Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
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Thursday Volume 542 22 March 2012 No. 284 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 22 March 2012 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2012 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through The National Archives website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/parliamentary-licence-information.htm Enquiries to The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] 907 22 MARCH 2012 908 Karen Lumley: Will the Minister congratulate House of Commons Worcestershire county council, which has set aside £8.5 million in these difficult times to secure superfast broadband? In Redditch we have a £300,000 project to Thursday 22 March 2012 enable residents to stay at home and work instead of travelling into cities. What can the Government do in The House met at half-past Ten o’clock these times to help local authorities further? Mr Vaizey: We continue to invest a substantial amount PRAYERS in broadband roll-out, and I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating Worcestershire county council on investing alongside the Government. It is a great [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] testament to the scheme that we have put in place that we have secured private funding and local government funding alongside central Government funding. Oral Answers to Questions Caroline Nokes: What progress has been made to overcome the issues of state aid in unlocking the rural broadband fund, which will help in counties such as Hampshire? CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT Mr Vaizey: We have applied for a UK-wide scheme The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media for state aid approval. We believe that we are close to and Sport was asked— approval, and we continue to work closely with the European Commission on the issue. Superfast Broadband Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab): The cumbersome and expensive Broadband Delivery UK process appears 1. Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con): What almost to have eliminated competition, which ought to progress he has made on his plans to extend superfast have had a very important role in it. Ministers made a broadband to rural areas. [101297] big strategic error in supporting superfast broadband at county level, rather than regionally. Does the Minister 10. Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con): What progress recognise that it will be a scandal if the outcome of the he has made on his plans to extend superfast broadband process is that, in the end, all the money is just handed to rural areas. [101307] over to BT? 13. Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) Mr Vaizey: I am surprised that the right hon. Gentleman, (Con): What progress he has made on his plans to as a former telecoms Minister, does not understand extend superfast broadband to rural areas. [101312] that, if we had had a national or a regional scheme, competition would have been even harder to secure. As The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, it is, three major competitors remain in play in terms of Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): May I broadband roll-out. apologise for the Secretary of State’s absence from questions today and thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab): How, in him leave of absence? The whole House will be aware of rolling out broadband, will we ensure that the people the happy reasons for that absence. who undertake installation in different regions—rural We anticipate that the broadband delivery framework areas as well as urban—do not simply move from contract will be signed with suppliers in mid-April, and London and then take their skills back to London, and we expect the first three projects to enter procurement that a skill repository is left among the work force using the framework immediately after. We have set a where broadband is installed? target for all broadband procurement to be completed by the end of 2012, so that delivery can be completed by Mr Vaizey: I cannot guarantee that the engineers who 2015. lay broadband will stay in the areas in which they work, but the key point about broadband roll-out is to ensure Julian Smith: I thank the Minister for that answer. that all parts of the country benefit from the infrastructure Rural north Yorkshire is already benefiting from the so that we can base companies with high skills all over Government’s investment in broadband, and after the country. yesterday’s Budget cities will, too, but at higher speeds. How do we avoid a continued digital divide between Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab): Yesterday rural and urban areas, but at higher speeds? the Chancellor of the Exchequer found extra money to extend superfast broadband to small cities, but, as the Mr Vaizey: My hon. Friend has been a doughty hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) champion of his part of the world in securing superfast said, the real digital divide today is between those with broadband. All the country will benefit from superfast broadband and those without. Peter Cochrane, former broadband, but it is quite right that we continue to chief technical officer at BT, giving evidence in the invest in higher speeds, particularly for cities, to maintain other place, described access as “a fundamental human our global competitiveness. right”. Two million people, mainly in rural areas, are 909 Oral Answers22 MARCH 2012 Oral Answers 910 still without broadband, and Labour pledged to guarantee contact, if any, does the Minister have with the Scottish 2 megabits to almost every household by 2012, but this Government about how services are being developed Government will not achieve that until after 2015. Why north of the border? are Ministers so unfair in their treatment of rural Britain? Mr Vaizey: I have regular contact with the Scottish Government, who have welcomed the funding and are Mr Vaizey: I certainly reject the accusation that we putting in their own funding to support broadband have been unfair on rural Britain, and my glass, unlike roll-out in Scotland. the hon. Lady’s, is half full not half empty. I look forward to going on a tour with her to Belfast, Cardiff, Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con): It was Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and so on and telling once said that the entire empire hung by Lancashire’s people that they are getting unfair treatment from the thread. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Government because we are investing in their broadband Lancashire county council on prioritising superfast networks. broadband? The entire county now hangs from its fibre optic cable. Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): Rural Britain, in the shape of the small town of Bradford on Avon in Mr Vaizey: I am happy to join my hon. Friend in my constituency, welcomed the news this week that it is congratulating Lancashire on its superfast broadband. to have superfast broadband with the conversion of its It is a very innovative and go-ahead authority, which exchange. [Interruption.] In the Budget yesterday the has also been particularly pioneering in libraries. Government announced pilots, including one in Wiltshire, for rural growth networks to address the barriers to economic recovery. Will funding from those networks Press Complaints Commission be available to increase the roll-out of superfast broadband in rural areas? 3. Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab): What assessment he has made of the potential Mr Vaizey: I did not hear the entire question because effects on local newspapers of the closure of the Press of the continued carping from the Opposition at our Complaints Commission. [101299] support for our major and smaller cities. I will happily work with the hon. Gentleman to ensure that all broadband The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, funding is used as effectively as possible in his area. Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): The Leveson inquiry was established by the Government Superfast Broadband last July and will make recommendations to my Department about reform for the system of press regulation. The 2. Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con): What closure of the Press Complaints Commission is a matter progress he has made in improving access to superfast for the industry, but the new structure will apply to all broadband. [101298] newspapers, local or national. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Jim Sheridan: My local press are watching with interest Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): We to see what replaces the PCC. What measures are in have now approved the local broadband plans for Durham, place to defend or protect the general public when Warwickshire, Northumberland and Staffordshire project taking redress against, mainly, the national newspapers? areas, which means that 24 of the 45 plans received by Will the Minister share with the House how many the 29 February deadline have been approved; that is meetings, if any, his Department has had with national more than half. All submitted plans, including Greater newspaper editors or proprietors? Manchester’s, will be approved by the end of April 2012. Mr Vaizey: I do not have the details of meetings with We anticipate that the contract for the broadband national editors, but I am happy to share them with the delivery framework will be signed with suppliers in hon. Gentleman by way of a letter. The Press Complaints mid-April and expect the first three projects to enter Commission mediation procedures will continue during procurement using the framework immediately following the transit to a new arrangement. the contract’s being signed. We have set a target for all broadband procurements to be completed by the end Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): I draw Members’ of 2012.