Broadband Universal Service Obligation

Matt Hancock Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ian C. Lucas]

I will not give way to the hon. Lady because she makes cheap political points.

In addition, many areas do not have the broadband infrastructure to secure superfast services. Until recently, Wrexham had only one broadband infrastructure system, which was unable to meet the demand from local businesses and individuals. The UK Government, who are responsible for devising the system, should have put in place a governance structure that created either the necessary infrastructure through a monopoly provider or a competitive market in which providers compete to build infrastructure. Their failure is that they have done neither since 2010.

I am pleased to say that in Wrexham, in the past two months, Virgin Media has begun to build its own infrastructure system, its first in north Wales, as part of the Project Lightning programme. I thank Virgin Media for responding to the pressure I have consistently put it under to introduce that system, but if we are to have a universal system right across the UK, it is incumbent on the Government and regulators to create the system necessary right across the UK. That they have not done so already is a failure on their part.

[The Minister for Digital and Culture (Matt Hancock)]

rose—

[Ian C. Lucas]

I give way to the hon. Gentleman.

[Matt Hancock]

Right hon. Gentleman. I wanted to improve the quality of debate by bringing a couple of facts to bear, because the hon. Gentleman is making a highly politicised and partisan speech. It is just worth pointing out to the House that in Wrexham, a town I know well, 95% of premises have access to superfast broadband, and by next summer that figure will be 98%.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. If everybody is to get equal time, Members should take up to 10 minutes; if they do not do that, other people will get squeezed out. If Members wish to make interventions, they should be short and sweet. I ask the people who are giving way to use up to 10 minutes. Ian Lucas, I know you are nearly ending your speech.

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[The Minister for Digital and Culture (Matt Hancock)]

I join everyone else in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) on securing this debate, and on bringing his serious background and experience from before he was in this place to bear on a very important subject. It is unsurprising that all of us here to discuss this think it is important; that is why we are here. The debate is particularly timely as Ofcom is tantalisingly close to publishing the analysis we commissioned on the factors that will inform the design of the broadband USO.

We are committed to building a country that works for everyone; that means ensuring that nobody is digitally excluded, and “everyone” means everyone. That is one of the motivations underpinning our drive to have a USO. This requires us to ensure that the UK’s digital infrastructure meets not only today’s broadband connectivity needs, but those of tomorrow; that is crucial. Let us be clear: the delivery of fast broadband, particularly in rural areas, is an economic imperative, not simply a “nice to have”—a point made passionately and eloquently by my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown).

Online abuse was mentioned from the Opposition Front Bench by the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh); I know that she personally has received some horrific online abuse. Offences offline are also offences online, but we continue to work hard, especially with the platform providers, to ensure that they take appropriate responsibility for abuse that happens on their platforms. Ultimately, however, it is those who write abusive content who are committing an offence, especially when it is a threat of physical violence or a death threat—something that too many Members of this House have suffered from.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey) is of course right: great progress has already been made in this area, and there is still lots more to do. We are on track for 95% of premises across the UK having access to superfast broadband. Some £1.7 billion of public money is being invested. That funding has created more than 4 million potential new superfast broadband connections to date. As a result of this investment and ongoing commercial roll-out, 90% of UK premises can now access these superfast speeds. The hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen) was absolutely right that commercial roll-out is part of the answer, but it is not the whole answer. That is why we have Government intervention as well as commercial roll-out; we need a mixed economy of solutions.

[Albert Owen]

We have been talking today about the access figures. Does the Minister have the take-up figures, and will he make them available in the Library, because many areas that are getting the infrastructure are simply not getting the message out to people to connect up?

[Matt Hancock]

That is an important point. The latest take-up figures are about to be published by Ofcom, but the message that needs to go out on take-up is this: in a BDUK area, the more people who take up the connection, the more money goes back into providing more connections for other people. It is incumbent on us as local representatives to get that message out.

We should also get out the message made by my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Antoinette Sandbach) about the Ofcom app, which I have downloaded, so that Ofcom gets the real data from the ground about connectivity in each area. My hon. Friends the Members for Wycombe (Mr Baker) and for Witney (Robert Courts) also made the point that connectivity matters more than technology.

I want to return to the point about farmers made by my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds— he is sitting next to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), who also cares a lot about farmers. I loved the phrase used by my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds: it is important that we have both a future-proof and a rural-proof approach. In introducing the USO, we have said that 10 megabits per second is an absolute minimum. The legislation provides for that to be revised up. The Scottish Government have chosen to have a fixed figure; I think it is better to have a figure that can be revised up as technology changes.

[Geoffrey Clifton-Brown]

My right hon. Friend is making a fantastic contribution on this USO, but the problem with the 95% target is that in rural areas, it will not be met for many more than 5% of customers.

[Matt Hancock]

Of course. Topography means that it is harder to deliver in rural areas, so we are introducing a universal service obligation to ensure that everyone can get hold of broadband.

[Calum Kerr]

I let the Minister away with this bizarre comment in Committee, but he really must stop saying that 10 megabits somehow shows more ambition than 30 megabits. The Scottish Government have a target of 30 megabits by 2021. The UK Government target is 10 megabits by 2020. I know which I prefer.

[Matt Hancock]

We have been through this before; 10 megabits is our approach for the minimum. The hon. Gentleman will have to wait and see what Ofcom has to say.

I will address a partisan point that was brought into an otherwise pretty harmonious debate by the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian C. Lucas). The previous Labour Government did bring in a universal service obligation for connectivity that was set at 28.8 kilobits, but it was unenforced. The hon. Gentleman should stop his point scoring and stick to the bit where he said how brilliantly we are doing now with the ambition that we have put in place.

I gently point out to SNP Members that the Scottish Government are responsible for procurement in Scotland, and it is a pity that procurement there is behind almost every other area of the country. We have been doing everything that we can to push them along, but they really ought to answer for slow provision in Scotland, and I am sure that they will.

I turn to the future and the two f’s: fibre and 5G. Only 2% of premises in the country have a full fibre connection. The hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry) talked about high levels of fibre delivery in Scotland, but that is not true. We have high levels of part-fibre delivery across the UK—it is 90% now, and it is going up to 95%—but that is not full fibre or fibre to the premises. More full fibre is being delivered elsewhere, and we are determined to match that. The autumn statement announced £1 billion for broadband and 5G, and we will consult shortly on exactly how that will be spent.

[George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way; it gives me the chance to thank him sincerely on behalf of my constituents, because my constituency has gone from 25% to 70% fast broadband. Does he agree that we may need creative ways of ensuring that the 5% or 10% of areas, including the most rural, that may never benefit from fibre can get alternative provision?

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend is completely right. We should be open-minded about technologies such as wi-fi. I have two and a half minutes left, so I am going to rattle through some more points.

I congratulate BDUK and Chris Townsend, who has run it for a good period of time, for their incredible delivery. The hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley was not right to say that BDUK delivers only via BT; there are now six providers. BDUK has done a magnificent job since it was set up by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wantage. Getting mobile connectivity on roads and rail is also incredibly important, and we are pushing that hard. EE has a contract to reach every inch of road in the country by the end of next year. Finally, several Members mentioned business; part of the £1 billion announced in the autumn statement is for ensuring that we have much better delivery for business. That drive is broadly supported.

I hope that I have answered as many points as possible. We will set out further details on the USO shortly. We look forward to working with Members from across the House to ensure that everybody gets the connectivity that they need.

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[The Minister for Digital and Culture (Matt Hancock)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to make a correction to an inadvertent error made as this morning’s Culture, Media and Sport questions. We are proud that 20% of DCMS appointments to public bodies since the reshuffle in July have been people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. I said this morning that the figure was 24% and I wanted to correct the record for the House at the earliest opportunity. We are strongly committed to diversity in public appointments, and I think this figure demonstrates that fact.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I think the House welcomes that correction, and I am sure the Minister will sleep better tonight for it.