HC Deb 12 February 1992 vol 203 cc970-1
12. Mr. Dunn

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will indicate the nature and range of discussions he has had with OFTEL on the length of time customers have had to wait to have their telephones repaired; what changes in waiting time there have been in the last seven years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Redwood

The Government and the Director General of Telecommunications frequently discuss telecommunications policy issues. Ninety-nine per cent. of faults are now repaired in two working days, compared with 87 per cent. in 1985. My hon. Friend may remember that, in 1980, a quarter of a million people had been waiting for more than two months for telephones to be connected. Seven days—a week—is a long time to wait for a telephone service nowadays.

Mr. Dunn

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. Will he confirm that our policy of privatisation and the liberalisation of the telecommunications industry has led to lower prices and a better quality of service for the consumer? In the light of that, and of the answer that he has just given, would he care to contrast our policy with that of the Labour party?

Mr. Redwood

My hon. Friend is right: our policies have been most successful in achieving higher-quality service and lower-priced telephone calls. How welcome that is. Labour's policies, which are partly monopoly and partly over-regulatory, and aim to damage the industry's profits and investments, could only make matters worse. Quality would deteriorate and people would have less choice and therefore a less good service.

Mr. Dalyell

Given the position of such firms as Motorola at Bathgate do the Government recognise that what such firms really want is infrastructure, and that local authorities should be helped to provide it?

Mr. Redwood

All kinds of infrastructure are being provided, both through the expenditure of public moneys under programmes organised by, for instance, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Transport, and through the provision of large amounts of private-sector capital in the case of such matters as telecommunications infrastructure. The big surge in investment has been possible only because of the liberalisation policies pursued by the Government. It is being backed up by road programmes and by railway and other investment.