Oral Answers to Questions

Tommy Sheppard Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP)]

What steps the Government is taking to help tackle disinformation in the context of the covid-19 pandemic.

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

What steps the Government is taking to help tackle disinformation in the context of the covid-19 pandemic.

[The Minister for the Armed Forces (James Heappey)]

The MOD is supporting the Government’s campaign against covid-19 disinformation by providing specialist personnel in advisory roles. This work is led by the Cabinet Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The Government are also working closely with social media platforms and academia to tackle this issue, and the Government’s focus remains on promoting factual public health advice and countering inaccurate content.

[Tommy Sheppard [V]]

Disinformation by active promoting of falsehoods poses a significant threat, but so too does disinformation by omission. The National Security Council’s report on Russian interference in UK politics has been ready for publication since October 2019. To have trust and confidence in our democracy, the people of the United Kingdom need openness and transparency, so if the Government have nothing to hide, why do they continue to refuse to release this report?

[James Heappey]

As these are Defence questions, I am somewhat outside my portfolio in answering in this question, but the Secretary of State, who sits in the Cabinet, tells me that the security committee is not yet formed, which is why the report has not yet been published.