Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 26 Oct 2022
Online Pornography: Digital Economy Act 2017
"My Lords, to follow the powerful question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, parents are increasingly desperate for a legal bulwark against the tide of harmful and pornographic content that flows into their children’s minds from the internet. They are deeply unhappy that adult freedoms currently trump their children’s …..."Lord Farmer - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 23 Mar 2022
Loneliness Strategy
"My Lords, the strategy highlights family well-being as crucial in preventing loneliness and the need to support families. The Children’s Commissioner has just been tasked with reviewing family life, following the finding of the commission on race and ethnic disparities that high rates of family breakdown are a major risk …..."Lord Farmer - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 10 Feb 2022
Children: Online Protection
"My Lords, the Government’s announcement acknowledges that porn gives children unrealistic expectations about sex and relationships and encourages misogyny. However, it fails to mention the addictiveness of its consumption up the age range. Are the Government concerned about the effect on adults’ relationships, as is revealed by this worrying research? …..."Lord Farmer - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Jan 2022
Online Sexual Harassment of Children
"To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take in response to the report by the Children’s Commissioner Talking to your child about online sexual harassment: A guide for parents, published on 16 December 2021, and in particular the finding that children are “stumbling across” commercial pornography...."Lord Farmer - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Jan 2022
Online Sexual Harassment of Children
"My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for his reply. The Joint Scrutiny Committee and today’s Select Committee report refer to harmful and addictive online porn, and children’s exposure to illegal and extreme content. While parents have a key role, guidance for them is a fairly puny tool …..."Lord Farmer - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 09 Nov 2021
Sport: Transgender Inclusion
"My Lords, allegedly, the Ministry of Defence’s inclusive language guide, which quotes verbatim from Stonewall, advises staff to take care using “female”. The aim is to avoid erasing gender-nonconforming people and members of the trans community. As this risks erasing women instead, and cuts across the Defence Secretary’s drive for …..."Lord Farmer - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 04 Mar 2021
Video-sharing Platforms: BBFC Ratings
"My Lords, sensibly regulating the wild west of user-generated content on the internet is essential, but potentially a whack-a-mole exercise, given the risk that it simply displaces activity elsewhere. How will the DCMS work with Ofcom to ensure that its implementation of the video-sharing platform regime develops understanding of how …..."Lord Farmer - View Speech
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Written Question
Wednesday 15th July 2020
Asked by:
Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they have conducted on children’s access to pornographic content online; what plans they have to conduct research on such access; and whether they have monitored whether there has been any increased access to such material by children during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Answered by Baroness Barran
- Shadow Minister (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring children are protected from accessing inappropriate content online. The British Board of Film Classification, while designated as the age verification regulator under the Digital Economy Act, commissioned research on children’s access to pornographic content online. The research, published in early 2020, explored young people’s interactions with, and attitudes towards, online pornography and age verification. We will continue to develop our evidence base on online harms ahead of the implementation of the new online harms regulatory framework.
As a result of Covid-19 lockdown measures we expect more people, including children, to be spending more time online. Although it is too early to confidently analyse patterns from this period, there is universal concern about child online safety. We are working closely with technology companies, law enforcement and civil society to monitor trends, and to support users to understand and manage the risks and benefits of being online during this period.
Written Question
Monday 13th July 2020
Asked by:
Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a requirement for the same protections that exist for content in cinemas and on DVDs to be present for online content; and whether they are working with the film industry to seek the voluntary adoption of British Board of Film Classification age ratings for online content.
Answered by Baroness Barran
- Shadow Minister (Education)
The Government is committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to be online. While adoption of the British Board of Film Classification’s best practice age ratings by online platforms is currently voluntary, we welcome Netflix’s commitment to work towards complete coverage and support the BBFC’s drive to encourage other Video On Demand platforms to follow suit. By doing so, this will provide consumers with well recognised age ratings and consumer advice.
Written Question
Monday 22nd June 2020
Asked by:
Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the report on the impact and effectiveness of the regulatory framework provided for in Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 will be published.
Answered by Baroness Barran
- Shadow Minister (Education)
As the government announced on 16 October last year, we will not be commencing Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 and its provisions on age verification for online pornography. Instead the online harms regime will include provisions to protect children from inappropriate content, including online pornography. The requirement for a report on the impact and effectiveness of the regulatory framework set out in Section 29 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 will therefore not be brought into force.