Julian Smith
Main Page: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)(9 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Jesse Norman
I assume that the hon. Lady means that the response from Openreach was incomprehensible, rather than the e-mails that she received from her constituents. [Laughter.] That is a vital clarification. I cannot comment on the quality of the e-mails, but I can absolutely identify with those who are experiencing those problems, and, indeed, with my constituents who have experienced them as well.
This is a highly profitable business whose network expansion has been significantly de-risked by lots of cash from taxpayers. I should like to see much more openness towards end users, a public commitment to higher standards of service, and, potentially, an opening up of the network so that other operators can offer enhanced services, including customer service—if not, indeed, the possibility of full separation. I should be grateful if the Minister would add his voice, and his enormous authority, to this issue.
Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)
In the short term, Openreach could do a great deal by pushing forward with its “fibre to the node” technology, which is an issue that the Minister has been working hard to solve. The technology could reach many of the communities to which my hon. Friend has referred, and BT and Openreach could do much more in that regard.
Jesse Norman
My hon. Friend is right. Nodes need fibrous connections.
Access to fast broadband and mobile services is not a luxury or a game, but a necessity. It is vital to the successful work of businesses in our constituencies and the social well-being of our constituents—all the more so in rural areas, isolated as they are. Connectivity presents the possibility of a long-term renaissance in our rural economies, but we need continued, concerted and resolute action to deliver it. That action must come from the telecommunications industry, from the Government, and from the regulators.
Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman) for securing this debate.
North Yorkshire was one of four pilot areas that won a Government commitment in 2010 to push forward with superfast broadband in rural areas. To counter the comments of the jumping jack shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), the whole idea of the project was that it should be driven by communities and not top down from London, and that approach has worked to great effect in North Yorkshire. The group of MPs, including my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy), the council and local politicians have all driven Superfast North Yorkshire, which is now delivering to 86% of the most rural county in England, and that figure will rise to 90% over the next year.
Our contract was different from the Broadband Delivery UK contract. It was a specific contract with, ultimately, BT, but it was very competitive: there was full competition and transparency and BT won it at the end of the day. I pay tribute to those working locally, including John Moore, the chief executive of NYnet—the broadband body of North Yorkshire county council—who will retire in the next couple of months, and my predecessor John Watson, who has chaired that body. The contract has some great innovations. BT will pay back money to the council as part of it, if demand and usage are adequate. BT is also committed fully to a minimum of 2 Mb for all areas of North Yorkshire, whatever happens, and we will hold it to that commitment.
Farms and hard-to-reach areas in the most rural communities of Skipton and Ripon and North Yorkshire face huge challenges, and I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) that they will be solved only through wireless and innovative technologies. The cost of delivering through BT could be up to £1,500 per house and it is only innovation that will get us there.
Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech about competition and the benefits of the scheme in his area. Does he agree with me, as chairman of the parliamentary space committee, that broadband links certainly have a role to play in the short term, although fibre is clearly the long-term solution?
Julian Smith
I agree. That is a valid point and I acknowledge my hon. Friend’s expertise on this topic.
I pay tribute to the Government for the £10 million fund for innovation—North Yorkshire has one pilot project called Airwave—but the exceptional broadband Minister may need to dig a little deeper over the coming months and years in order to top up that fund and get a few more pilot projects going. I pay tribute to LN Communications in North Yorkshire, which, through David Hood and other investors, is trying to deliver solutions.
Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech and he is absolutely right to champion the success—a lot of which is down to the Minister—in delivering broadband to a number of communities in North Yorkshire and York over the past few years. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is critical that we ensure that those last few remaining rural communities without high-speed broadband in his constituency and mine can get connected? A digital divide is materialising and this is about getting the last penny we can out of the funding.
Julian Smith
Absolutely. That is a well-made point. This is not just about the Government’s responsibilities; people are taking responsibility themselves. The B4RN project—Broadband for the Rural North—split between Lancashire and Yorkshire has sought out all of the disused wires and cables to make the most of the opportunities to deliver superfast broadband.
We have not yet discussed the issue of demand, demand stimulation and how much superfast broadband is being used by our communities. On average, the figure is 18% to 20%, and in North Yorkshire it is about 20% to 25%, but we need to get those numbers up. The Opposition criticised the Government for an ad campaign over Christmas, but the Government were absolutely right to spend that money. What is the point of all the pipework and infrastructure if they are not going to spend money to encourage people to use it?
Julian Smith
I am not going to give way to jumping jack.
I pay tribute to the expertise of Chris Townsend, who has no need to do the job but who is giving great public service by leading BDUK and pushing us forward.
We have talked about Openreach, and I concur with all the comments made. We are generally happy with BT in North Yorkshire, but there have been major service and data issues. We have tried to get information from particular boxes so that we can work out where we can improve and get more demand—again, the Minister has been helpful in knocking heads together. The issue of fibre to the node is providing opportunities to get deeper into rural areas, although BT has dragged its feet on that.
Ultimately, the infrastructure of the fourth national utility is managed as a subsidiary to the overarching board of a global successful corporation. Is that the right structure going forward? In football rights versus infrastructure I think football rights will always probably win, and we must have a real think. Ofcom started that in the past few weeks, and we must think over the coming years, with a Conservative-led, competition-driven Government, about how Ofcom is structured for the future.
Chris Bryant
The hon. Gentleman will be speaking in a few moments and we wait with bated breath. If he can bate his breath, I will bate mine.
When BT appeared before the Select Committee it said that we probably would not get to the 90% target until 2018, so there are problems. The Committee was absolutely right when it reported today that
“Repeated changes in target dates for rollout of superfast broadband inevitably reduce confidence that coverage will be achieved on time. They also leave those in the hardest-to-reach areas uncertain as to when their businesses will be able fully to engage with digital practices.”
The Committee, which is made up of all political parties in this House, is absolutely right.
There are key decisions that I think the Government have taken ill-advisedly. The most important in terms of mobile telephony roll-out—the hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon) effectively referred to this—is in relation to the electronic communications code. There are landowners in the country who have made it phenomenally difficult to put up a new mast or increase the size of a mast. The provisions in the electronic communications code need to be more like those that exist for electricity and water—the common utilities that we absolutely need—than as a luxury, which was how mobile phone telephony was originally looked on. The Government got the Law Commission to report two years ago on the electronic communications code. Only at the very last minute did they table very poorly drafted amendments to the Infrastructure Bill. They could have been on the Order Paper to be properly considered in the normal way a year ago. If hon. Members really want to tackle the problems of mobile telephony coverage across the country, they have to deal with the electronic communications code. The Government have misplayed this matter completely.
Incidentally, the hon. Member for Newbury said that we had to listen to the silent majority. I am not quite sure how one listens to silence. Maybe the point is that the silent majority are not connected and so do not have an opportunity to tell us what they think.
Another failed programme from the Government was the £150 million mobile infrastructure project. One hon. Member gently suggested that it is a bit of a failing if only two masts, serving another 400 homes, have been put up in all that time. That is not a slight failure—it is a massive failure. The Government should be coming to the Dispatch Box to hang their heads in shame.
Another £150 million has been allocated to the super-connected cities programme, but why just cities? Why did they decide to give out vouchers only for superfast cities? Why not the whole country? I represent an area—
Chris Bryant
No, I will not give way to the hon. Gentleman. We are going to hear from the Minister—
Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)
Order. Look, this debate is not going to degenerate now. If the Minister can control himself, he will be on shortly, and if Back Benchers want to intervene, will they please do it in the correct manner?