Before the interruption, we were discussing the nature of the disruption that new technologies often make to the way in which businesses work, and I was saying that protection of IP is not about protecting obsolete business models, but about protecting new and emerging business models from what is effectively criminal activity. As the Library briefing sets out, an industry survey, admittedly published in 2010, found that 29% of a sampled population of internet users were engaged in some form of unauthorised music downloading. The music industry estimated that 1.2 billion tracks were downloaded unlawfully in the UK each year; there were legitimate online sales of 370 million tracks at that time.

Studies by the film and television industries indicate that more than 10% of UK adults consume infringing content online, and that piracy costs those industries more than £535 million per year in the UK. We have more recent evidence from Ofcom, which estimates that in the last three months, 280 million music tracks, 52 million TV programmes, 29 million films, 18 million e-books and 7 million games were illegal downloads. This involves 20% of households. The BPI estimates that this costs the industry £250 million a year. It is worth putting this in the context that half of all musicians earn below £20,000 a year. The industry estimates that over the whole Parliament, the Government’s delay in effectively enforcing online IP will cost it over £1 billion.

Despite how it may appear to the contrary, it is my understanding that this Government also believe in protecting IP. However, without an overarching strategy and clear approach, how can we understand how they propose to protect IP? They propose to repeal these provisions in the Digital Economy Act, but give no indication of what they will do to protect IP in consequence. As the Minister said, clause 27 repeals the power to make provisions for blocking injunctions in sections 17 and 18 of the Digital Economy Act. These sections contain powers to make regulations that would grant courts the power to order internet service providers to block websites that enable illegal downloads or host significant material that is not copyright or copyright-infringing.

The court would need to be satisfied that such websites are used, or are likely to be used, to infringe copyright. Section 18 then specifies that any such regulations would be subject to the super-affirmative procedure. That means that the Secretary of State must have regard to representations, House of Commons and House of Lords resolutions, and Committee recommendations that are made within 60 days of laying, before deciding whether to proceed with the order, and if so, whether to do so as presented or in an amended form. An order dealt with under that procedure therefore must be expressly approved by both Houses of Parliament before it can be made. I set all that out to make it clear that there are protections within the sections as they stand to ensure the maximum amount of scrutiny by both Houses.

By the way, Mr Chope, I checked the wiki entry for the Digital Economy Act 2010 before coming to the Committee. It says that the sections in question have already been repealed. I do not know whether it is in order to rely on the evidence of an entry in Wikipedia, but either it shows the faith of the wiki authors in the Government’s ability to carry through their legislative programme, such as it is, or perhaps it shows the need for more authoritative internet sources, which can be held accountable for the information provided on them, and which can be rewarded by the maintenance and protection of their copyright.

The clause would repeal sections 17 and 18. I understand that a Liberal Democrat peer introduced the provisions in question into the 2010 Act. However, we cannot expect to hold the coalition to Liberal Democrat commitments. The websites I am concerned with are generally ad or payment-funded. They are a lucrative business. I do not want hon. Members to take away the impression that we are talking about amateur, unpaid enthusiasts. Often they run lucrative businesses that infringe copyright on a criminal scale and pay nothing to musicians and songwriters. It is also more than likely that there will be hardcore pornography alongside such content, as well as malware and trojans, which will infect the devices that access the site.

I am sure that the Minister will address the fact that any proposal to block websites raises concerns about freedom of expression. It is right and proper in that context to consider blocking such proposals. However, we should also recognise that there are circumstances where, for public policy reasons, the Government need to become involved in blocking sites that are no better than organised crime. Indeed, the police already do so in partnership with the content industries. It is no longer generally accepted that the internet is some kind of wild west where the laws of the real world do not apply, as the Home Secretary, I think, has agreed in remarking that the laws of the physical world apply in the virtual world and that citizens have the right to be protected from online harm just as much as from physical harm.

The Government have, however, chosen not to use the relevant sections to set up procedures to enable sites to be blocked. Because of that, the industry has used injunctive relief—which sounds interesting—under section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to which the Minister referred, to block 24 websites by applying to the High Court. The BPI said in a letter to the shadow Culture Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman), that industry believes that that has been effective in reducing piracy in the UK and has thus been shown to be justified. However, it is not necessarily effective. Perhaps I misunderstood the Minister, but he implied that the existing practice of using injunctive relief was an acceptable and effective way of blocking access to the websites I have described. Certainly, industry does not think so. Industry believes that there is a need for a quick, cost-effective way to stop illegal websites from trading. Particularly for pre-release music or live sport, a fast process is needed because the damage to the copyright holders happens very quickly.

The Minister briefly alluded to the then Culture Secretary, the right hon. Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), asking Ofcom to review the practicability of the provisions in, I think, 2011. Ofcom noted that none of the blocking techniques

“is 100% effective; each carries different costs and has a different impact on network performance and the risk of over-blocking…All techniques can be circumvented to some degree by users and site owners who are willing to make the additional effort…The location of infringing sites can be changed relatively easily in response to site blocking measures, therefore site blocking can only make a contribution if the process is predictable, low cost and fast to implement…To be successful, any process also needs to acknowledge and seek to address concerns from citizens and legitimate users, for example that site blocking could ultimately have an adverse impact on privacy and freedom of expression.”

Those were the concerns raised by Ofcom, which also acknowledged that

“site blocking could contribute to an overall reduction in online copyright infringement”,

but Ofcom concluded that sections 17 and 18 of the 2010 Act would not be effective in generating lists of sites to be blocked. Effectively, Ofcom said that they were not the full solution.

In August 2011, the Business Secretary said:

“There are test cases being fought in the courts, so we're looking at other ways of achieving the same objective, the blocking objective to protect intellectual property in those cases, but in a way that’s legally sound.”

That is where I find what I hesitate to call a disagreement between what the Business Secretary said and what the Parliamentary Secretary said in his introductory comments, where he seemed to imply that the Government were not searching for better ways to achieve the objective of sections 17 and 18 but believed that it had been achieved through existing legislation enabling blocking injunctions.

What is the legally sound, effective way of protecting intellectual property that the Government have found? The House of Lords Communications Committee was invited by the Joint Committee that scrutinised the draft Bill to comment on clause 27. It noted what it described as the Government’s undertaking in 2011 to do

“more work on what measures can be pursued to tackle online copyright infringement…Whilst we make no comment on the merits of sections 17 and 18 of the Digital Economy Act 2010, we are not aware of any further work which the Government has done to identify other measures which could be pursued to tackle online copyright infringement. It seems to us that there might be merit in the Joint Committee on the draft bill firstly ascertaining what further research the Government has carried out on this issue and second exploring with witnesses the merits or otherwise.”

At the heart of this is the question whether the Government have done any further work. Are they intending to do any further work? Those questions arise because we have no view of an overarching approach from the Government for securing the future of our digital economy, specifically by tackling online copyright infringement.

I beg your indulgence, Mr Chope. I want to remind the Committee of the other areas in the Government’s approach to the digital economy that are under criticism. The National Audit Office’s report published last July revealed that the delivery of the Broadband UK programme will be 22 months later than planned. The project has been criticised for not promoting any market competition; BT was the winner of all 44 contracts put out to tender.

In the absence of a vision for the future of the digital economy, and having abolished our commitment to universal broadband coverage, broadband coverage is being rolled out more slowly than even the Government intended. That increases the uncertainty suffered by the industry. In that context, repealing sections 17 and 18 might have detrimental consequences in terms of both perception and reality for the digital economy.

Before coming to this debate and hearing the Minister’s remarks, I had believed that the Government were promoting a voluntary code to address blocking—or at least that a voluntary code was under discussion. The Minister made no reference to that. There have not even been so much as smoke signals from the Government to set out where we are with the voluntary code or what it contains. Perhaps the Minister’s silence points to the fact that those discussions have failed, or that the Government are no longer engaging with the matter.

Given the disarray in the Government’s approach to the digital economy, and the ad hoc series of measures that are put forward and then suggested for repeal, we would find it difficult—indeed impossible—to support the repeal of sections 17 and 18. The contrast between the Labour Government, seeking out the future, looking forward and acting in advance of the technology to secure and protect jobs in the valuable digital economy, and this Government, waving the banner of deregulation to hide their inability to act, could not be greater.