Children and Young Persons

Vicky Ford Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Vicky Ford)]

I beg to move,

That the draft Electronic Commerce Directive (Education, Adoption and Children) (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2021, which were laid before this House on 18 January, be approved.

I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the European Statutory Instruments Committee for considering these regulations. I also thank the other place for approving the regulations on 10 February, following what may have been the quickest debate in parliamentary history.

Let me assure Members that these regulations do not change policy. They are a technical measure to remedy deficiencies of retained EU law arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU. They are necessary to enable our legislation, which I will speak to in more detail shortly, to operate properly now that we have left the EU and the transition period has finished. The regulations remove statutory measures that implemented article 3 of the e-commerce directive, better known as the country of origin principle, from two pieces of legislation: the Education Act 2002 and the Electronic Commerce Directive (Adoption and Children Act 2002) Regulations 2005.

The e-commerce directive was introduced by the EU in 2000 to facilitate digital trade within the EU’s internal market, allowing the free movement of information society services, more commonly referred to as online service providers. The country of origin principle applies to online service providers operating across the European economic area. The principle means that online service providers only have to follow certain rules in the state in which they are established, rather than the rules in each state where their service is received. It applied to a variety of UK legislation.

These regulations concern two aspects of policy: teacher misconduct and adoption. Section 141F of the Education Act 2002 sets out reporting restrictions that aim to protect the identification of a teacher in England and Wales facing an allegation of an offence made by or on behalf of a pupil until the point at which legal proceedings have begun or the Secretary of State for Education publishes information following an investigation or decision about the allegation. Section 141G makes it an offence to publish information in breach of section 141F. Schedule 11B applies the country of origin principle to the offence created by section 141G.

The Electronic Commerce Directive (Adoption and Children Act 2002) Regulations 2005 give effect to the country of origin principle for two offences in the Adoption and Children Act 2002. First, section 92, dealing with restrictions on arranging adoptions, prevents anyone who is not an adoption agency or acting pursuant to a court order from taking steps to arrange the adoption of a child. Secondly, sections 123 and 124 deal with restrictions on the advertising of adoptions and prohibit advertisements relating to the adoption of a child unless undertaken by an adoption agency.

The regulations before the House will change where online service providers that break the law are able to be prosecuted. If an online service provider commits an offence created by the Education Act 2002 and the Adoption and Children Act 2002 in the UK, they will be liable for prosecution in the UK. If a UK-based online service provider publishes prohibited information in a European economic area state, they will be subject to prosecution in the state in which they commit the offence. The other place concluded that the draft regulations were logical and appropriate. They will ensure that our legislation continues to operate effectively. I therefore commend these regulations to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Vicky Ford]

I thank everyone for their contributions to this debate. It is good to hear that the shadow Minister will not be opposing the regulations, as to do so would potentially have put children at risk. I am glad she agrees that it is better to have left the EU with a deal than without one, but I am sorry that I did not hear her put on the record her thanks to all those who negotiated right up to the deadline in order to secure a deal. I would like to put on the record my thanks to all those from both sides of the negotiations, including the EU negotiators, who worked through that holiday period to ensure that we could have as smooth an exit as possible.

The shadow Minister asked what had been done to inform people of changes to the law, so let me be extremely clear that the underlying law has not changed. What has changed is where people will be prosecuted if they breach the underlying law. That is extremely important and it should be clear to the shadow Minister, so I am surprised that her lawyers have not got that extremely important point. All that is changing is where people will be prosecuted.

The regulations do not diminish in any way the offences I have described as set out both in the Education Act 2002 and in the 2005 electronic commerce directive regulations. They do not impact in any way on the policy behind those regulations. The identity of teachers who are accused by a pupil of an offence will be protected until the point at which relevant legal proceedings have begun and children in care will continue to be kept safe and protected by our ensuring that arranging and advertising adoption can legally only be undertaken by adoption agencies.

The regulations simply fix the deficiencies of retained EU law. They will ensure the enforcement of UK laws when the offence is committed in the UK, irrespective of the country in the European economic area in which the online service providers are based. My understanding is that the devolved Administrations were consulted—I did have discussion on this—and Northern Ireland did give its consent. On the point about malpractice, that is covered only in England and Wales and there is a devolved point in this regard, but I can assure colleagues that the Administrations were contacted as part of this exercise. On that basis, I commend the regulations to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

We will now suspend for a short period to sanitise just the Government Dispatch Box.