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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, like my noble friend Lord Razzall, I am somewhat baffled by the excitement generated by Clause 1. However, I am breaking the Trappist vow that I made at the beginning of the debate. Sadly, we have only about an hour and a half of proceedings left today in which to underline the opposition on these Benches to the proposal made by the noble Lord, Lord Howard. I certainly do not yield to the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, in his excitement at the prospect of the iTablet coming down the track. It is a perfect illustration of the convergence mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe. I think that another noble Lord also used the word "convergence". This clause is designed for the post-convergence age. Of course, the 2003 Act was pre-convergence. We on these Benches think that Ofcom has not done a bad job in the pre-convergence age. Of course, there will be quarrels with some aspects of it. It will probably be too slow in making sure that local loop unbundling happens quickly enough, and I am sure that we would all disagree with many other aspects. By and large, however, we believe that Ofcom has done a pretty good job in a very complicated pre-convergence age. This clause is not the big bang to end all clauses; it is a very modest qualifier to the current duties of Ofcom. We believe that it is appropriate for the post-convergence age. We do not believe that it detracts from the duties of Ofcom towards the consumer. Indeed, we believe that the investment duties are designed to make it more responsive to the consumer. If this clause were not included, do we honestly believe that Ofcom would suddenly become more responsive to the consumer? Of course not. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Davies, talked about making sure that broadband was more universally available. Of course, that is one of the underlying objectives of the duties imposed on Ofcom. As the noble Lord, Lord Maxton, said—my noble friend Lord Razzall also mentioned it—if Ofcom does not have these duties, who does have them? It is not easy to distinguish between regulation and policy, as the noble Lord, Lord Howard, has done. As regards the expansion and coverage of mobile networks that my noble friend Lord Steel mentioned, where do policy and regulation respectively begin? It is not easy to make that distinction. I am sure we all agree that there is a need to deliver the Digital Britain strategy. We on these Benches believe that Ofcom is an absolutely essential instrument to do that. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, I do not believe that this clause is designed to allow Ofcom to cuddle up to the major players; that is not the essence of it at all. I shall not continue at great length. Points have been teased out on the public service broadcast front. The right reverend Prelate made extremely cogent remarks on that on two occasions. It is not just about public service broadcasters; it is also about public service content and plurality. Plurality is the essence of the post-convergence age. I believe that Ofcom needs to have that duty as set out in Clause 1. If anybody wanted to illustrate the way in which public service content brought people together, they should give the example of the Christmas and New Year broadcasts. If anybody thought that the delivery of content was being so totally Balkanised that it did not bring us together culturally, the Christmas broadcasts such as "Strictly Come Dancing", "The X Factor", and "Dr Who", which were viewed by many people, would prove that they were mistaken. Millions watched those broadcasts. I forget which show had the largest audience; it was probably "The X Factor", which I believe was watched by some 20 million people. All that demonstrates the need for regulation, for somebody to hold the ring in this post-convergence era. I have continued for far too long, but I hope that the passion with which I have talked illustrates that we do need to preserve this clause in this Bill.