% of the homes in Argyll and Bute will not receive next generation broadband from the BT contract to lay fibre-optic cables. More innovative solutions are needed to deliver next generation broadband throughout the highlands and islands. Will my hon. Friend work with the Scottish Government to come up with innovative solutions, so that all the homes in Argyll and Bute can have access to next generation broadband?
John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)
2. What progress her Department has made in rolling out rural broadband.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
Forty two local broadband projects have now agreed contracts and are in implementation, and we are now passing approximately 10,000 premises every week. We have made a huge amount of progress.
John Glen
I thank the Minister for that answer, but what do I say to the local authority and residents in villages such as Pitton who believe they are in the percentage that will not qualify for the imminent roll-out through the BT deal? They want to be free to develop new community-based solutions with alternative providers, as they anticipate they will not get anything from BT for a long time.
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
This is not just an issue for rural areas. Semi-rural areas often fall between two stools. It is difficult for people to get broadband to their home, either because they are too far from the final mile or because the bung that has been given to BT to roll this out across the country and make it almost impossible for anybody else to compete has made it difficult for other operators to get into areas such as the Rhondda.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)
What will my hon. Friend say to the 5% of those living in the hills, particularly farmers, who will not have access to superfast broadband by 2016? Will he implement the Select Committee report recommendation that they be given advance warning, so they can make alternative arrangements to those on offer from BT?
Mr Vaizey
As I have said repeatedly, it is up to local authorities to publish their local broadband plans and I am delighted, particularly after the Secretary of State wrote to them, that many have now done so. People in Wiltshire and Yorkshire will know where the project is rolling out.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
It seems to me that BT is a big company that sometimes does not treat small communities very well. May I draw to the attention of the Minister the village of Rushden in my constituency, where residents are complaining that they are not getting the proper broadband access they deserve, despite their best efforts with BT?
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
3. What plans she has in place if newspaper proprietors do not sign up to the Privy Council’s royal charter for regulating the press.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
12. What recent estimate she has made of the number of households in (a) Wiltshire and (b) the UK that will have superfast internet access on the 4G spectrum but not through fixed-line broadband by January 2015.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
The four mobile network operators are aiming to roll out 4G mobile broadband services to 98% of the population. EE is aiming to reach that by the end of 2014, and the others by the end of 2015.
Duncan Hames
I thank the Minister for his reply, but he has not been able to share with me the number of households that will not have access to fixed-line solutions by that time: in communities in a large part of my constituency, from Hilperton and Semington to Whitley, fixed-line fibre installations will not even have begun. Will he issue guidance to local authorities on how they can use mobile spectrum-based solutions in their broadband programme?
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
14. What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on payment to artists by online music streaming services.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
My colleague the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and I are keen to ensure that artists are appropriately rewarded for their creative content, including in the online world. Where music-streaming sites are legitimate, the payment of royalties is a commercial arrangement between the rights-holder and the online service provider.
Kerry McCarthy
I thank the Minister for that response. A number of musicians have recently pulled their music from Spotify because the amounts that such online services pay is so minuscule that the emergence of new artists and the financial sustainability of new music are being threatened. Does he think that the larger labels should follow the example of some indie labels and give a 50:50 split to their artists?
Mr Vaizey
As we are talking about new or emerging artists, may I use this opportunity to congratulate James Blake on winning the Mercury award last night? He is a classically trained pianist who won for his album of ambient music. I would hesitate to interfere in the commercial arrangements of either the big labels or the indie labels, but I am sure that each can learn from the other.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the Minister for explaining the greatness of that particular James Blake, because I had in mind a very distinguished black American tennis player of the same name. I am obliged to the Minister for educating me.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
Slamming is against the Ofcom regulations, and I am appalled to hear about what my hon. Friend’s constituent has gone through. I will certainly do everything I can to assist her, as this is an appalling practice.
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)
Will Ministers join me in congratulating the National Theatre on 50 years at the very heart of our cultural and artistic life? It is a great reminder of the sheer quality of the excellence of our national arts institutions, many of which are based in the capital. Outside London, however, the picture is now very different. I pay tribute to those who have produced a report today showing the massive disparity in Government and lottery support for the arts. What the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant) said earlier is wholly wrong: whereas Londoners get £70 per head each year the rest of the country gets only £4.60 per head. So what are the Government going to do to rebalance our cultural economy?
Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)
T6. I am extremely grateful to the Minister for the detailed correspondence that he has had with me on the technical issue of radio spectrum use for DAB, but on my constituents’ advice I remain concerned that successive Governments may have wasted some radio spectrum. Would he please arrange a meeting between me and my constituents and the relevant technical staff to try to lay this issue to rest?
Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)
T2. I hesitate to make a party political point, but I must pick up the Secretary of State on what she has just said. There are real problems with arts funding outside London, as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman). It is not the case that the previous Government did nothing. My own city, Liverpool, saw a renaissance in the cultural sector. Will the Government now play their part and commit to a report on proper cultural funding for cities that do not happen to be our capital?
Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)
T7. With reference to the growing rural economy, what reassurance can my hon. Friend give my constituents that we will have 90% rural broadband roll-out across Stroud by 2015?
Mr Vaizey
I am delighted to update the House on the significant progress we are making. We are connecting more than 10,000 homes a week. Half the projects that are under way are already ahead of schedule and we are bringing in 4G two years ahead of schedule. This is a triumphant programme.
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
T3. On Monday I asked the Minister for Universities and Science why the UK is the only country in the EU that will introduce a private copying exception without a levy on copying devices to compensate UK artists, and he said that other countries had introduced far wider exceptions, which is not the case: only two of them have. Will the Minister talk to his counterpart in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to ensure that our artists are not left worse off than those in the rest of the EU?
Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West) (LD)
T8. Today has seen the launch of the all-party group report on nuisance calls. It contains 16 excellent recommendations which, if implemented, would significantly increase protection for vulnerable consumers, improve the effectiveness of the regulators, and renew confidence in the telecoms and direct marketing industries. Will my hon. Friend therefore support my private Member’s Bill tomorrow to implement some of those recommendations as soon as possible?
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab)
T5. A change to the royal charter on the press requires a two-thirds majority, so some hon. Members’ votes will have twice the weight of those of other hon. Members. Will the Secretary of State put this constitutional innovation to a vote in this House?
Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)
The Minister will be aware that North Yorkshire has taken great strides in rolling out superfast broadband across the county. The project is near completion. Will the Minister consider early release of the phase 2 funding for areas such as North Yorkshire to help bridge the digital divide in those areas?
Mr Vaizey
May I use this opportunity to congratulate North Yorkshire on forging ahead with the superfast broadband programme, which has made astonishing progress? I hear what my hon. Friend says. We are working out the details of how to allocate the next tranche of funding to take superfast broadband to 95% and I will keep him informed.
Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)
What progress has the Secretary of State made to prevent tickets for the 2015 rugby union world cup from being bought up and resold with a great mark-up on the secondary market? There is clearly a great desire that something should be done to crack down on that, so will she confirm that she will introduce the necessary legislation, as we had for the Olympics, and kick the touts into touch?