DIGITAL BRITAIN Final Report JUNE 2009

DIGITAL BRITAIN Final Report JUNE 2009

URN 09/1026 DIGITAL BRITAIN Final Report JUNE 2009 DIGITAL BRITAIN – Final Report – Final BRITAIN DIGITAL Published by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from: Online www.tsoshop.co.uk Mail, Telephone, Fax & E-Mail TSO PO Box 29, Norwich, NR3 1GN Telephone orders/General enquiries 0870 600 5522 Order through the Parliamentary Hotline Lo-Call 0845 7 023474 Fax orders: 0870 600 5533 E-mail: customer.services@tso.co.uk Textphone: 0870 240 3701 The Parliamentary Bookshop 12 Bridge Street, Parliament Square, London SW1A 2JX Telephone orders/General enquiries: 020 7219 3890 Fax orders: 020 7219 3866 Email: bookshop@parliament.uk Internet: http://www.bookshop.parliament.uk TSO@Blackwell and other Accredited Agents Customers can also order publications from TSO Ireland 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD 028 9023 8451 Fax 028 9023 5401 The Digital Britain Final Report is one of the central policy commitments in the Government’s Building Britain’s Future plan and draft legislative programme. Building Britain’s Future sets out the practical action we will take to build a stronger, fairer and more prosperous country. It focuses the energy and mission of the Government in the year ahead on three clear priorities: ●● Cleaning up politics and reforming our democracy; ●● Moving from recession to recovery and planning for a strong economy in the future; and ●● Reforming Britain’s public services. Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Digital Britain Final Report Presented to Parliament by The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting. By Command of Her Majesty June 2009 Cm 7650 £34.55 © Crown Copyright 2009 The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and other departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specified. Where we have identified any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. For any other use of this material please write to Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU or e-mail: licensing@opsi.gov.uk ISBN: 9780101765022 Contents Foreword by the Rt Hon Lord Mandelson and the Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP 1 Introduction by Lord Carter CBE 3 Chapter 1: Executive Summary 7 Chapter 2: Being Digital 27 Chapter 3a: A Competitive Digital Communications Infrastructure 47 Chapter 3b: Radio: Going Digital 91 Chapter 4: Creative Industries in the Digital World 105 Chapter 5: Public Service Content in Digital Britain 135 Chapter 6: Research, Education and Skills for Digital Britain 165 Chapter 7: Digital Security and Safety 189 Chapter 8: The Journey to Digital Government 207 Chapter 9: Delivering Digital Britain 225 Annex: Actions from the Interim Report 230 List of Acronyms 236 The Digital Britain Report is jointly resourced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and draws on expertise from across Government, industry and regulators. The Digital Britain Report benefits from the guidance of a voluntary Steering Board of industry experts. The members of the Steering Board are: Peter Black – Network technology Professor Tanya Byron – Online protection Francesco Caio – Next generation networks Andrew Chitty – Production/new media Barry Cox – Digital radio Matthew d’Ancona – Print media/new media Robin Foster – Public service content Andrew Gowers – Creative economy Ian McCulloch – Media markets Peter Phillips – Regulatory frameworks Stephen Temple – Spectrum Foreword Foreword Britain needs to plan for more than recovery from the global downturn. We face changes that are transforming the world in which our businesses and people operate. The move from analogue to digital technology is one of those revolutionary changes. It will define the competitiveness of our economy and change dramatically the way we lead our lives. As we made clear in our industrial strategy Building Britain’s Future: New Industry, New Jobs – we believe Britain needs an active industrial policy if we are to maximise the benefits from the digital revolution. Doing nothing or leaving everything to the market would leave Britain behind. We need a clear and effective approach which is consistent, ensures full access, provides regulatory certainty, smarter public procurement and shows a readiness to intervene where necessary. The Digital Britain Report does this. It offers a strategic view of the sector, backed by a programme of action: ●● to complement and assist the private sector in delivering the effective modern communications infrastructure we need, built on new digital technologies; ●● to enable Britain to be a global centre for the creative industries in the digital age, delivering an ever wider range of quality content, including public service content, within a clear and fair legal framework; ●● to ensure that people have the capabilities and skills to flourish in the digital economy, and that all can participate in digital society; and ●● for government to continue to modernise and improve its service to the taxpayer through digital procurement and the digital delivery of public services. The proposals in this report will enhance Britain’s strengths in a crucial sector and harness new technologies to provide a fairer and more prosperous Britain for all. We would like to thank all those who have worked so hard to produce this report. We are particularly grateful for the vision and leadership of Stephen Carter, whose experience and knowledge have been invaluable in producing this report. Rt Hon Lord Mandelson Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP 1 Digital Britain – Final Report 2 Introduction Introduction On 26 August 1768, when Captain James Cook set sail for Australia, it took 2 years and 320 days before he returned to describe what he found there. Yesterday, on 15 June 2009, 20 hours of new content were posted on YouTube every minute, 494 exabytes of information were transferred seamlessly across the globe, over 2.6 billion mobile minutes were exchanged across Europe, and millions of enquiries were made using a Google algorithm. The Digital World is a reality in all of our lives. In this report we underscore the importance of understanding, appreciating and planning for this reality and we seek to achieve the following: 1. An analysis of the levels of digital participation, skills and access needed for the digital future, with a plan for increasing participation, and more coherent public structures to deal with it. 2. An analysis of our communications infrastructure capabilities, an identification of the gaps and recommendations on how to fill them. 3. A statement of ambition for the future growth of our creative industries, proposals for a legal and regulatory framework for intellectual property in a digital world, proposals on skills and a recognition of the need for investment support and innovation. 4. A restatement of the need for specific market intervention in the UK content market, and what that will demand of the BBC and its role in Digital Britain. What that means for the future of the C4 Corporation. An analysis of the importance of other forms of independent and suitably funded news, and what clarification and changes are needed to the existing framework. 5. An analysis of the skills, research and training markets, and what supply side issues need addressing for a fully functioning digital economy. 6. A framework for digital security and digital safety at international and national levels and recognition that in a world of high speed connectivity we need a digital framework not an analogue one. 7. A review of what all of this means for the Government and how digital governance in the information age demands new structures, new safeguards, and new data management, access and transparency rules. The level of engagement with this programme has been impressive, both in its scale and quality. 3 Digital Britain – Final Report The compilation of this Report also coincided with a severe global downturn in the media and communication industries. Submissions from numerous industry participants and other stakeholders were influenced by a cyclical contraction in advertising spending, newspaper circulation, volatile audience ratings and technology price erosion. That volatility has been compounded by a structural change in communication habits as we all gravitate to new digital devices, multi-media platforms and different forms of content. Short term economic pressures have exposed areas of policy and regulation that need to be addressed, however, Digital Britain primarily seeks to position the UK as a long- term leader in communications, creating an industrial framework that will fully harness Digital Technology. The UK’s digital dividend will transform the way business operates, enhance the delivery of public services, stimulate communications infrastructure ready for next-generation distribution and preserve Britain’s status as a global hub for media and entertainment. Most importantly of all this approach seeks to maximise the digital opportunities for all of us, as citizens, where access to 21st Century technologies will be a key competitive advantage for generations to come. These are therefore exciting prospects for further growth and success. This is a sector where

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