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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Levitt on 2 March (HL Deb col 1066), what assessment they have made of the existing regulatory framework for on-demand programme services as a model to deliver regulatory parity between online and offline pornography.

The Government recognises that there is a clear and urgent need for greater parity between the treatment of harmful pornography online and offline. Following Baroness Bertin’s independent review, a joint team, formed by the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice, and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will examine the evidence to inform the Government’s approach to pornography policy, including consideration of how best to achieve parity between online and offline pornography. This evidence will include the effectiveness of existing regulatory regimes, such as the on-demand programme services regulatory framework. The Government has committed to publishing a delivery plan within six months of the Crime and Policing Bill receiving Royal Assent, and further information regarding the delivery plan will be set out in due course.