Broadband: Price Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
Main Page: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness McIntosh of Pickering's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Broadband: Price
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts(1 year, 8 months ago)
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Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)
My Lords, is this not an opportunity for the Government, in rolling out their digital programme, to ensure that this area is properly regulated? Could Ofcom not play a crucial role here? All of us are bound by our contracts, as my noble friend the Minister rightly pointed out, which in most cases are locked in for 24 months, and we are going to face an average 11% increase. For vulnerable households, this is just too much.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
Ofcom does have an important role to play here as the independent regulator, but, as I say, mindful of the particular challenges that households are facing, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State spoke directly to companies, asking them to consider very carefully the decisions they are making and the impact on their customers.