Proposal for Designation of Age-verification Regulator

Brendan O'Hara Excerpts

Thursday 1st February 2018 General Committees

[Brendan O'Hara (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)]

I welcome the Minister to her place. If nothing else, to be the person remembered for persuading the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex to get on Twitter puts her in the pantheon of the greats of this House. Unlike the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill, I have not had the delight of visiting the “Matt Hancock MP” app, but I certainly have my weekend’s relaxation sorted out. I look forward to the experience.

I share many of the concerns that the right hon. Gentleman expressed around the BBFC’s funding, resources and ability to do the job that it will be charged with doing. Broadly, the Scottish National party supports this age-verification measure, but we are aware that it is not a silver bullet. It has to be part of a much wider package around education and broader internet child safety. We have concerns, which we have expressed in the past, about data protection and individual privacy issues. Privacy, anonymity and proportionality at all times are very important.

We would like to know more about the software that is intended to be used. Are there mechanisms for the Government to report on improvements to the age-verification software as it progresses? How confident are they that the software is robust enough to deter a moderately tech-savvy teenager from getting round its security portals? What safeguards are there to ensure that the security is sufficiently stringent that the software cannot be hacked, leaked and subsequently exploited?

We are broadly supportive but we have questions about the software and about whether the BBFC has the wherewithal to deliver what the Government seek it to deliver.

[The Chair]

I notice that nine hon. Members were searching Twitter.