§ Lord Brougham and Vauxasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are able to respond to the report of the independent committee reviewing defence use of the radio frequency spectrum and publish an abridged version of the report.
§ Lord Young of GraffhamI am today publishing an unclassified, abridged version of the report of the independent committee, chaired by Sir Kenneth Corfield, which conducted a review of defence use of the radio frequency spectrum from 470 to 3400 MHz. Copies of the report have been placed in the Library.
The Government accept, and will act in accordance with, all the recommendations of the committee. We note the committee's finding that the overall balance of military and civil apportionment of the part of the spectrum under review is about right and that the management of the apportionments should continue without change.
The committee's recommendations concerning increased civil sharing of several frequency bands managed by the Ministry of Defence will necessitate further work to determine the precise geographical and frequency constraints and the appropriate management techniques. Also, measures must be devised to ensure that, when necessary, the Ministry of Defence can quickly gain exclusive access to previously shared frequencies.
The committee's other recommendations concerning greater openness about defence use of the 475WA spectrum and the use of automatic data processing are already being acted upon.
Finally, I should like to express our appreciation for the work of Sir Kenneth Corfield and his colleagues and the positive nature of their report.