Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential risks of age verification methods involving facial or biometric data to enforce a social media ban for under-16s.

I have asked Ofcom to rapidly assess what constitutes highly effective age assurance for establishing whether someone is over 16, prioritising data privacy and security, and considering how it can work for all users.

The ICO’s age-appropriate design code already requires online services to meet additional standards when processing children’s data, including on security, minimisation and sharing.