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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who contributed to the debate, although I am slightly perplexed by my noble friend Lord Puttnam; he has provided a compromise position, but the amendment before the House does not allow quite that degree of flexibility. I appreciate the sentiment, but I am glad that it is not going to be translated into action because it cannot, given the nature of the amendment. In fact I do not even appreciate the sentiment, because I am going to stick to the text of the Bill. Our concern is that technology in this sector moves very quickly. The rationale behind reporting every two years is simply to guarantee that the Government are kept properly and fully informed about the state of the country’s communications infrastructure, including all the issues that we have discussed on Clauses 1 and 2 in these intensive debates today—and I know that there are a great deal more to come. I emphasise that if the biennial report shows issues of concern that cannot be resolved through the normal operation of commercial arrangements or regulatory intervention, the Government will be well placed to consider whether further intervention of any sort is required. With regard to the point that the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, made about the networks, they are going to be involved in the compilation of these reports; it will be their assessments, evidence and contributions that will help to inform Ofcom. The industry will know the timetable that it is working to. It is not as if, within that framework, things are going to be sprung upon the industry at short notice. We think that, within a rapidly changing environment, there is great value in having reports of what is recognised as conspicuous regularity. The burden of the noble Lord’s amendment is that the reports could be reduced to every four years, but in this industry four years could see a significant change in technology, which is why we wish to defend the biennial reports. My noble friend Lord Puttnam has already indicated a compromise position, but I am not convinced of that, although I hear what noble Lords have said about the virtues of a longer period of time. I also listened to what the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, said, that the Secretary of State might be able to demand the reports. The problem is that that looks a good deal more arbitrary than does the regular reporting to which the industry will be accustomed. We think that we have got it right. We would not want to risk an extension of the period, certainly not to four years, and I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, having aired the issue, will feel able to withdraw his amendment. The Government have considered this carefully.