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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, as I said earlier, we are of the view that the requirement for reports would be of most use if the Secretary of State had the flexibility to ask for them as and when he believed them necessary or useful. We would be concerned if this lack of flexibility was reinforced, as we fear it would be, if the period between reports was increased to a greater number of years than already provided for. Once again, I remind your Lordships of Ofcom’s decision to bring forward its second review of public service broadcasting simply because things had changed more quickly than had been anticipated by the Communications Act. I do not believe that the Bill in its current form would allow such a decision to be made if four years looked like being too long an interval between reports. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, that in future, after the first period, a longer period would probably be appropriate. However, the simplest way of ensuring the most efficient use of the power would be for the Secretary of State to be able to request a report when he wants one.