Louise Haigh
Main Page: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)Digital Economy Bill (Fourth sitting)
Louise Haigh ExcerptsTuesday 18th October 2016
(8 years, 2 months ago)
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Calum Kerr
I welcome the opportunity as a new boy in the Bill Committee process to go first. This is the first time I have spoken in this place with my jacket off.
We support the universal service obligation and think it is a positive move, but one of our concerns is the lack of detail on it. The document put out by the Government last week was welcome and provided more context. However, something that is continually missing when talking about speed is that speed is about not just download but upload. We are trying to make that more explicit. The amendment is a small word change, but it is required as we start to recognise what broadband and connectivity is all about. It is more than just the headline speed at which we can download at certain times of the day.
Louise Haigh (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab)
I rise to support amendment 83, which stands in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West and I, and amendment 56, tabled by the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.
All members of the Committee agree that we must do everything we can to ensure that individuals have access to superfast and, soon, ultrafast broadband. It is not only important but, in an ever more connected age, an absolute necessity for both businesses and residences. That is why we support the Government’s tacit aim to designate broadband effectively as a utility in the same way that water and energy are classed as a must-have in the modern world.
We will speak later about our concerns about the universal service obligation, but broadly we believe that there is coalition of support for a much more ambitious USO. That is why we were pleased to hear that the USO can be amended in secondary legislation later when it becomes outdated. However, I fear that, by the time it is introduced, it will already be becoming seriously outdated and, indeed, by 2020, it may feel like a relic of a bygone age when superfast and ultrafast broadband, even in rural areas, will be readily accessible. That is the subject of our new clause, which we will consider shortly.
On amendment 56, it is absolutely right to specify upload and download in the Bill. As we have seen all too often, businesses and residences see a particular speed advertised with no correlation between what they can download and upload. For someone with a business and working from home, accessing online services and transferring files to them can take a lot of time if the upload speed is not up to scratch. That is an obvious cost to businesses. It is not merely an irritant, but a loss in pounds and pence, and in productivity to the UK economy.
There is no mention in the Bill of upload speeds in the USO. That leads to a broader problem of lack of ambition throughout the Bill. Factors such as distance from the telephone exchange and other considerations such as old household wiring can slow down speed. That is why the USO, although welcome, will seem extraordinarily dated in just half a decade, when the roll-out of the USO will have been completed and there will be little appetite for providers or the Government to return to those hard-to-reach places for some time.
On tackling upload and download speeds, we would have preferred the USO to be under the superfast designations from the beginning. An example of the impact of superfast roll-out on one small business demonstrates this perfectly. Within the first year of having superfast broadband, the business reported a 30% increase in sales. We should be ambitious for our small businesses. Instead, this USO potentially condemns them to distinctly average speeds for a decade.
Amendment 83 is a probing amendment to test the Government’s ambition, which certainly needs to be tested throughout the Bill. It is based on a simple principle. We are at the start of a digital revolution that will transform how we work and how we communicate and interact with one another. Access to water and electricity in the home bookmarked our evolution to a more civilised society, so the essentials of the modern era should be similarly guaranteed. The Bill does that in part for broadband and we strongly believe it should cement further ways to roll out universal or near universal coverage for mobile communication.
We broadly support the changes to clause 2 and the amendments to the electronic communications code. Assisting mobile network operators in some of the challenges facing them is obviously important. That includes access to land and knocking down some of the absurd hurdles they must jump through to make what most people would consider sensible adjustments to infrastructure to update existing technology with little visual impact.
The Bill contains changes to a highly complex piece of legislation, which the industry has been seeking to change for some time. Indeed, the Law Commission commented that the legislation is not one of Parliament’s finest efforts. We recognise that. It clearly is not. However, although simplification and amendments to the code are important, there can be little doubt that mobile network operators will receive a substantial boon. That is why this amendment is so important and it is puzzling that the Government did not include it.
Evidence to the Committee suggested that the Bill could reduce the cost of site rental for mobile network operators, which make up a substantial portion of their costs at 40%. With the operators receiving effectively all they have asked for—no one blames them with such a complex and restrictive code—it is clear that our sights must be set firmly on delivery and the Government should not set their ambitions too low. That is what our probing amendment covers and why it is important that, during the passage of the Bill, we receive at least some commitment to improved targets on mobile network coverage.
We are slightly dismayed that the industry will benefit from such a clearly beneficial piece of legislation and that the Government will impose few or no conditions on them beyond what has already been agreed. We are aware that the £5 billion investment and the statutory target were tied to changes to the code, but we are not convinced that the benefits for consumers are greater than the benefits that are being approved for mobile network operators and we would certainly welcome greater reassurance on that from the Minister.
Let us look quickly at the targets set out in the binding agreement in 2014, signed by the then Culture Secretary, the right hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid). They were: guaranteed voice and text coverage by each operator to 90% of the population and full coverage to 85% by 2017. Currently, only 46% of premises have access to 4G from all mobile network operators and a substantial 7% of the population—1.5 million homes nationwide—do not have basic voice or text coverage across the three networks.
The failed Mobile Infrastructure Project, supposed to reach the final notspots, closed in 2015-16. It had erected only 76 of 100 masts, leaving a substantial number of homes without the prospect of having complete voice and text coverage. Given that 71% of businesses rated mobile network access as “critical” or “very important” to their business we believe that mobile network coverage, as broadband is tacitly designated in this Bill, should also be considered a utility. That is what our probing amendment seeks to test.
Clearly, everyone in the country, if asked, would agree. Businesses that rely on mobile networks, local authorities and individuals that use them to communicate would welcome a right to have mobile network coverage within their place of work or at home. This is extremely achievable but the Opposition are concerned that institutional defensiveness from the major network operators is getting in the way of full or near universal coverage for consumers. More than 99% of residents in the UK have access to 2G or 3G of some kind and 90% have access to 4G of one kind. However, for all operators, the figure drops to just 46%.
The infrastructure is in place and it understandably infuriates people working in an office or at home when their colleagues can get network coverage and access to data services while they cannot. While we recognise the concerns around commercial incentive, surely it is right that, once the current phase of the roll-out is complete and significant gaps in full coverage across all mobile network providers still remain, we at least reconsider the case for national roaming and national infrastructure, as is commonplace on the continent.
We are a relatively small island and it should not be the case that commercial defensiveness makes the aspiration of near universal coverage far from a reality. That is why we will table another new clause relating to this part of the Bill to test it before the whole House. It will establish a review of the roll-out of mobile network coverage, which is a critical piece of infrastructure for businesses, residents, and emergency services. As yet, due to what appears to be institutional wrangling and commercial defensiveness, this coverage is not being extended to the entire population in a way they would expect.
As we know from evidence given to the Committee last week, currently more than 60% of communications towers globally are held in an entity separate from the networks that use them. The review will have to take another look at greater diversity in mobile infrastructure and national roaming in order to deliver a universal service. In countries such as the United States, the figure for independent infrastructure is more like 90%. In the United Kingdom, as the Committee knows, it is more likely that that infrastructure is erected on an economic case for the network and operated for the benefit of the network that makes the investment. That is fine up to a point, in that it undoubtedly encourages competition among network providers in areas where they can receive a substantial return, but it makes universal network coverage more difficult to achieve when there is 90% of coverage for 4G of some kind, but only 46% for all kinds.
Our review will also look at open data and how, by routinely publishing costs, location of masts, service quality and plans for roll-out, consumers, particularly in rural areas, but also in urban “nearly and notspots” can make better decisions about which network operator to use.
Throughout the Bill, Labour Members will look to the Government to turn the £l billion concession, however welcome, for the mobile industry into something approaching a near universal service for the country. We should be ambitious about the kind of mobile network coverage we can deliver and not shy away from the challenge.
The Minister for Digital and Culture (Matt Hancock)
It is a pleasure to get going on the Bill proper and to respond to the first amendments. It is undoubtedly true that reliable fast broadband is now seen as the norm and not the nice-to-have—that unites the whole Committee. We are committed to ensuring that everyone can enjoy the benefits of decent broadband connectivity. It was in our manifesto and it is one of the core purposes of the Bill.
Amendment 56 seeks to ensure that the guidance around the characteristics of the connection is in the Bill—for instance, that the USO can include both upload and download speeds. I entirely understand the intent and the clause as drafted is sufficiently flexible to allow for that. The statement of intent that the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk referred to, which was shared with the Committee last week, outlines a broad range of factors that need to be considered in designing the USO, including the level of service. That includes not just download and upload speeds, but the appropriateness and level of other parameters such as latency and capacity—and potentially customer service.
Ofcom has been commissioned to provide detailed technical analysis and recommendations to support decision making on the design of the broadband USO. Allowing Ofcom to do that work and ensuring that it is specified in detail is better than putting that on the face of the Bill, because it will allow us precisely to future-proof the design of the USO in the way that the hon. Gentleman demands. The decisions on the scope of the USO, the technical specifications, including download and upload speeds, and any service standards need to be taken in the light of Ofcom’s advice, which is to be provided by the end of this year, before the Bill concludes all its stages.
Amendment 83 seeks to include mobile coverage within the scope of the guidance on the broadband USO. The hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley made many good points and put them eloquently and powerfully. The position is that the universal service directive, which currently provides the regulatory framework for the broadband USO, is about the provision of a fixed internet connection of an appropriate speed to a fixed location. Depending on who is designated as the universal service provider or providers, and on the specification of the USO, there is scope for the USO connection to be provided using mobile technology. However, the directive does not require the USO to include mobile geographic coverage.
In any event, as the hon. Lady said, through the use of licence conditions we have delivered on a commitment to near universal mobile coverage. I would question, therefore, whether there is a case for a USO for mobile, because of those commitments. The licence obligations to which the hon. Lady correctly referred are part and parcel of a deal that included the reform to the electronic communications code—so everything that she asks for was covered in that deal. It is precisely because the two are linked that they are fair, both to the industry and, more importantly, to consumers. As she said, the mobile network operator roll-out plans provide for £5 billion of investment, as a result of that deal and commitment.
Calum Kerr
We have discussed the USO and what it could mean, particularly in last week’s evidence sessions, but there is an opportunity to go further. If the USO is simply passed over to BT because it is willing to provide 10 megabits to everybody by 2020, I am afraid that 10 megabits will be the ceiling rather than the floor. We should be considering how we facilitate a USO that empowers communities and devolved Administrations to go further. The Scottish Government have made a commitment to reach 30 megabits over the course of the Parliament, by 2021, and a flexible USO—particularly a voucher scheme, rather than a monetary or contractual agreement with the likes of BT—could help them to deliver.
Through our amendment we seek to ensure proper consultation and the involvement of not only the Scottish Government but all the devolved Administrations. Previous dialogue has been largely tokenistic, so we need to set it out in the Bill and insist that there is proper consultation that empowers the regions of the UK to take the USO as a platform, as a floor of their ambition, rather than as a ceiling.
Louise Haigh
New clause 10 would require the Secretary of State to ensure that there is a completely open procurement process, and an alternative dispute resolution role to arbitrate in instances of disagreement over the designation.
We welcome the Minister’s clarification last Wednesday about the statement of intent in relation to the USO. However, we want to mention—I am sure it will not be the first time in this Committee—how rushed and unsatisfactory the publication of Bill documents has been. Some of the documents that should accompany the Bill are yet to be published. I know from talking to people in the industry that that is their concern as well.
I was pleased to note from the statement of intent that the Minister intends the USO to act as an effective complement to commercial, community and publicly-funded roll-outs of broadband, and that it will not displace any planned roll-out of higher speed broadband. There is an argument that there should be a combination of the USO and Broadband Delivery UK to fulfil the last 5%, given that the work of BDUK is still ongoing.
The industry has raised concerns that a USO could risk distorting the UK’s broadband market and potentially hamper the goal of universally available good quality broadband access, if it is not designed in the right way, with the industry and consumers in mind. I note what the Minister said earlier about Ofcom’s being better situated for future-proofing, and I agree. I will discuss that on clause 1 stand part if that is acceptable, Mr Streeter. It is important that there should be parliamentary scrutiny of Ofcom’s role in the consultation.
The USO should not displace any planned roll-out of higher speed broadband. I mentioned the industry’s concerns that it could distort the UK broadband market. If it is done badly, there is a risk that it will undermine commercial investment, in hard-to-reach areas where industry is able profitably to deliver good quality broadband at competitive prices, or by passing on to existing users any rising costs that come about as a result of the USO.
For example, TechUK has argued that the Government should strictly limit the USO to the most remote areas of the UK. Failure to limit the availability of a USO tightly means there is a risk that commercial investment will be diverted, and that there will be wasteful intervention. It is suggested that urban areas, and any rural areas where there is a prospect of market investment, should be explicitly excluded from the USO. It would be helpful to hear the Minister’s thoughts on that and on how Ofcom will take forward the consultation.
Furthermore, satellite connectivity should be considered in scope for the most remote households. It is already available to virtually all households in the UK, and it can be the most cost-effective route to providing superfast broadband. Essentially, we believe—and I hope that this is the Government’s intention—that the USO should be seen as a safety net to prevent social exclusion, facilitate access to online public services, and encourage social and economic development.
The question is whether we need a more transparent and competitive regime for that to happen. Smaller providers are currently put off, because they do not know whether BT currently has plans for, or is working in, any place at any given time. There are allegations from other players in the industry that when smaller providers move into areas where BT is not investing or working, it swoops in, purely to crowd out the competition.
The Government’s statement of intent cites thinkbroadband estimates that suggest about 4% of premises are unable to receive speeds above 10 megabits per second. That really should be open data available to the public and all service providers. We clearly need to know where the assets are, who can do the work and where the cabinets are. There should be a register that contains all that information and is available to make the market more competitive and efficient.
For the process to be trusted, transparent and fair, all the information should be in the open and part of the procurement process, allowing as many providers as possible to participate to ensure that the playing field is as level as possible. It was therefore also welcome that the Government’s statement of intent included consideration of different types of providers, such as regional providers and smaller ones using innovative technologies.
Clearly, it was less than desirable that the BDUK process ended up with only one contractor. We do not believe that we can lay the blame for that entirely on the design of the contracting process, but we think that much greater care needs to be given in the future to ensuring that a richer diversity of providers is catered for in the process.
We should also ensure that the Government are not effectively blackmailed by providers to protect their market position. The mess-up around the procurement process for the roll-out of the broadband framework in 2012 left BT as the only supplier, after Fujitsu pulled out. That was condemned by the Public Accounts Committee for failing to deliver meaningful competition or value for money.
It is also important that the Government consider different tenders for the different problems we are faced with in the last few per cent. For example, we could have one contractor for the rural areas and another for the inner-city areas, as they obviously present different challenges. We could do with some further clarity from the Minister on that.
The amendment is merely designed to be probing. Does the Minister genuinely envisage that anyone other than BT will implement the universal service obligation? How will the tender process be designed? Given the Government’s commitment to encouraging SMEs and community providers to tender, will the likes of Broadband for the Rural North be considered? If the Minister can provide some clarity on that either now or later in writing, I will not press the new clause to a vote.
Matt Hancock
I will try to respond to all the points as briefly as I can, because the hon. Lady in particular raised a huge number of pertinent points. The two Front Bench teams are very much on the same side on this matter, so I want to give her the reassurance I can, but as quickly as I can, given that she asked a huge number of very good questions.
First, amendment 57 is about ensuring that devolved Administrations are consulted. Section 65(4) of the Communications Act 2003 already imposes a requirement to consult with Ofcom and other such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate. Since the broadband USO is an extremely important consumer measure that will benefit all parts of the United Kingdom, I cannot conceive of a situation where the devolved Administrations would not be consulted as plans to introduce a broadband USO are put in place, so I do not think the amendment is necessary. We would expect wide and extensive consultation across a wide cross-section of stakeholders.
We will consult on proposals for secondary legislation once we have considered Ofcom’s report. The second consultation will cover the detail of the USO and provide an opportunity to comment on the design of the USO and how it is implemented. I hope that that takes into account the concerns of the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.
New clause 10 would require the Secretary of State to ensure that there is an open procurement process for the designation of universal service providers. Again, that is covered under section 66 of the 2003 Act, which enables Ofcom to set out the procedure for designation in regulations and requires that the procedure
“be efficient, objective and transparent; and…not to involve, or to tend to give rise to, any undue discrimination against any person”.
I think that addresses the concerns as directly set out in the new clause.
It was music to my ears to hear a Labour Front Bencher talk about the need for a competitive regime, which clearly puts her at odds with her leadership. I agree in principle that the USO is designed as a safety net. Some people want much greater broadband speeds and connectivity, and it is not unreasonable for people to pay if they want very high connectivity speeds, but we believe there is a public service in having a universal service so that everyone is given the opportunity to have decent connectivity on which to live their lives. As the hon. Lady said, that could involve communicating with the Government, which is increasingly done online, or engaging in communications around healthcare and basic banking, and 10 megabits per second allows for that.
The hon. Lady mentioned satellite technology. Satellite is in scope—in fact, all technologies are in scope. The legislation is purposely designed to be technology blind. What people care about is connectivity. The technology is for the implementation, the policy makers and the engineers. Citizens care about how good, reliable and quick their connectivity is.
The hon. Lady made one error and I want to bring her up to speed. It is not true that there is just one contract in BDUK. Its open competitions have now been won by BT, Gigaclear, Call Flow Solutions, Airband, UK Broadband and Cotswolds Broadband. There has been progress since the Public Accounts Committee report that she mentioned and a whole plethora of providers have now successfully bid into the BDUK contracts.
Louise Haigh
I am aware that in phase 2 other providers have been successful in tendering, but in phase 1, as the Minister is well aware, there were problems and Fujitsu pulled out, leaving BT as the only contractor. That is why our new clause goes further than the law currently enables Ofcom to go, by ensuring the appointment of a body to undertake an alternative dispute resolution role, so that we can learn the lessons from BDUK. I appreciate that the Minister may not be able to commit to that today, but will he at least take it away and consider it for the USO?
Calum Kerr
That Division was rather exciting; it woke everybody up and got them away from their iPhones and iPads.
Inevitably, the focus of this first part of the Bill is on the USO, trying to make it fit for purpose and ensuring that we get the outcome that I believe we all want: better connectivity all across the country.
Amendments 58 and 59 would put into the Bill something ensuring a proper evaluation of how this USO is implemented and how it is borne out. There is a real concern that, as I have heard, the USO could follow similar lines to the telephony USO. If we remember what the telephony USO is, people have the right to demand a phone line up to a certain cost; I think it is £3,400, but I stand to be corrected if that is wrong. Thereafter, they pay the difference.
If we really mean universal broadband, what we must not have is a scenario whereby, although there is a USO, people in rural areas still end up paying more for a lesser service, which is what we have today. I am sure that we have all had complaints from constituents that, “I pay the same amount per month as someone else in an urban area for an on-the-surface 10 meg service, but I get only 1.5 or 2 meg.”
Let us accept that that is the reality on the ground—that people pay different amounts for different levels of service—but let us also put something in the Bill that actually means that stock is taken and a review is conducted. It should seek to ensure that in the future such problems do not happen and that people in rural areas—in fact, any people with a poor broadband service—get a fair speed with a fair price and all the other measures that the Government are introducing, as a result of the USO.
I should say at this point that we also support amendment 82, which puts rather more meat on those bones that I have just outlined.
Louise Haigh
We have had quite an exciting start to the Committee. The Minister turned up late; one Government Member went astray; and we nearly had a Government rebellion from the new PPS in the voting. [Laughter.] I hope that we continue in this vein. I also hope that the Minister is sensitive with his brand new PPS; I hope that she is not up for the chop this early in their relationship.
I will speak to amendment 82 and new clause 9, which would place a requirement on the Secretary of State to lay an annual report before Parliament on progress of the USO and to commission an independent review of the progress of BDUK respectively. As we have said, we very much welcome the USO. It could be somewhat more ambitious and it should extend to mobile, but we believe that it is an important step in the right direction. The purpose of these amendments is for Parliament to be kept abreast of progress, both on the USO and on the continued roll-out by BDUK.
Clearly, there have been issues with the roll-out of BDUK, not least the fact that, as we have just discussed, BT was the sole beneficiary of the contract in phase 1. If we are to avoid a repeat of that, we need to ensure not only that the procurement process is right but that Parliament takes a proper oversight role in assessing the performance and whether it is on target.
For example, we heard on multiple occasions last week about the problems around the fact that business parks have not been connected to superfast broadband, let alone ultrafast broadband. Similarly, we have heard of issues around local authorities being threatened with legal action should they so much as discuss procurement with a supplier other than the official one.
MPs’ mailbags are full of correspondence on issues about Openreach and about broadband more generally, so it is only right that they should have full disclosure on progress on an annual basis.
The first phase of the procurement process for BDUK included a mandatory requirement for copper local loop access rather than fibre, which meant old and outdated technology was being used and paid for with taxpayers’ money, entrenching the problems with existing infrastructure and holding back the future-proofing of the network.
There was also a requirement in that procurement process for the use of open access networks, which are the slowest option available, as opposed to local access networks which are much faster. It is good to see Ofcom consulting on the design of the USO over the next couple of months, and I am sure that they will learn from these mistakes. It is vital that this process is as transparent as possible, to ensure the best structure and outcome for consumers across the country.
On Second Reading the Minister called on Members to promote the take-up of broadband in areas where BDUK is providing access to broadband, so that local communities could benefit from the gainshare. That is absolutely right, and I am confident that relevant Members will be doing just that, but what are the Government doing to promote this? Are they, for example, paying for advertising and promotional materials? Is the Minister confident that access is the same as capacity, and that there is sufficient capacity in the cabinets in those areas where BDUK has been rolled out to allow take-up?
A very compelling case was put forward on Second Reading by the hon. Member for North Swindon, who described the problems he had with his local council and the lack of availability for his constituents even after BT had ticked all the boxes in that area under the BDUK contract. It seems to us that common sense dictates that BDUK should be measured on take-up rather than simply access to broadband. This is so that areas can be assured of their return from the gainshare, and also so that we can be absolutely sure that residents are able to use the broadband in practice rather than having access to it only in theory.
It is also important that we have a review of the progress of BDUK to consider whether they should be given any further direction or powers in relation to accessing land or infrastructure, for example. The statement of intent published last week references the question of how often, and on what basis, a USO may need to be reviewed. Again, we would have liked to see that in the Bill. I hope we can have clarity from the Minister on that because, as we all know, the minimum speed and quality of access that we all require are travelling in one direction only and at an exponential rate. It is difficult to imagine that 10 megabits will still be considered acceptable in 2020, let alone 2025, given that superfast is now defined as 24 megabits. The European Commission is hoping to set a new target for broadband and mobile coverage, which will aim to ensure that all European households can get a minimum internet download speed of 100 megabits per second by 2025.
The existing digital agenda for Europe programme currently seeks to ensure that every home in the EU can access a 30 megabits-plus capable, next generation access, superfast broadband connection, with 50% subscribed to a 100 megabits-plus service by the year 2020. At present it is widely expected that BT’s commercial G.fast roll-out, which will commence from next summer, and Virgin Media’s ongoing cable network expansion should bring broadband speeds of around 100 to 300 megabits to most of the UK, around 60% to 70%.
Calum Kerr
The hon. Lady is making some excellent points. The EU, which has apparently been holding us back for so long, is now leaving us behind as they run off to 100 megabits by 2025 while we set our ambition at 10 megabits by 2020. That is an excellent point. It comes back to the critical importance of how this USO is designed. Simply allowing BT to continue with more of the same, stretching their copper assets further, is not going to hit the long-term vision that is required. That is what this Government need to do. They need to set a target for fibre. I hope that when the Minister speaks tomorrow morning at the broadband convention he will say more about that, because we need to show far more ambition.
Louise Haigh
I absolutely agree with the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. Several issues relating to our withdrawal from the European Union will affect not only the measures in the Bill—particularly on spectrum divergence—but the UK digital economy as a whole. I know that the industry is extremely concerned about the implications of Brexit.
BT has also promised to extend G.fast to most UK homes by 2025, but this is unlikely to push the overall coverage figure much beyond 60% to 70% as by then Virgin Media will have already been able to deliver into much of the same areas. That goes to the point made by the hon. Gentleman, because it leaves the final third who are still out of the loop. On top of that, 5G-based mobile broadband should also be able to deliver 100 megabits-plus, and that will play a role, although mobile performance is notoriously variable and delivers much slower speeds outside urban areas. Once again, the challenge will be to bring ultrafast speeds to the final third, which would probably require a repeat of the Broadband Delivery UK programme, albeit with G.fast instead of VDSL as the main technology, and another round of public funding. That is why we need those commitments to fibre and other technologies. The former Digital Economy Minister has already hinted at that.
Matt Hancock
Exactly, absolutely right. We are seeing the long-feared Labour-SNP alliance in action. The hon. Gentleman is right that G.fast is a useful technology but it is not a full fibre technology and is, by physics, distance-constrained, although BT continues to do important work on driving as much delivery out of copper as possible.
There is one other point that it is important for the Committee to consider: there was a simultaneous call from the Opposition for the statement of intent to be included in the Bill and for there to be flexibility in the speed of the USO. These two things are inconsistent; it takes time to change primary legislation. It is incredibly important that we can revise the USO potentially—and hopefully—upwards. It is wrong to set a USO speed now for several years hence. I think we agree on that. We should not, therefore, put the speed on the face of the Bill.
The Scottish Government have said they want 30 megabits per second by 2021. We, of course, want the USO before then and we want the speed to reflect the reality of the time. Demands are increasing very quickly, so I would not want to put a figure on it for five years hence, as the Scottish Government have done. That is a mistake and it is far better to do it as we are planning in this Bill.
Louise Haigh
The Minister is slightly misinterpreting what I said, which is particularly cruel given that I have only been a week in the job. I did not say G.fast was equivalent to fibre. I said that BT would be pushing it out to 60% to 70% and that was why we need much more ambitious targets from the Government on fibre for that final third, in order to deliver coverage for the entire UK.
With regard to the statement of intent, I have said several times that we support its being in secondary legislation, but we want to see elements of it, including the design of the USO, the procurement process and review, to be in the Bill, to avoid being asked to vote blindly on details we do not yet have.
Matt Hancock
I am delighted to have that clarification. I am also glad that the hon. Lady welcomed the fact that Ofcom is doing the consultation, which is necessary before we can put those details in place. The way the provisions are structured in the Bill is the right way to proceed.
In ensuring that we get the best possible broadband connectivity, we must make sure that we have both a vision of the future with high-speed and superfast—and then ultrafast—connectivity, and flexibility to get there in the most cost-efficient way possible. That unites the Committee in purpose, and the Bill as it stands provides for it.
Finally, following the mention of the Labour Government by the Opposition, I will not rise to any partisan points other than to note that in 2003, the then Labour Government legislated to set a USO. They set the USO in stone in legislation and instead of including a review clause, they set it at 28 kilobits per second. Let that be a lesson to anyone who wants to put more on the face of the Bill. It is far better to ensure that we can constantly keep pace with technology, as the Bill does.
Louise Haigh
We have heard support for the spirit of the amendment and for the Select Committee to review the progress of the USO. The amendment certainly does not specify to which element of Parliament the report should go. We would be satisfied with progress being reported to the Select Committee. Government Committee members will be interested in, and their mailbags will be full of concerns on the progress of the USO, so they should have the ability to review that. Also, I was not old enough to vote in 2003, so I do not think I can be held responsible for decisions made then.
Calum Kerr
I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Amendment proposed: 82, in clause 1, page 2, line 21, at end insert—
“72B Universal service order: annual report
(1) The Secretary of State must lay before each House of Parliament an annual report about the implementation of the universal service order for all areas pursuant to the provisions of this Act.
(2) The annual report must include information on—
(a) the number of premises that have been supplied with the minimum download speed as specified in the USO secondary legislation
(b) the number of premises that have been required to cover some of the cost of connection,
(c) of the premises in (b) the average cost of connection per premises covered by residents, disaggregated by local authority area,
(d) the number of premises that have chosen not to be connected via the universal service order after being provided with an estimate, and
(e) the amount of time on average it takes to provide an estimate and connect a premise, disaggregated by local authority area.
(3) The annual report must be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as practicable after 31 March each year.”—(Louise Haigh.)
Question put, That the amendment be made.
Louise Haigh
I know that we covered this issue on Second Reading, but I was not the shadow Minister at the time. This legislation is not a Bill for the digital economy. The tech sector has been waiting for some time for the Government’s digital strategy and vision for this crucial area of our economy; to say that it is disappointed with the lack of ambition and strategic direction in the Bill would be a gross understatement.
We heard a damning indictment from one witness last week. He described his business as a tech start-up in Canary Wharf, and said that the Bill would do absolutely nothing to help it. To call it the “Digital Economy Bill” is quite insulting given that it is actually a collection of disparate measures—a mixture of amendments from across a range of Departments vaguely tied together using the word “digital”. Over the next few sittings we will focus on where the Bill could be improved, and I am sure that on Report we will return to what the Bill requires if it is genuinely to aid, boost and improve the digital economy.
On clause 1, we need to do much more than produce a mere headline USO. If we are talking about access to digital services, what are we prepared to do to support that access? Does that support simply cover subsidies on infrastructure in more remote areas, or should it also cover education? If it is more than just enabling access, we need to make sure digital skills and knowledge are embedded in our education system as well as providing for the older generation.
Similarly, as we discussed earlier, we need to think beyond mere access and ask ourselves what sort of targets we want on usage. What goals follow the strategy of the USO? It is brilliant if everyone has 10 megabits per second, but how many people are able to use the internet? How many young people are studying IT or related classes? What percentage of the workforce are in technical-related roles? The fact is that not only is the USO unambiguous, but it is long overdue. As I said earlier, Labour left fully costed plans to deliver superfast by 2012.
In 50% of rural premises the infrastructure is simply not there to carry more than 10 megabits, and for one in five premises it will not carry more than 5 megabits. It was suggested to us by a couple of witnesses that the USO was simply in line with BT’s proposed business plan. The chief executive of BT confirmed this to us: they can implement the USO by 2020 without any further public money, with 24 megabits to 97% or 98% of the country, fixed broadband of 10 megabits to 99%, and the last 1% likely to be done by 4G or satellite. The question is, therefore, why this legislation is necessary. One witness explicitly said:
“I think you should be very worried when you hear large incumbents saying, “Set up a universal service obligation but don’t let it get too far ahead of what we’ve got in our business case.” That is not what business should be doing. Businesses will invest more if they are scared their customers will go elsewhere, not because they have been given a promise by Government”.––[Official Report, Digital Economy Bill Public Bill Committee, 11 October 2016; c. 10, Q14.]
If we are really to tackle the issues in our broadband market, the evidence we have seen suggests that the USO is—at best—nice to have, but at worst it is a serious market distortion. In fact, the Government should be considering much deeper issues such as the structure of the market, much-needed investment in infrastructure, the need for planning reform to enable the roll-out of 5G and the need to be much more imaginative around future licence auctions. For example, as we have heard time and again, there is the German model to license outwards-in so that those who are missed out on previous rounds are serviced first.
Furthermore, we have heard in one form or another that all roads lead back to Openreach, and the Bill really could have been an opportunity to reflect on that. Baroness Harding believed that
“competition will do the majority of this, and we should try our damnedest to make the private sector fund most of this through competition”.
She concluded that,
“the solution is to separate Openreach completely and put a universal service obligation on an independent Openreach”. ––[Official Report, Digital Economy Bill Public Bill Committee, 11 October 2016; c. 6, Q4.]
We heard in evidence that Openreach could and should be much more ambitious, deliver a better service and be in control of its own board, but evidence was given that, to achieve that, Openreach needs to be completely independent. It was argued that we have not been able to see how far a competitive commercial roll-out can go because we do not currently have a competitive commercial market, and we cannot have that market reform until, at the very least, we separate out Openreach.
One witness said:
“if we are going to be ambitious, to enable companies like ours to continue to grow, invest and innovate, we need a national solution, and a national solution will depend upon the national network owner, which is Openreach...That is why the structure of the industry does matter; the ability to get capital into the industry to invest in the kinds of future networks we need is critical”.––[Official Report, Digital Economy Bill Public Bill Committee, 11 October 2016; c. 19, Q31.]
Ofcom has been unambiguous in saying that network competition—having multiple network operators on the ground and available to consumers—is the best driver of investment incentives, of superfast broadband penetration and of consumer outcomes. We would like the Minister to set a clear timeframe today for the response to the Ofcom consultation on Openreach. The consultation closed two weeks ago and, as I understand it, Ofcom are now in private consultation with BT. The public and Parliament need to know when we can expect the Ofcom response and what the next steps in the process will be.
Christian Matheson
Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the problems with Openreach is that, because it does not have a customer-facing aspect, its customer service and consequently its reputation have been extremely poor?
Louise Haigh
That is certainly one of the issues. I personally have poor experience with Openreach and I am sure many members of the Committee and their constituents will have, too. Public satisfaction with Openreach customer service is incredibly low and needs urgent investigation. However, we need more detail on some areas that have not been put in the Bill, but which were included in the statement of intent, as mentioned earlier.
An example is the fact that connections will be subject to a cost threshold, above which consumers will still have the right to fast, reliable broadband, but may have to contribute to the cost of connection. That is not much of a surprise, as it happens with the USO for telephone lines. There, the cost threshold is £3,400. Is it possible for the Minister to provide any guesstimate about the threshold for the broadband USO? Once again, we are being asked to vote on legislation that does not include vital details that could make the entire proposal almost completely useless. If the threshold is set too low, the right will essentially be meaningless for the vast majority of consumers, who already miss out, are on unacceptably low broadband speeds and are forced to pay unacceptably high prices. Will the threshold have any form of parliamentary scrutiny, or is this really enabling legislation that will allow the Minister to get his head around the details after the fact?
As we have discussed, we do not believe that the headline figure of 10 megabits is sufficiently ambitious, and nor is a headline speed sufficient when considering the quality of broadband available to the population as a whole. That point was raised by several hon. Members on Second Reading, and by the hon. Member for Mid Worcestershire in evidence sittings. It is a source of great frustration in rural areas, in particular when customers are promised mobile coverage or broadband speed that are not delivered. The Bill does little to correct that. Yes, it provides for automatic compensation, but I am confident that customers would much rather have coverage—and reliability of coverage—than recompense.
The Minister did not answer questions about BDUK earlier, so I will put them again, if that is all right, Mr Streeter. Is the Minister confident that access is the same as capacity, and that there is sufficient capacity in the cabinets in areas where BDUK has been rolled out to allow take-up? Does he believe that BDUK should be measured on take-up rather than access to broadband? I should be grateful if the Minister also updated the Committee on conversations with the Advertising Standards Authority about its code, so that companies can advertise a certain speed only when a certain percentage of their customers in that area get that speed. The ASA and its committees have been looking at that issue for some time, but surely the Bill is the perfect opportunity to speed up the process and provide much needed certainty and lower prices for rural customers.
Finally, we welcome plans to deliver superfast broadband connection to sites with more than 100 homes from January. That was raised time and again on Second Reading. It is absurd not to have minimum levels of broadband in new homes when we would never consider not connecting water or electricity to any new home, regardless of the numbers on the site. As the Countryside Alliance pointed out, the figure of 100 is too urban-centric, as rural areas are moving towards small-scale developments. I hope that the Government will keep the commitment under review and ensure that the figure is reduced in future, if necessary.
We must absolutely not let the USO get in the way of investment in developing super and ultrafast capabilities across the whole UK. We heard evidence stressing the threat that communities that might be pleased with 10 megabits today will be furious about not having 1 gigabit in three or four, or potentially 10 years’ time. Indeed, providers such as Virgin, and even smaller ones, such as Gigaclear, are now building proper fibre to the premises, providing up to 1 gig in extremely rural areas; so I fear that the target will quickly become completely outdated, even given the flexibility built into secondary legislation.
Overall, the Opposition support the commitment, with all the caveats I have outlined, and I am happy to support clause 1 to stand part of the Bill.
Matt Hancock
To channel the Prime Minister, fibre means fibre. If hon. Members want to know what fibre means, it means fibre.
On the point about measuring BT and BDUK on take-up not access, both BT and BDUK are measured on take-up as well as access. Both are important. In fact, the contracts have take-up embedded in them, because the clawback from higher take-up allows money to be spent on further roll-out. The contracts that are being rolled out at the moment are from that clawback. The hon. Lady is therefore absolutely right that both take-up and access are important, and in the county-by-county figures from BDUK we have both take-up and access.
I also strongly agree with the hon. Lady on advertising. The Advertising Standards Authority has consulted for some time on descriptions of both “up to” speeds and pricing arrangements, both of which can be wholly misleading. I very much hope that the ASA will come out with new rules shortly—it has been working on that for some time. However, advertising is policed on a non-statutory basis and I think it would be a significant step for us to legislate on that matter because we do not want political interference in the rules around advertising. That is a step that I do not want to take. I do want the ASA to come to its conclusions as soon as possible. I hope that that answers all the questions that were asked on that point.
Louise Haigh
I appreciate that the Minister may not want to pre-empt the Ofcom consultation, but will there be any parliamentary scrutiny of the proposals that Ofcom will bring forward, or will we leave it to Ofcom and accept what it brings forward in terms of design, cost threshold and everything else we have debated this morning?
Matt Hancock
Of course there will be parliamentary scrutiny, because the Bill provides for the USO details to be put in place via secondary legislation. There will be scrutiny then and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty pointed out, there will also be the opportunity for Select Committees to scrutinise in their usual way. I hope that without reading the rest of my speech, which is all about how important and wonderful broadband is, the Committee will accept what I have said as a full response.
Matt Hancock
In short, although the precise design is subject to the Ofcom consultation, my view is that the potential in the Bill for the USO is more ambitious than the Scottish Government’s, because theirs is to be delivered later and has already specified a speed. Instead, we have proposals coming in sooner and with uprating built in from the start.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 1 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 2
General conditions: switching communications provider
Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.
Louise Haigh
The Opposition are happy to support the clause. As we know, there are currently extremely low levels of switching in the market, with 5.9 million mobile users having never switched owing to concerns with the process and 2.5 million people saying they have experienced a major difficulty such as the amount of time it took or loss of their number. Every year, more than a million people are either double-billed or lose service in attempts to switch.
I understand that Ofcom has been considering how to make switching work for over eight years, and I am informed that the decision on switching has been delayed because of previous appeals and the current appeal regime, which we will come on to later in the Bill.
The powers for Ofcom to introduce gainer provider-led switching are welcomed by Opposition Members, as the figures clearly show there is little appetite to switch mobile provider at present, despite the clear lack of trust in mobile service providers themselves. In the last year, almost half of consumers have not switched providers; of those who have switched, 46% of them did so more than a year ago.
As Members are aware, at the moment switching providers is beyond arduous. Individuals have to contact their own provider and then the provider they wish to switch to. They have to terminate their old contract and then activate their new contract. This creates additional costs, time and hassle, and means that consumers are not able to compare all the deals available to them easily.
These proposals are welcome, but do the Government intend gainer provider-led switching to cover both mobiles and bundles? Clearly, many mobile networks also operate in other areas, such as internet and television, so would it not make it even easier for consumers if they could switch all at once if a better offer was provided? We look forward to hearing the Minister’s comments on that.
It would also be helpful if the Minister could put on the record what discussions he has had with Ofcom and mobile providers about the range and depth of information that will be available. Clearly, the lack of open data in this market holds back switching, but as we discussed earlier it also holds back investment and competition. It is very welcome to hear that BT has offered that information, but we would be grateful to hear exactly what data it is making available. Data on internet availability—such as costs, product offerings, location of cabinets and masts, access method, service quality, service faults, and planned network upgrade and dates—would all be enormously beneficial if they were published as open data.
That would be a considerable step towards creating a more effective market. It would not only help with switching but would enable an operator, community group or local authority to decide whether to build a new network for an area if there were no other plans to do so.
Nevertheless, these measures are very welcome and we on the Labour Benches are pleased to support them.
Matt Hancock
Consumers should be able to benefit from choice and competition in the UK communications markets, and I am very grateful for the cross-party support for these measures.
The central case is that changing suppliers should be quick and easy, and can benefit all. However, the reality is that no matter how attractive a deal may look, or how dissatisfied a customer may be with their current service, the rigmarole or the perceived rigmarole involved in changing provider deters switching. This clause makes it explicit that Ofcom has powers to facilitate easier switching in the communications sector.
It will be for Ofcom to consult on and define which communication services will be subject to switching processes. Ofcom is consulting on triple play—so fixed line, broadband and pay TV switching—with a view to simplifying the processes to switch multiple services as well. The clause will help to cement Ofcom’s power and will put in place processes to instil in consumers the confidence to shop around. That is the purpose of the clause.
There are ongoing discussions with Ofcom about the range and depth of information that is provided. Of course, the measure complements the information powers given to Ofcom in part 6 of the Bill, which we will come on to. So, once consumers have better information to hand about the services on offer, they can then switch to the service that is most suitable for them with confidence and the minimum of fuss.
Ofcom has existing powers to set conditions on electronic communication service providers, and this clause makes it explicit that Ofcom may set general conditions to facilitate switching. Such conditions could require providers to comply with defined processes, such as gaining provider-led switching. This approach would mean that consumers would no longer need to contact their existing provider when they want to move, and of course the gaining provider has the incentive to make these things as easy as possible.
I hope that all these things will help to boost switching and therefore make this market more competitive.
I beg to move that the clause stand part of the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 2 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 3
Automatic compensation for failure to meet performance standards
Calum Kerr
The area of compensation is one that we have all probably been hearing about from our constituents for quite some time. Before speaking to the amendments, which are about mobile coverage, let me first welcome the important move in the Bill that not only puts compensation in place but makes it automatic. Telecoms and connectivity can feel like the dark arts to some of our constituents and it is important that whatever is put in place does not depend on their understanding the details of what they are entitled to. However, the point has already been made today that when people sign up for a broadband service, there should be far clearer, granular detail on what they should expect. We have wrestled today with what a USO should be; we have talked about download; we have talked about upload; the Minister rightly mentioned other areas such as latency and data limits; and of course cost comes into it.
In terms of compensation, it is important to recognise that broadband is different from telephony. Telephony is fairly binary—it is on or off. It works or it does not. There might be some interference, but it remains a fairly binary service. Broadband, however, is defined by many different characteristics.
As we look at a compensation regime, we need to look at the speed expectations. When someone signs up for a broadband service, they sign up for a service that is, by definition, contended. It is shared, which is why, as those who have ever been at home when the kids all get home from school, broadband speeds sometimes plummet. That is the reality of the service that is signed up for and that reality has to be accepted on a contended service—those who want a less contended service need to sign up for an appropriate service with BT or another provider—but there should still be levels of expectation. There should be a top-line download speed, an average speed and, in my view, a baseline speed, below which the service does not drop.
As we look at compensation, I would like to see some flexibility. Given the complete lack of information in the Bill—in keeping with the earlier clauses—there is the ability here for Ofcom to show flexibility and design an appropriate system. The telecoms providers all have huge challenges to face on their performance standards—the digital communications review called them out. BT was singled out, but it was not the only one. They all have a way to go in improving their service standards, so a compensation regime should be designed to incentivise them. We have to remember that this is about incentivising good performance, not about penalising bad performance, although the two obviously go side by side. We should design a scheme that is automatic and ensures people are compensated but that, most importantly allows people to get the service that they are promised and the providers are contracted for. That is important.
My hon. Friend the Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey instigated work on the areas addressed in amendment 60 and new clause 2 some time ago. There are huge chunks of the country, not least the highlands but also the equally beautiful Scottish borders in my constituency, where there are notspots—in fact, it feels like there are more notspots than onspots most of the time, as I found on my summer tour. My hon. Friend brought forward proposals, which were put to the then Minister and Ofcom, to allow individuals who have signed up for a mobile service and then found that they cannot get proper service at home to be allowed out of their contract. Some providers—I think Vodafone was mentioned in the evidence session—have started to offer that. I hope that—hope is not a strategy, as we always used to say, but sometimes it is all we have—the Government will accept the sense of the amendment and new clause and put it in the legislation, to make it absolutely clear that, if I sign up for a mobile service and cannot use my device in my home, I am entitled to cancel that contract.
Louise Haigh
I rise to support the amendment in my name and the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West. I also support the amendments tabled in the name of the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. I understand from the debate and the statement of intent that the baseline speed mentioned—10 megabits per second, as the Minister clarified—is the absolute minimum. The Opposition welcome the Government’s proposals to amend the requirements on automatic compensation, which will bring broadband services in line with other essential services such as energy and water. That recognition naturally extends to a form of automatic redress when things go wrong.
Calum Kerr
I am sorry to intervene so quickly, but this is an area where we need a bit of clarity. We have said that 10 megabits per second is a minimum, but as I understand it, it is a minimum maximum speed. It does not mean that under the USO, users will always get 10 megabits per second; it means that they sign up for a service where the maximum is 10 megabits per second. I think that is an important point to clarify.
Louise Haigh
We look forward to the Minister’s clarification.
More than 13 million households suffer from some form of broadband problem. It is about time that automatic compensation was introduced. As we know, seeking redress and compensation is often difficult for consumers, and brings little reward; many simply give up. Currently, users must lodge a formal complaint with their provider, then escalate that complaint to the ombudsman after eight weeks if they are not happy with the response. The onus certainly should not be on the customer to prove that they have lost service or that the service has not met the standard required. Where possible, automatic compensation should be made when a service provider becomes aware of a possible loss or reduction in service.
However, as has been mentioned, the legislation is not entirely clear on how the provision will be enforced, although we welcome the broad powers given to Ofcom. For example, if the fault is with the service provided to the retailer by Openreach, will the retailer pass on the compensation to the consumer who has been affected? How much will then reach the consumer? What will the level of compensation be? Which? has called for households to get £75 in compensation each time their broadband connection goes down, in line with compensation levels for power cuts. Will there be separate levels of compensation for broadband being slow or not working at all? Will the compensation cover planned network outages? Will the new regime come into effect on Royal Assent? Has Ofcom now completed all necessary consultation work?
Our amendment simply seeks to provide compensation within reasonable timescales. Consumers certainly would not want compensation payouts to drag on and on or broadband providers to drag their feet when there has been a clear outage and they are entitled to compensation. The automatic compensation model for the energy market is that it should be paid within 10 days of the customer claiming, or within 10 days of the end of the power cut if they are being paid automatically. That seems reasonable, but the Minister and Ofcom might have other ideas about what is reasonable.
Either way, we believe that it is important to set a clear timescale to ensure that consumers know exactly what they are entitled to, when they are entitled to it and how to go about claiming it if it is not forthcoming. We welcome the provisions and the recognition that consumers have a right to broadband and therefore a right to compensation if it goes wrong, but we would like assurances written into the Bill that compensation will be paid quickly.
The Chair
Order. We will adjourn in about two minutes, but let us hear from Mr Hendry before we continue on Thursday.