Secretary of State’s oral statement on the Digital Britain Interim Report

29 January 2009

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With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to make a statement on the publication today of the interim Digital Britain Report.

Last October, together with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, I announced that my Noble Friend, the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting, would undertake a comprehensive review of Britain’s digital, communication and creative sectors and make recommendations to place the country in a position to prosper in the digital age.

Today, the Government is publishing Lord Carter’s interim findings. His report starts from the recognition that these sectors are both important in their own right - worth over £52 billion a year, with 2-3 million people directly employed – but fundamental to the way all businesses operate and how we all live our lives.

Capable communications systems can help all British businesses become more efficient and productive, offering the potential to reduce travel. High-quality information and entertainment enhance our democracy, improve our quality of life and define our culture.

In short, building a Digital Britain is about securing a competitive, low-carbon, productive and creative economy in the next five to ten years.

Madam Deputy Speaker, it is worth reminding the House of Britain’s traditional strength in these industries. The World Wide Web was invented by British ingenuity. It was here that GSM was created and established as the global standard for first generation digital mobile communications. But this strength is not just in distribution and communications systems. Our TV, music, film, games, advertising and software industries are world-leading. The OECD estimates that the UK cultural and creative sector (at just under 6 per cent of GDP) is relatively more important than its equivalent in the US, Canada, France and Australia; Unesco considers the UK to be the world’s biggest exporter of cultural goods, surpassing even the US.

However, we cannot be complacent. The online age is rewriting the rules, changing the way consumers access content and the old business models that have underpinned Britain’s creative industries.

The challenge now is this: how to build the networks and infrastructure that help businesses and consumers get the most from the digital age; and funding the quality content that enhances our culture and our economy.

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The Government’s thinking in these areas has been shaped by a series of important reviews, including: the Caio review on next generation broadband access; the work of the Digital Radio Working Group; the Byron Review on children and new technology which led to the establishment of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety; the Convergence Think Tank; the Digital Inclusion Action Plan; and the Creative Britain Strategy.

Digital Britain brings these strands of work together into a clear and comprehensive framework with five public policy ambitions at its heart.

First, to upgrade and modernise our digital networks - wired, wireless and broadcast.

Second, to secure a dynamic investment climate for British digital content, applications and services.

Third, to secure a wide range of high quality UK-made public service content for UK citizens and consumers, underpinning a healthy democracy.

Fourth, to ensure fair access for all and the ability for everyone to take part in the communications revolution.

Fifth, to develop the infrastructure, skills and take-up to enable widespread online delivery of public services.

Madam Deputy Speaker, the interim report makes 22 recommendations to achieve these objectives and I will set out some for the House today.

Britain must always be ready to benefit from the latest advances in technology. So we will establish a strategy group to assess measures to underpin existing market-led investment plans for Next Generation Access networks. An umbrella body will also be set up to provide technical advice and support to local and community networks. To facilitate the move to next generation mobile services, we are specifying a Wireless Radio Spectrum Modernisation Programme. In addition, the Government is also committing to enabling Digital Audio Broadcasting to be a primary distribution network for radio in the UK; and will create a digital migration plan for radio. We will consider how the Digital TV Switchover Help Scheme can contribute towards this agenda.

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We will only maintain our creative strength if we find new ways of paying for and sustaining creative content in the online age. We will therefore explore the potential for a new Rights Agency to be established and, following a consultation on how to tackle unlawful file-sharing, we propose to legislate to require Internet Service Providers to notify alleged significant infringers that their conduct is unlawful.

Our third objective – high quality UK-made public service content –will be achieved by sustaining public service broadcasting provision from the BBC and beyond. The report identifies news at local, regional, and national level, and children’s programming as amongst the key priorities.

The BBC as an enabling force is central to this – strong and secure in its own future, working in partnership with others to deliver these objectives. We will also explore how we can establish a sustainable public service organisation which offers scale and reach alongside the BBC, building on the strength of Channel 4. We will consider options to ensure plurality of provision of news in the regions and the Nations, and we are asking the Office of Fair Trading, together with Ofcom, to look at the local and regional media sector in the context of the media merger regime. We will consider the evolving relationship between independent producers and commissioners to ensure we have the appropriate rights holding arrangements for a multi-platform future.

Our fourth objective of fairness and access is, of course, crucial to delivering the Government’s policy of an inclusive society where new opportunities are available to all and nobody is left behind. So we are developing plans to move towards a historic Universal Service Commitment for broadband and digital services to include options up to 2Mb/s, building on the approach to postal services and telephones in centuries past. We will also ensure that public services online are designed for ease of use by the widest range of citizens.

Lastly, to help people navigate this vast and changing world, the report makes recommendations to improve media literacy and, particularly, give parents the information and tools necessary to protect children from harmful or inappropriate content.

Madam Deputy Speaker, the Government has today set out an ambitious vision to make sure Britain reaps the full economic and social benefits of the digital age. An intensive period of discussions with industry partners and others must now begin to turn these emerging conclusions into firm solutions. A final report will be presented to Parliament by the summer and I wish to thank Lord Carter for his work to date.

In publishing this interim report today, and making this statement to the House, we seek to invite members from all sides of the House to engage in the debate around these fundamental questions that will shape our country’s economy and society in this century.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I commend this statement to the House.

ENDS

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