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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

The Minister mentioned the national plan. I remind your Lordships that in 2002 we launched an inquiry, which I chaired for the Select Committee on Science and Technology, into the microprocessing industry. We produced a report called Chips for Everything, in which we looked very closely at the impact that producing a smaller and smaller microchip would have on future technology and on the development of all the things that we are talking about now. As part of that process, we also looked very closely at what was happening in California—that part of America in which these things were developing at such a rate. Our report identified and very much emphasised that no one knows the impact of producing smaller and smaller microchips. We could not foresee the things that have happened in the past five years, and we have no idea what will happen in the next five years. The people who will make full use of this opportunity will be the technicians, and there will be demand from the public. For God’s sake, let us not produce a national plan that restricts the development of the wonderful opportunities that will still come from these ever growing technologies.