---

Digital Economy Bill [HL]

I want to reinforce what the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, has said. I have noticed that in various areas where we have amalgamated the roles of enforcer and helper, it has rarely worked, if ever, because the agency or body concerned finds it difficult to know which one it will do. The danger is that the Government will then say, "Don’t worry, this is covered", when the body concerned is failing in the bit that it is not good at. In other words, Ofcom may be a good regulator but not a good promoter, but we will be told that the issue is covered because it is part of its duties, even if it is not doing it well. It is difficult to set priorities because one role costs money and the other sometimes involves levying charges, so there can be great conflict. From this point of view, the first part of the proposal is that Ofcom should promote investment in electronic communications networks and infrastructure. Part of Digital Britain, which has been left out of this completely, was the concept that we should have a minimum level of broadband in every household in the country, so that the Government could reduce the cost of delivering services to the public—they have assigned a lot of money to this—by using the internet much more widely. A minimum level of 2 megabits per second would be required for that. I see nothing about that in the Bill. Do the Government intend to place a duty on Ofcom to bring that forward, and also perhaps to bash heads together so that BT and other local community initiatives for broadband come together properly? Or do the Government not see that as Ofcom’s role? I think that there will be confusion, so I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, that subsection (2) should be left out of the Bill.