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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, tonight I have been accused of puritanism, as well as of having an easy life—and so it goes on. It is important that we do not require Ofcom to produce a report of such extent and detail that simply gathering the data for it and putting it together becomes a disproportionate burden in terms of both time and money. We should bear in mind the fact that consumers will ultimately pay the cost of this, whether in the price that they pay for content or the price that they pay for broadband connections. New subsection (4) in Clause 9 already identifies the issues that we have good reason to believe are key in enabling the growth of the market in legal content: the availability of legal offerings, public understanding and awareness, and enforcement. In addition, it allows the Secretary of State to request Ofcom to consider any other matter. However, I bring your Lordships some good news. I think that some of the issues raised here might be relevant, although some might not. In the interests of making progress, I suggest that we work on the basis that the Secretary of State will carefully consider all the issues raised by your Lordships and consider whether to ask Ofcom to include them in its progress reports. On that basis, I invite the noble Lord to withdraw the amendment.