Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of Ofcom guidance on the Online Safety Act 2023 on freedom of expression.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises the importance of upholding users’ rights to free expression and privacy online. This is why the Online Safety Act 2023 has built strong safeguards for freedom of expression and privacy into the legislative framework. For example, all providers are required to give particular regard to the importance of protecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy rights when implementing measures to comply with their new safety duties. In addition, major online platforms – known as Category 1 services under the Act - will be required to put in place particular safeguards for journalism and content of democratic importance, in recognition of their influence over public discourse.
Ofcom’s public consultation for the illegal content duties closed in February 2024 and organisations such as the Open Rights Group were able to provide feedback on Ofcom’s proposals. As a public authority, Ofcom must act in accordance with its public law duties to act lawfully, rationally and fairly. It is unlawful for Ofcom to act in a way which is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, including with regard to individual’s’ rights to freedom of expression and privacy. Ofcom must abide by these principles when developing its regulatory codes of practice and guidance for services.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations on the inclusion of (a) human rights and (b) due process principles in Ofcom guidance to companies relating to the Online Safety Act 2023 in the article by The Open Rights Group entitled A dangerous precedent for global censorship, published on 4 March 2024.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises the importance of upholding users’ rights to free expression and privacy online. This is why the Online Safety Act 2023 has built strong safeguards for freedom of expression and privacy into the legislative framework. For example, all providers are required to give particular regard to the importance of protecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy rights when implementing measures to comply with their new safety duties. In addition, major online platforms – known as Category 1 services under the Act - will be required to put in place particular safeguards for journalism and content of democratic importance, in recognition of their influence over public discourse.
Ofcom’s public consultation for the illegal content duties closed in February 2024 and organisations such as the Open Rights Group were able to provide feedback on Ofcom’s proposals. As a public authority, Ofcom must act in accordance with its public law duties to act lawfully, rationally and fairly. It is unlawful for Ofcom to act in a way which is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, including with regard to individual’s’ rights to freedom of expression and privacy. Ofcom must abide by these principles when developing its regulatory codes of practice and guidance for services.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help protect children online.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Last year the government passed the groundbreaking Online Safety Act which will place much needed duties on tech companies to protect their users, especially children. We are focused on implementing the act as quickly as possible.
In January, the government introduced new offences to criminalise cyberflashing, fake news intended to cause non-trivial harm and other online abuse. The Crown Prosecution Service has already delivered the first conviction for cyberflashing, and it will not be the last.
On 8 May, Ofcom published its draft child safety codes. Once in force, these protections will significantly improve child online safety, ensuring companies shield children from harmful content, and stop their algorithms pushing inappropriate content at children.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle digital exclusion.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has been clear that no one should be left behind in the digital age. Digital inclusion is a cross-cutting issue that spans education, employment, access to services and more. The Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy chairs the cross-Whitehall Ministerial group for digital inclusion, which aims to drive progress and accountability across Government.
In DSIT, we are taking steps to ensure support for some of the most urgent priorities such as investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to bring gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach communities or working with the telecoms industry to ensure provision of social tariffs.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) attract, and (2) retain, top AI professionals in the UK.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government is committed to ensuring there is a sustainable pipeline of skills workers. Since 2018 we have invested £290 million in AI skills and talent initiatives. This includes the funding of AI and Data Science Conversion Courses scholarships for underrepresented groups.
The AI Futures programme helps attract top early to mid-career AI talent from around the world to the UK, including through a grants scheme which supports universities and SMEs to meet relocation costs of exceptional AI researchers and engineers.
We also help UK tech companies access world-class talent through the Global Talent Visa and the Scaleup Worker Visa.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is a committed Disability Confident employer and takes several steps to support this initiative. Not one single individual works solely on this area of work, with the remit spread across individuals within HR (including Recruitment, Health, Safety and Wellbeing, Talent, and Culture and Inclusion), as well as line managers and staff networks.
All recruiting managers are provided with information on applying the Disability Confident scheme during recruitment, and our dedicated recruitment team ensures compliance with Civil Service Recruitment Principles and centrally approved schemes like Disability Confident. We regularly monitor data to ensure the scheme's effective application and measure its impact. Prospective candidates are informed about reasonable adjustments available during the recruitment process, in line with our legal obligations, to ensure fairness and inclusivity.
DSIT achieved Disability Confident Leader (DCL) (Level 3) status in February 2024, validated by an independent organisation, and our efforts include making workplace adjustments, providing disability awareness training, and encouraging open discussions about disabilities. The effectiveness of our efforts is assessed through continuous monitoring and feedback, inclusive recruitment practices, and engagement with the Voluntary Reporting Framework. We will look to review the effectiveness of our efforts periodically following the achievement of DCL status.
Future steps involve enhancing policies and practices based on best practices and stakeholder feedback and strengthening our engagement with the Voluntary Reporting Framework to better monitor and report on disability inclusion, mental health, and wellbeing.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's publications entitled DSIT: spending over £500, October 2023 and DSIT: spending over £500, November 2023, published on 17 May 2024 for what reason payments of (a) £794.50 were made to Trove on 18 October 2023 and (b) £700 were made to Blue Orchid Hotels on 27 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department spent a) £794.50 at Trove on catering for 70 people attending an all-day staff training event held off-site and b) £700 with Blue Orchid Hotels on the hire of a venue and equipment for an all-day staff training event for 100 people.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to assess the service provided by Vodafone and other mobile operators in remote areas to ensure that they are complying with their operating licences.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The coverage outcomes that the mobile network operators committed to as part of the Shared Rural Network and that were then added to their spectrum licences are overseen by Ofcom, with regular reporting throughout the life of the programme to ensure agreed obligations and targets are met. Compliance with these obligations will be assessed by Ofcom at the end of June 2024, by when each operator has committed to have reached 88% geographic coverage of the UK, and 2027 when each operator has committed to have reached at least 90% geographic coverage of the UK. Progress towards these outcomes is published in the regular Ofcom Connected Nations reports.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking with Ofcom to ensure that its guidance on age (a) verification and (b) assurance under the Online Safety Act 2023 reflects data privacy considerations.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act 2023 includes strong safeguards for user privacy. The Act includes principles that Ofcom must have regard to when recommending the use of age assurance technologies for compliance with duties in the Act. Privacy has been represented in these principles, which outline that considerations relating to privacy, as set out in the Data Protection Act 2018, apply to all uses of age assurance technologies used to comply with duties in the Act.
Ofcom is consulting on its codes of practice and guidance, with the child safety codes of practice currently out for consultation.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Counter disinformation unit has taken to help X tackle QAon disinformation on its platform.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In October 2023 the Counter Disinformation Unit became the National Security and Online Information Team (the NSOIT). The name more accurately reflects the team’s revised remit and function, which is to tackle the greatest national security risks facing the UK from mis and disinformation, specifically looking at threats posed by foreign states, risks to elections and from the use of AI and deepfakes. This revised remit is kept under regular review.
NSOIT’s remit does not include working with individual platforms to tackle mis or disinformation from certain individuals or groups. In specific circumstances, the NSOIT may share online material with platforms where it is in line with ministerial steers, is on an issue within the team’s remit, and where the content appears to be in breach of the platform’s terms of service. Social media platforms decide whether or not content is a breach of their terms of service and, if so, what action to take.