Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to introduce a mandatory ID submission for people creating online accounts on anonymous websites.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has no plans to mandate the new digital ID for creating online accounts on anonymous websites. We will be consulting on other ways people might want to use this ID by the end of the year, such as when verifying their age for accessing certain websites - but there are no plans to make that mandatory.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 inequalities in access to digital technologies in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Preston; and what estimate she has made of the number of households without internet access in (i) the North West, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) Preston.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government has been clear that no one should be left behind in the digital age. We will take steps to ensure support for the most urgent priorities. For example, we are investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to bring gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach communities.
According to thinkbroadband.com, only 0.5% of premises in the North-West, 0.6% in Lancashire, and less than 0.1% in Preston are unable to access a decent broadband connection of 10Mbps download, 1Mbps upload. These premises may be able to request an improved connection through the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) if their current connection falls below these speeds.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions officials in her Department have had with social media companies on safeguarding users from scams; and what steps she is taking to protect users from scam content.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Shadow Minister (Education)
My department has regular meetings with online platforms on a number of issues. The Government is committed to protecting users from online scams and fraud, which is why new regulations were introduced through the Online Safety Act.
The Act gives user-to-user and search service providers new duties for tackling fraudulent content. They will need to conduct risk assessments and ensure they put in place systems and processes that proactively tackle it. The largest user-to-user and search service providers have additional duties to proactively tackle fraudulent advertising.
Ofcom will set out details about how providers can comply with their duties in codes of practice.