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Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

The more we go into this, the more baffled I am. I first thank the Minister for his undertaking to take this issue away and look at it. I accept that a halfway house may need to be reached in this process, but one month seems rather draconian in the circumstances. This clearly cannot be a right for ever and a day; it must be related to the timing of the switchover in the various areas. If we can pull people into the net, and not rather unfairly have a situation where they are too late to be eligible, that would be satisfactory. One could talk about a range of different dates. The essence of many of the amendments, as I said earlier, is that it is particularly baffling that, to be specific about the scheme, the Secretary of State must, by order or regulation—I have no idea whether some sort of ministerial fiat is involved—lay down an understood mechanism by which the scheme is brought into effect. I probably misheard the Minister, but I thought he mentioned Clause 39; that sounds rather outlandish, since there are only five clauses in the Bill.