Several subcommittees

Scrutinises work of European Commission and other European issues

Subcommittee B - Energy, Industry and Transport

Chair: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe

Members: Viscount Brookeborough, Baroness O’Cathain, Lords Bradshaw, Cavendish, Chadlington, Faulkner, Paul, Sandberg, Skelmersdale, Woolmer

Clerk

Specialist Adviser

Exert Parliamentary control over the Executive

Improve quality of legislation

Scrutinise public spending

Scrutinise work of government departments

Members appointed by committee but influenced by whips

All party representation

Meet at least once per week

Conduct special inquiry in parallel with scrutiny work

Report to parliament - sometimes reports are debated

Power to insist on attendance

Witnesses can be pressurised to attend - especially politicians

Objective-ish

Intelligent amateurs approach

Tradition is that party political differences are subjugated

Government pays attention to findings

Open and transparent

Questioning of witnesses is in public

Can be televised

All evidence published (spoken transcribed)

Scope for good Chair and Clerk to make it successful

Strict timetables - get things done

Limitations as research

one-dimensional methodology

little or no planning/piloting

little analysis

Unusual power/responsibility relationships

Chair has overall responsibility but subject to party political issues

Clerk has detailed knowledge of procedures - can dominate

maverick behaviour on part of Members

Specialist Adviser has (informal) responsibility but no power

Expertise and knowledge are variable

Few resources

Procedure driven

Sub-Committee B of the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union is undertaking an inquiry into the development and co-ordination of policy in the European Union as it relates to e- commerce. Evidence is invited on what, within EU policies, the European Commission, national governments and their agencies are doing to develop and co-ordinate policy on e-commerce, and what they should or should not be doing to achieve this objective. In particular, the inquiry will be seeking answers to the following questions:

1) What needs to be done to create confidence and to stimulate e-commerce?

2) Does the European Commission’s draft Action Plan "e-Europe: An Information Society for All" offer a realistic means of promoting e-commerce in the EU?

3) Will codes of conduct and co-regulation provide sufficient protection? Is there a case for intervention by national governments and the EU?

4) Do the institutions of national governments, on the one hand, and the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, on the other, function with sufficient flexibility and coherence to promote the EU’s objectives in the field of e-commerce?

5) Should existing EU institutions’ internal structures be changed, or new ones created, to improve policy development and co-ordination?

6) How can structural change be brought about fast enough to accommodate to the growth of e-commerce?

Recommendations
Access

The government/EU should…

Encourage employers to allow employees to use corporately-owned equipment

Exert pressure for LLU (local loop unbundling)

Exert pressure for BT to roll out ADSL

Work to reduce Internet access costs and develop monitoring systems

Consider how universal access is to be achieved, especially the roll-out of digital TV

Ensure privileges associated with Internet access apply to all sections of society

Promote balanced use of Internet between genders

Encourage adoption good design practice for disabled people

Recommendations
Trust

The government/EU should…

Encourage development and use of smart cards

Encourage the use of e-money and e-wallet arrangements

Work with credit card companies to provide better protection for consumers

Resolve Country of Origin/Country of Reception issue; establish ADR scheme

Consider appointment of e-ombudsman for UK and one for EU

Promote voluntary international standard for website security cf ISO9000

Use existing monitoring groups but ensure they conform to Cabinet Office guidelines

Liaise more close with industry over service attacks

Investigate possibility of an electronic identity card system

Recommendations
Resources

The government/EU should…

Combine regulatory roles of OFTEL, ITC and Radiocommunications Agency

Enforce competition policy in respect of telecommunications infrastructures

Improve venture capital provision cf. US

Identify need for individual training after leaving school

Change tax treatment of stock options

Reflect on proposed VAT changes within the EU

Press OECD for progress on international taxation treaties

Review the operation of IR35

Recommendations
Government as exemplar

The government/EU should…

Make achievement of UK government targets a priority

Put in place mechanisms for cross-agency funding

Re-assess UK government ministerial structures at cabinet level

Rationalise EU Industry, Information and telecommunication Councils

Improve mechanisms for consulting with SMEs and the "new economy"

Improve support for SMEs in cross-border trading

Change culture and attitudes in UK government departments

Recommendations
Monitoring

The government/EU should…

Monitor DTI’s support provisions for SMEs

Collect statistics on cybercrime

Monitor impact of e-commerce on digital divide

Review collection and definitions of official statistics

Implement medium- and long-term planning processes to assess the impact of e-commerce on economies, jobs, skills, education

Benchmark e-commerce practice across nations

Timing was a problem

perceptions of the importance of the topic oscillated

press release in August

Debate on role of BT and the government’s monitoring of BT

Re-structuring on the agenda

OFTEL

EC Councils on Competitiveness, Industry

Pointed to superficiality of government targets

But… showed that government was trying hard and had initiated a number of changes

Issue of digital divide faded as dotcom shake-out took place