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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

I shall comment briefly and give general support to the amendments tabled by my noble friend. However, on Amendments 21 and 25, as one of the elderly, I am not sure that I want to be linked in as one who needs special consideration in terms of the new media. My father-in-law, who is 86, also still uses a computer, although not particularly well. When I initially looked at these amendments, particularly on the Scottish Ministers, Welsh Ministers and Northern Ireland Ministers, I had some reservations. The devolution Bill specifically excluded broadcasting from the remit of the devolved Parliaments, and I think that was right. However, as my noble friend explained, it is entirely a matter of reporting, and he may be right that we should report to each of the Parliaments. The Scottish Executive, under the previous Administration led by Mr Jack McConnell, undertook to ensure that remoter rural areas of Scotland were provided with broadband. That is being rolled out much faster in Scotland than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. My noble friend is quite right that it is probably easier for me to get broadband provision on the Isle of Arran than it is for the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, to get it in the remote rural area of England in which she lives. That is because there has been deliberate encouragement and funding by the Scottish Executive and Parliament to ensure that this happens in Scotland. I support my noble friend’s amendments, although I ask him not to put all the elderly into one group.