Broadband (North of England)

Kate Green Excerpts

Tuesday 8th April 2014 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Mr Sanders. As a west country man, you may not fully agree, but I believe that the quality of life that we enjoy in the north of England is higher than that of the south. I recognise, however, that big differences remain between our economies; the north’s lags quite a way behind the south’s. There are many reasons for that, and one of the main ones is our relative lack of infrastructure. We have, historically, described infrastructure in terms of power generation or transport links, but that is an old definition. Broadband is one of the key infrastructures that we need to take advantage of the opportunities of the digital age.

The Government have been right to recognise that broadband matters; they have put significant investment behind it quickly and extended it widely, and brought in private sector capital. They recognised early that the opportunities are so wide that they have an impact on, and improve, many aspects of life. Some of those influences are critical for the future, such as helping with education, telehealth and keeping the economy competitive. There are opportunities to enhance the quality of our lives significantly by keeping in touch with family and friends, and there are things that are simply fun, such as streaming films or gaming. I will highlight a couple of important things relevant to my area: telehealth and business.

Telehealth or telemedicine is a means of using technology for access to expertise whenever it is needed, and for the provision of care. It helps in tackling the challenges of an ageing population and helps people to stay in their own homes. It brings health care into people’s homes or communities, however remote those are. Telehealth is a simple idea, on which we have leadership in the north of England. I have seen an impressive demonstration of telemedicine by doctors from Airedale general hospital, and have seen it in use in the stroke unit at Harrogate district hospital, where the clinicians can access the best stroke care remotely. A good, fast internet connection is needed for that, which means superfast broadband. Telemedicine is part of the future, and it is fantastic.

In the world of business, which was my background before I became a Member of Parliament, people must be accessible to their customers, and that now includes web access. Different parts of the north have strengths in different sectors, and I am sure that other hon. Members will focus on the ones relevant to their areas. Two with scale in North Yorkshire are the visitor economy and agriculture.

Last week was English tourism week, and as part of that I visited several tourism facilities in my constituency, including the Bijou Boutique bed and breakfast in Harrogate. The proprietors, Stephen and Jill Watson, talked to me about the large proportion of their customers who find out about them online and book online. Managing their online presence is critical so that more customers will be able to learn what their business has to offer. That is particularly true for our area, where so much of the economy is driven by visitors.

A highlight this year will be when we host the grand départ of the Tour de France. It is only 90 or so days away, and Yorkshire will become a huge visitor and media attraction. Superfast North Yorkshire has responded by enabling communities along the route to get broadband. The roll-out may not be completed before the tour arrives, but at least it has listened, responded and made progress.

Superfast broadband is not just about reaching customers, and enabling them to reach businesses in turn. It drives business efficiency, helps with access to purchasing deals and takes cost and bureaucracy out of the business. We can see that in the agricultural sector, where some regulatory matters require an online presence. For example, the online cattle tracing system and dealing with the Rural Payments Agency require connectivity. Government is going online. Businesses with a turnover of more than £100,000 must fill in their VAT returns online; there is no choice. That catches many farmers and rural businesses, and it is not easy to do that through a slow dial-up facility.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing a debate on a subject of great importance both to his constituents, who live in a rural setting, and to businesses on the largest industrial estate in Europe—Trafford Park, in my constituency. Does he agree that although those businesses may have very different characteristics, they all share an urgent need for superfast broadband connection, to maximise business potential?

[Andrew Jones]

Yes, I strongly agree with that argument. I do not think that the scale or sector of a business, or the geography, really matter. The point about broadband is the ability to get access to customers all over the world. We need it, and quickly. The hon. Lady’s point is absolutely correct. For a rural business, dialling up on a slow landline that other family members might also use is incredibly slow going. Businesses without connectivity are being left behind, which is why good, reliable superfast broadband matters.

I want to share with the House one of the successful lessons of the North Yorkshire roll-out. North Yorkshire will shortly become the best connected county in the country, because our delivery vehicle was already in place as the Government launched their broadband strategy. That vehicle was a company started previously by North Yorkshire county council, called NYnet. NYnet has done extremely well, and deserves congratulations and praise from across the county. Being in a position to start promptly and knowing where some of the challenges would lie made a difference. North Yorkshire was the first county in the country to award its roll-out contract. The roll-out has been going at the rate of about 6,000 to 7,000 properties per month, which is a good rate. I checked the latest data and at the end of last week 102,402 properties had been enabled to receive superfast broadband of at least 25 megabits per second.

Just having the capacity, however, is not enough. People have to choose it. Take-up is running at 16.2 %, and rising sharply. Superfast North Yorkshire expects to reach 20% take-up by summer, and 30% by the middle of next year. That is significant as those rates of take-up also trigger clawback elements in the contract, so the roll-out provider—in this case, British Telecom—will have to pay money back to NYnet. It will be able to use that for reinvestment to roll out broadband to remaining properties, perhaps as match funding for Government schemes. The lesson from the roll-out is that the importance really lies in demand stimulation for both residential and business customers.

In North Yorkshire, significant business support and training have been on offer. There have been local conferences at Ripon racecourse and Fountains abbey, ably organised by my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith); my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) came to speak. We encouraged business and communities to get involved. There has been good business follow-up and more than 900 businesses have been helped.

I saw for myself how Superfast North Yorkshire has been operating when I attended the launch of the service in Boroughbridge in my constituency. I thought that it was good marketing, and I come from a marketing background. It was 6 December last year. We had a roadshow, involving the local school, the local mayor, local businesses, Father Christmas, of course, and some Christmas carols, Christmas punch and Christmas cake. It was a very Christmas-themed event. We also had a giant mouse, which I used for a ceremonial switching on of the service, and, to communicate that the service was available, a fibre-optic Christmas tree lit up to symbolise it. Basically, everything added up to show that something had happened—something new, fun and for everyone. I have been informed by the local community that the take-up in Boroughbridge has been high.