North Warwickshire and Bedworth’s Member of Parliament Craig Tracey spoke in the Queen’s speech debate to raise awareness of the impact of broadband speeds in rural communities.
The local MP called for rural communities to be given access to the best possible broadband as soon as possible and highlighted its importance to local families and businesses such as Prezzybox based in Austrey.
Craig also used statistics from the National Farmers Union (NFU) to explain the economical impact of high speed broadband on farms and rural businesses.
Craig’s speech in full:
‘Thank you for calling me to speak in this debate on the Queens Speech.
It was heartening to see that this Government is continuing to create the conditions to ensure that there are opportunities for all, particularly the disadvantaged, along with protections for the most vulnerable across our society.
I know that many of the 21 measures announced will bring benefits to my constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth, in particular:
- Education for all Bill - which will spread excellence everywhere so all children get the best education possible
- Neighbourhood planning and Infrastructure Bill - which will strengthen neighbourhood planning, giving even more power to local people and protecting our valued Green Belt
- Prison and Courts reform Bill - which looks at better rehabilitation of offenders. In many communities, a large number of crimes are committed by a small number of people, so we must tackle this issue head on.
- British Bill of Rights - which will better protect human rights legislation from being abused and restore common sense to their application, while continuing to protect our fundamental rights.
For my contribution today though I would like to focus on the Digital Economy Bill, which is vital not just in my constituency, where there are large pockets of rural communities, but across the whole of the country, if we are to maintain our position as the fifth largest global economy.
I want Britain to be at the forefront of innovation and a nation where technology continually transforms the economy and society, but to do that we need to up our efforts , creating a world class digital infrastructure and delivering on our manifesto commitment to roll out universal Broadband.
And we have made great strides since 2010, when less than half of UK properties had access to Superfast Broadband. Now 90% of households enjoy it and that is set to increase to 95% by 2017.
Many of the benefits to businesses and households are clear:
- better connectivity brings more choice, more opportunities and greater competition. New markets for businesses are opened up, not just within the UK or the confines of the EU, but also globally and in emerging markets.
- Consumers are more empowered and find it easier to access a wider range of goods, get access to their finances and even interact, with their MPs on Social Media.
But there are other unseen benefits that greater connectivity brings -
- it can help to keep families in touch, including our military based overseas,
- it can ease pressure on our health services and it can combat other social issues such as loneliness, particularly in isolated an rural areas.
I have long championed the case for high speed Broadband and have been delighted to see it rolled out in many places across my constituency since the election, including recently my home village!
A great example of the seeing these benefits in operation is Prezzybox, an online retail company in the village of Austrey, which operates from a farm building and is wholly reliant on the internet, but has now been able to grow to employ 25 local people, thanks to the connectivity that has been delivered.
I have two observations however, which I would like to share with Ministers and ask that they take into consideration as the rollout continues.
Firstly, there needs to be better communication with local communities both before and after the installation of new services.
I have been contacted by many constituents who were not aware of the rollout plans in place for their area and that, actually, they were soon to be “connected”.
And once the service is activated, it is vital that the next steps are strongly communicated to those who now have access, as I have lost count of the number of constituents that think once the upgraded broadband is available, then their speeds will automatically increase. They do not realise that they have to activate a Superfast Service or often that they can pick from a range of providers able to offer them that service.
My second point relates to the “Not Spots”.
The 5% who by 2017 will still not have access to Superfast Broadband, a number that the NFU puts at 1.2m households or the 10% who will still not have access to mobile phone coverage.
Many of these affected areas will be rural and farming communities and I know of several areas in North Warwickshire, which offer little or no coverage, slow download speeds of often dial up proportions and even an example in the village of Grendon, where residents are connected to super fast broadband, but have been told that, as the cabinet they are connected to is too far away, they will not be able to benefit from it.
We must do everything that we can to ensure that these communities are connected as quickly as possible so as not to be left behind by the digital revolution.
As the NFU rightly point out, access to Digital Networks helps promote tourism, stimulates creative industries and attracts investment and employment, in particular, it also helps rural businesses and communities to diversify, helping farms, village halls and businesses spread their risk and become more resilient.
A working example of this can be found in farming where 61% of their members have diversified their business, creating revenue of £530m.
It is clear that the demand is there. What I am urging the Government to do is to act decisively and look at all of the available options - in all likelihood, these remaining properties are going to be the most difficult to reach, so in the best of entrepreneurial British spirit, we may need to be creative and innovative.
There are opportunities to look at alternative providers who can create separate infrastructure projects to BT Open reach, there is the option to provide greater access to satellite provision and importantly we need to encourage Community Projects, for which there is currently no public sector funding.
So, to conclude, there are many things in this One Nation Queens speech, that as they are implemented, will bring great benefit, not just to my constituents but to the UK as a whole and the continued focus by this Government on a Digital Economy, will leave a legacy for generations to come.’