The three major parties explain their tech policies

Technology, computers and communications are now at the heart of not just business but most of our homes as well.

With that in mind, Computeractive asked the three major political parties - Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats - for their policies on topics of interest to readers.

The parties were asked to explain what they would do, if elected, about broadband expansion, the future of the BBC, who should pay for bank fraud, tackling cybercrime, copyright infringement, open government and the growth of government databases.

Broadband

The Government has proposed a levy of 50p per month per telephone line which will raise £175m a year to fund the extension of ‘super-fast’ broadband to 90 per cent of the country and to extend the broadband network into rural communities. Naturally, the charge has attracted protests and condemnation.

Labour says: “We will ensure universal access to today’s broadband services at 2Mbits/sec by 2012,” through public funding, helped by £200m saved from the budget for digital TV switchover. The commercial internet companies will supply faster services to two-thirds of the country, but the 50p levy, which it says amounts to £1bn over seven years, would pay for lines for the remaining third.

Editor's note: after this article was written, the Labour party dropped its plans to introduce the 50p broadband charge (or the 'landline levy' as it's officially called) in this parliament, as part of the 'wash-up' process of getting the Finance Bill passed through the House of Commons. The party has subsequently told Computeractive that, if re-elected, it will seek to reintroduce the measure.

The Liberal Democrats agree with some of that, saying: “We support the principle of the broadband tax proposed by the Government but have some concerns over how it will be implemented and the Government’s plans for using the money.”

The party wants exemptions for pensioners and poorer people, and that the tax should be revoked once its purpose has been fulfilled. It also wants tighter controls on how the money will be spent: “investment should be targeted first at those areas least likely to be provided for by the market,” it said.

The Conservative party agrees with the plan to bring faster broadband to the majority of homes by 2017, but it disagrees on how to pay. It told us it would lower the cost for companies so that “a competitive market will open up among internet service providers (ISPs) and that super-fast broadband will reach significant parts of the population currently excluded”. Changes to business rates would also be on the cards.

This wouldn’t pay for everything, though, so the Conservatives propose to use part of the BBC licence fee (3.5 per cent is currently used for funding the digital TV switchover) to cover the rest.

Our verdict: The Labour/Lib Dem 50p broadband tax would probably pay for broadband expansion, but it’s unpopular. The Conservatives’ 3.5 per cent of the licence fee appears to come up a bit short of the required amount, but their other moves should make up the shortfall. However, what we want to see is concrete plans from the new government about exactly how the money will be spent. We agree that pensioners and the least able to pay should be exempt from any charge.

The BBC

The BBC’s funding is guaranteed through the licence fee, while other companies have to attract advertisers. Recently there have been calls for the BBC to cut down on websites and radio stations because they leave commercial sites and stations at a competitive disadvantage.

All three parties are keen to stress they would be ‘hands-off’ when it comes to the future of the BBC. The Liberal Democrats say: “Decisions about how the licence fee should be used are for the BBC Trust, the BBC and the licence fee payer to make”, while Labour says: “We believe it shouldn’t be politicians who make decisions about the BBC. The independence of the BBC is fundamental to our democracy.” The Conservative party said that: “Providing websites is part of the BBC’s public service remit, and this would not change under a Conservative government.”

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats sounded a note of caution, however, saying that the BBC could crowd other companies out.

Our verdict: The BBC is a valuable public resource, and all the parties are making the right noises about safeguarding it. But it’s clear that there will have to be cuts. Whether the politicians will truly stay out of it and not attempt to dictate what gets cut isn’t something they’ll tell us. Labour was the only party not to address cuts to BBC websites.