Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to prevent children accessing adult applications on tablets and phones.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The strongest protections within the draft Online Safety Bill are for children. Services which are likely to be accessed by or attract a significant number of children will be required to conduct a child safety risk assessment and provide safety measures for child users. This includes services which are not targeted at children, but which they are accessing.
Ofcom will set out the steps companies can take to protect children from harm on their service. Companies will have to ensure that only users who are old enough are able to access services which have age restrictions or risk causing them harm. We expect companies to use age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing services which pose the highest risk of harm to children, such as online pornography or dating sites.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she will take to evaluate the adequacy of social media companies’ risk assessments of the likelihood of children using their adult services.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The strongest protections in the draft Online Safety Bill are for children. The Bill will require social media companies to assess whether their service is likely to be accessed by or appeal to a significant number of children and, if so, deliver additional protections for them.
Ofcom will be required to produce and publish guidance for services on how to undertake this risk assessment. Companies which assess that they are not likely to be accessed by children will need to provide robust evidence to the regulator and keep this assessment under review. The requirement to undertake, and keep up to date, an accurate assessment with regard to child access is an enforceable requirement. Ofcom may take enforcement action where providers do not carry out an adequate assessment and keep it up to date.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department will take to protect investment in the creative sector in Scotland in the event that Channel 4 is privatised.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We value Channel 4’s contribution to the creative sector across the UK and, if we decide to sell Channel 4, we would want to see it demonstrate a continued commitment to its impact outside of London.
Channel 4’s regional footprint is an issue we have specifically consulted on, and we are in the process of examining all of the evidence we have received before any decision is made.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if the Government will require Channel 4’s current office and headcount in Glasgow to be maintained in the event that it is privatised.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We value Channel 4’s contribution to the creative sector across the UK and, if we decide to sell Channel 4, we would want to see it demonstrate a continued commitment to its impact outside of London.
Channel 4’s regional footprint is an issue we have specifically consulted on, and we are in the process of examining all of the evidence we have received before any decision is made.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the evidential basis is for the privatisation of Channel 4 (a) supporting levelling up by boosting business growth for independent producers outside of London, (b) protecting the high value jobs supported by those companies across the UK and (c) sustaining growth in the broader creative economy beyond the M25.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Channel 4’s network of relationships across the whole of the UK, and its strong representation of the entire nation on screen are attributes to be celebrated and maintained into its future, and that is not at odds with private investment. In fact, Channel 4’s access to networks outside of London and its ability to speak to such a diverse range of audiences, are likely to be an attractive asset to nurture and develop for any potential buyer. Whatever decision is made about Channel 4’s ownership, we are clear that any changes will not compromise our commitment to the independent production sector or the wider creative economy, including our creative powerhouses across the UK. The government has stated that, whatever decision is made about Channel 4, we want it to remain a public service broadcaster, with public service obligations.
Channel 4 is one of this country’s greatest assets but we must think long-term about the challenges ahead and make sure it has the capital it needs to continue to contribute to the UK’s success in public service broadcasting for years to come.
We have consulted on the best ownership model to support this aim, and we are in the process of examining all the evidence we have received.