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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

From listening to the Minister respond to my noble friend’s concerns about the possibility of this body in Clause 7, it sounds as if he had almost lost the will to live. He does not want Ofcom to have more powers, and he does not want to set up a quango—so what is the point of new subsection (4) in Clause 7? Why do we need to establish another body or body corporate? We know that it is highly unlikely to be more cost-effective to set up another body. Is the Minister saying that he would prefer that Ofcom were to undertake these responsibilities? Who will it be left to to decide that there should be another body corporate? The whole thing seems to have been introduced into the Bill without much aforethought—hence the Minister’s notes sound less than convincing. Given that the Government have concerns about having more quangos and want to be an effective Government and so on, why are we now talking about other bodies that may come into fruition? It is all so fluffy and ill thought-through, if I may say so.