Moved by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay That the Bill do now pass.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport (Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay) (Con) My
Lords, I thank noble Lords from all sides of the House who have
contributed to our debates during the passage of this Bill so far.
Although that journey is not complete, their work has certainly
helped us to interrogate the Bill and improve it. In particular, I
would like...Request free trial
Moved by
of Whitley Bay
That the Bill do now pass.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ( of Whitley Bay) (Con)
My Lords, I thank noble Lords from all sides of the House who
have contributed to our debates during the passage of this Bill
so far. Although that journey is not complete, their work has
certainly helped us to interrogate the Bill and improve it. In
particular, I would like to use this opportunity to thank my
noble friend Lady Barran, who so expertly guided the Bill up to
Committee; I was pleased to hear the tributes and thanks to her
on Report a few days ago.
Throughout the passage of the Bill, the noble Baroness, Lady
Merron, and the noble Lord, , have helpfully challenged the
Government’s approach from the Opposition Front Bench. I thank
them for the constructive way they have done so and for their
diligent approach, along with the noble Lords, and , from the Liberal
Democrat Benches, who have also applied keen-eyed scrutiny
throughout the Bill’s passage so far. Although we have not always
agreed on the fine detail, it is clear that we all share the same
ambition: to keep our telecoms networks secure.
I also thank my noble friends on these Benches, particularly my
noble friends Lady Morgan of Coates, , , , Lady Stroud, and for their contributions. The
scrutiny that has been applied has already resulted in
legislation that will allow the UK to protect our telecoms
networks for years to come. It would be remiss of me not to
extend my thanks also to parliamentary counsel for their usual
brilliance in drafting the Bill, and to the House authorities for
ensuring that the parliamentary stages could take place so
seamlessly, including during the challenging circumstances of
recent months.
I close by thanking the officials within my department, most of
whom have been working on this Bill for well over a year now.
Their knowledge, organisation and patience has allowed me, and I
hope all noble Lords, to understand and scrutinise with relative
ease what is a technical but very important Bill. It is a large
Bill team and I make no apology for listing their names; it
illustrates the breadth of work that has gone into what is quite
a technical Bill. I thank Kathryn Roe, John Peart, Byron Grant,
Thea Macdonald, Euan Onslow, Alex Walford, Malcolm Campbell, Dan
Tor, Rosemary Buckland, Chris Frampton, Charlotte Carew, Will
Jones, Yohance Drayton, and our lawyers, Sean Murray, Martha
Hartridge, Simon Gomes, Luke Emmons, Richard Lancaster, May Wong,
Harriet Preedy, Julia Clayson, Sean Wilson and . All of them have supported
the passage of this Bill excellently.
As my predecessor said at Second Reading:
“The Bill will … protect our telecoms networks even as
technologies grow and evolve, shielding our critical national
infrastructure both now and for the future.”—[Official Report,
29/6/21; col. 707.]
I am encouraged that your Lordships’ House agrees that the Bill
will achieve this, and I beg to move.
(Lab)
My Lords, this has been my first Bill since I joined your
Lordships’ House a little over six months ago. Some would say
that I was thrown in at the deep end but in my view, I was simply
given the opportunity to swim in rather warm and pleasant
parliamentary waters. It has been fascinating and enjoyable and I
am very glad that my first Bill has been such an important one
for the security of the nation.
The Minister has of course been a constant throughout
consideration of this Bill, and we saw his worth recognised as he
was promoted from the important role of Whip to the Minister
tasked with bringing the Bill home. I thank him for the courteous
and professional manner in which he has conducted himself
throughout, and I also express my thanks to the former Minister,
the noble Baroness, Lady Barran. From these Benches, we also
express our gratitude to the Bill team, the clerks, the staff of
the House—indeed, all those who have worked front of house as
well as behind the scenes to make this Bill possible.
Throughout, it has been my pleasure to work with my noble friend
, who has brought his valuable
experience and knowledge to proceedings. We have been blessed to
have the highly professional support of Dan Harris, our excellent
adviser who has guided and advised us throughout, to whom we
express our thanks. Her Majesty’s Opposition strongly believe
that our nation’s security is above party politics, and I thank
all noble Peers who have worked cross party on this Bill.
New technologies have long transformed how we work, live and, of
course, travel. Our experiences during the pandemic have upped
the ante on the degree to which we rely on telecommunications
networks. At the same time, it has reinforced how intertwined
these networks are with issues of national security, including
the top priority of any Government: to protect its citizens from
risk. This Bill is a necessary step to protect us.
I am very glad to welcome the Government’s acceptance of our
arguments that codes of practice, to be issued by the Secretary
of State to telecoms providers, must first come before
Parliament. However, the Bill raised key questions and concerns,
especially given the absence of an effective plan to diversify
the supply chain and in respect of our telecom security depending
on strengthening our international bonds, in particular through
the Five Eyes, involving the UK, the United States, Australia,
Canada and New Zealand. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for
his work on that issue.
I hope that the other place will give sympathetic consideration
to the changes we have made on both those matters, and that the
Minister will recognise that the amendments passed by your
Lordships’ House make serious and important improvements to the
Bill and have widespread support across the Chamber. My
concluding wish for this Bill is that the Government will reflect
and feel able to support these improvements to the Bill and the
security they provide.
(LD)
My Lords, as the Minister said, this Bill entered the other place
a year ago. It has variously been urgent, in the long grass,
urgent again and now quite close to passing. I will not delay its
passage many more seconds. I have shelved my inner churl, but I
absolutely sign up to the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady
Merron. There are outstanding issues that your Lordships
commented on and put into the Bill as amendments that I hope can
be picked up. I hope that when this Bill is finally put to bed,
it really does protect the security of this country, and we will
work, on these Benches, to help make that happen. There is a lot
of unfinished business in this area. I fear that the Minister
himself, or one of his successors, may very well be bringing
other Bills before your Lordships quite soon.
I thank the Ministers, first the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, and
then the noble Lord, , for their work and their
willingness to communicate with those of us who were seeking to
scrutinise this Bill. I join the noble Lord in congratulating the
DCMS Bill team, and I hope he did not leave anybody out. I
congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, and the noble Lord,
, on their legislative debuts. I
also thank the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for his spirited, highly
principled and really important, contributions on the Bill.
Finally, I thank my noble friends and Lady Northover,
without whom this scrutiny would not have been complete, and
Sarah Pughe, our legislative officer, for her invaluable support.
With that, we wish this Bill onwards, with speed and
effectiveness, because it has a very important job to do.
(CB)
My Lords, before we pass this Bill, may I add to a comment to
what the noble Lord, , and the noble Baroness, Lady
Merron, said? I express my thanks as well to everyone who was on
the long list that the noble Lord, , gave us, but also to his
predecessor, the noble Baroness, Lady Barran. As Ministers, I do
not think they could have been more helpful and more responsive
to the points we made both in Committee and on Report.
My noble friend also mentioned the all-party amendment moved last
week by myself and the noble Lord, , which we also raised in
Committee. It raises the need for reviews to take place when
another jurisdiction—specifically, in this case, many of us cited
the United States of America—had banned a particular company
which was not banned in the United Kingdom but working within the
telecommunications sector.
One example the noble Lord, , and I gave in our debates was
Hikvision, which is banned in the United States. It makes the
surveillance cameras that are used punitively against the Uighur
people in Xinjiang but are also used in our own high streets and
public buildings. That amendment called for a review: that when
any such company is banned in another Five Eyes jurisdiction, it
is to be reviewed in the United Kingdom. It is a very reasonable
all-party amendment, but it was opposed by the Government. Before
the Minister completes his remarks today, could he tell us what
has happened to that amendment and how the Government intend to
respond to it?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
I was remiss in not adding to the long list of names I read out
those of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and my noble friend , who signed that
cross-party amendment to which the noble Lord just referred. Of
course, the amendment goes to the other place, which will look at
it, the official record and the debate we had on it. I am sorry I
was not able to persuade the noble Lord and my noble friend of
it, but I will work with my colleagues in DCMS to make sure that
they take into account the views of your Lordships’ House as
expressed in the vote. I will not pre-empt the debates that will
be had in another place, but I look forward to seeing what it
sends us back in continuing that debate.
In the spirit which all noble Lords have mentioned today of
wanting to see this important Bill on the statute book swiftly
but with the proper scrutiny that both places want to give it, I
beg to move.
15:26:00
Bill passed and returned to the Commons with amendments.
|
