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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Young, for introducing the amendment in a largely constructive way, although she referred to an "impasse", which is not quite the word that I would have used. I hope that I can reassure her that, far from there being deadlock, the Government are extremely constructive and anxious on this matter. I am grateful to other noble Lords who have participated in the debate for stressing the importance of resilience in the telecoms network. The Government regard resilience to the risks caused by climate change as being of the utmost importance. That is why the Bill introduces a requirement for Ofcom to provide a triennial report to the Secretary of State on electronic communication infrastructure and its resilience. That refers to overall resilience, but we are concerned about a high level of resilience for the UK telecoms networks. Climate change is, of course, significant, but we also need resilience to risks such as loss of infrastructure through malicious or terrorist attack, human error, accident, force majeure or whatever. By its very nature, that will include natural events or disasters, whether or not they are caused by climate change. The noble Baroness, with her vast experience in her role in the Environment Agency, will know only too well that the Government have already acted on the issue of resilience. Following the Pitt review on flooding, a voluntary industry work programme to enhance resilience was put in place. That work has been going on for a considerable time. As she also knows, we also have the Flood and Water Management Bill, which we will have the greatest pleasure in debating in Committee in a couple of weeks—indeed, I gave an assurance at Second Reading that we would be considering these matters in some detail. The necessary resilience of our telecoms network is of great importance. Far from the Government being obstructive, we are greatly exercised, not just through the promptings of the noble Baroness but because of the views of others who are concerned about climate change. We are concerned about resilience and we are taking action. It is important to consider resilience as widely as possible. I do not want to risk detracting from all the existing work to enhance resilience to other risks by introducing different sets of reporting requirements on different risks. At this late stage it would also be unwise to include further onerous blanket requirements across the entire sector when we have not consulted it on that. There is a requirement on Ofcom to report on and play its part in guaranteeing effective overall resilience to any threat to our system. In the report to Parliament, Adapting to Climate Change: Ensuring Progress in Key Sectors—2009 Strategy for Exercising Adaptation Reporting Power and List of Priority Reporting Authorities, published in November 2009, the Government committed themselves to engaging with industry on climate change adaptation. Discussions have been taking place with Ofcom on how to achieve a voluntary way forward on reporting on climate change adaptation matters. Once we have a clear view on the impacts of climate change on the telecoms sector, we can explore with Ofcom how this can be incorporated within its triennial reports on resilience, to which I referred a few moments ago. Ultimately, should the impacts of climate change present a risk to the telecoms networks, reporting requirements on overall resilience are bound to reflect this, alongside all other risks that are of great moment. Creating a separate reporting requirement is not the most effective way of getting the industry to play its full part in mitigating the risks and tackling the problems. We know that the telecoms sector takes resilience extremely seriously. After all, it is in its interests to ensure resilience to challenges that climate change may present in the same way as it does in relation to other risks. Providers voluntarily offer high levels of resilience through an all-hazards approach that is achieved through ongoing dialogue and close co-operation. This reporting requirement would undermine that overall approach that the House will appreciate we need. There are no data available demonstrating how the telecoms sector is at risk from climate change. To mitigate vulnerability we need further discussion and analysis with the industry, taking data into consideration. To create a new legislative reporting requirement would run counter to the light-touch legislation by which the sector is currently regulated. It would at the same time detract from the comprehensive approach to risk that it is in the industry’s interests to address and which the Government are pursuing vigorously. I make the obvious point that, if the Committee on Climate Change wants to pursue these issues further in detail, of course the Government will respond constructively, but a comprehensive approach on resilience is necessary. I have said how the Government and the industry respond when a potential threat occurs. We have already seen that in the context of the response to the floods since 2007. Although this Bill is largely the concern of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which has real concerns about how regulation is enforced and developed with the industry, and although the DCMS inevitably has a great interest in many aspects of the Bill, I emphasise to the noble Baroness—I speak as one of the team of Defra Ministers—that the Secretary of State has taken a particular interest in this issue. He is all too well seized of the importance of climate change in relation to the telecoms industry, but it is not his view, nor the view of Defra as a whole, that this amendment and this specific form of reporting is necessary or desirable. I therefore hope that the noble Baroness will withdraw her amendment. She has certainly presented an important case, but I hope that she will accept the assurances that the Government take the case seriously and are already addressing these issues, albeit in a different way from the one that the amendment enjoins. We believe that the amendment would somewhat frustrate the total picture that the Government are seeking to establish.