Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 18 October to Question 59454 on Internet and Pornography: Children, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of appointing an independent ombudsman or organisation to assess (a) online harmful content and (b) pornography present on a service provider's online presence rather than by the service providers themselves.

The Online Safety Bill introduces clear legal responsibilities on service providers to understand the risk of harm to users and put in place systems and processes to improve user safety. Service providers will be required to protect children from harmful content online, including pornography, and Ofcom will be able to take enforcement action against services which do not comply with these duties.

The Government has considered the merits of establishing an independent ombudsman to consider harmful content online, including access to pornographic material. However, it is not necessary as a number of the key functions performed by an Ombudsman, such as consumer research and advocacy for affected groups, will be performed by Ofcom as regulator. The Online Safety Bill also sets out a comprehensive range of duties on all regulated services in relation to clear and accessible complaints and redress mechanisms. Ofcom will be able to take enforcement action against services who do not comply fully with their user redress duties.