§ Mr. HealdTo ask the President of the Board of Trade when the Government's response to stage 3 Radio spectrum review report will be published. [22007]
§ Mr. HeseltineI am pleased to announce that, in agreement with the Secretaries of State for Defence, for the Home Department, for Scotland and for National Heritage, the Government's response to the recommendations made in the report of the radio spectrum review committee, "Stage 3: 28–470 MHz', will be published today. The review committee was chaired by Sir Colin Fielding and its report presented to Ministers on 19 January 1994.
Today's response and the progress which will be made in implementing the recommendations is a further example of the steps we are taking to improve the efficiency of spectrum management and usage in the UK to promote competition and choice for the benefit of all users of the radio spectrum.
The review committee made 28 recommendations, 24 of which have been accepted by the Government without reservation; the remaining four are accepted in principle. The recommendations cover both defence and civil use of the review spectrum and a number of them have already been acted upon. Part of an existing defence frequency band has already been released for a new digital radio broadcasting service for the UK. Further defence spectrum has been released in co-operation with NATO to provide the emergency services with an opportunity to develop a new radio system. This in turn will also assist with the resolution of the long-standing continental radio interference problems in the UHF frequency bands in England and Wales.
Some of the review committee's recommendations addressed spectrum management issues which were also the subject of the consultative document on the future management of the radio spectrum. Therefore it was decided to delay the completion of the Government's response to the stage three review until after consideration of the submissions to the consultative document.