Broadband (North of England)
Debate between Helen Goodman and Adrian SandersWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Andrew Jones
I thank the hon. Lady for her warm comments, but I do not think the Government are saying that it is acceptable. I think they are saying, “We know this matters and we are trying to roll it out.” The points I was making were a bit on the more positive side than she is suggesting. The problems did not just start in 2010; this has been a gradual growth of the digital economy and the opportunities it presents. The point I am trying to make is that we need to grab it. The Government have done well to grab it and we just need more of it.
Just as a further point—
Helen Goodman
I have two criticisms: one is of the way in which broadband has been rolled out; the other is of the behaviour of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, because they are now demanding that people deal with them solely online. That is a new development under this Government. The Government are encouraging them—in fact, instructing them—to deal solely with the citizen online. In the first-tier tribunal, for example, the tribunal judge ruled that the requirement to submit VAT returns online and the failure to take into account a person’s ability to comply on grounds of computer literacy, age, or the remoteness of location was a breach of the European convention on human rights. We need to see a change in the Government’s attitude on that.
There is an overall problem and it is twofold. The Government prioritised speed over access. When we left office, we had laid out a plan for securing universal broadband roll-out by 2012. The Government abandoned it and set out twin objectives in 2011. They were the provision of a superfast broadband network to 90% of the population by 2015 and the ability of every household to receive at least 2 megabytes download speed by 2015. Both those targets will be missed by the Government and the target is now to reach 95% of the population by 2017.
What the Government did was invest a large amount of money, for example, in the super-connected cities programme, instead of prioritising the roll-out to the rural areas. The super-connected cities programme produced a legal challenge. What the Government did was highly controversial.