Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale and impact of AI-generated political misinformation on online platforms; and what steps they are taking to safeguard democratic processes.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government takes the security and integrity of our democratic processes very seriously, including the risks posed by AI-generated content. While recent UK elections did not see the scale and sophistication of AI anticipated, this remains an important issue.
The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to mitigate risks from illegal disinformation, including AI-generated content, relevant to elections (e.g. false communications). Media literacy is also part of our wider approach, building public resilience to mis- and disinformation.
The department also engages through the government’s Defending Democracy Taskforce, which is committed to safeguarding the UK from the full range of threats to democracy, including those from AI.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure media literacy programmes are part of local and regional strategies in schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Media literacy is currently taught through the national curriculum for citizenship at key stages 3 and 4. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils with the skills and knowledge to explore political and social issues critically, to weigh evidence, debate and make reasoned arguments.
Citizenship teaches about distinguishing fact from opinion as well as exploring freedom of speech and the role and responsibility of the media in informing and shaping public opinion. Complementary aspects of media literacy are also taught through relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing which together equip pupils to evaluate and apply information technology, and to be a discerning consumer of information online.
Support for teaching is available through a number of sources, including optional, free and adaptable resources from Oak National Academy at: https://www.thenational.academy/.
The department also funds the National Centre for Computing Education, to support the teaching of computing. This includes units on messaging in digital media, the credibility of sources, and identifying ‘fake’ news and edited images.
The government endorses Ofcom’s three-year Media Literacy Strategy, which commits to working with regional partners to share learnings and effective educational practices with teachers, senior leaders and relevant education authorities. The strategy also includes working with Multi-Academy Trusts in England to help schools support parents on online safety with the aim to develop this into a national approach.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening media literacy programmes in the ongoing Curriculum and Assessment Review.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Political and media literacy are currently taught through the national curriculum for citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, which covers parliamentary democracy, the power of government, and how citizens and Parliament hold government to account. It also equips young people to distinguish between fact and opinion and understand the role of a free press. Primary schools can choose to teach citizenship, using non-statutory programmes of study at key stages 1 and 2. Complementary aspects of media literacy are also taught through relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing, which together equip pupils to evaluate and apply information technology and to be a discerning consumer of information online.
Support for curriculum delivery is available through optional, free and adaptable resources from Oak National Academy (Oak). Oak launched its new curriculum sequences for secondary citizenship earlier this academic year, with the full package of curriculum resources expected to be available by this autumn. Oak resources are available here: https://www.thenational.academy/.
The Educate against Hate website also hosts a series of online media literacy resources, which seek to help young people evaluate the validity of information. These resources can be accessed here: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, conducted by a group of education leaders (the Review group) and chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The terms of reference were published last July and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/curriculum-and-assessment-review.
The Review will seek to deliver a curriculum that is rich and broad, which ensures children and young people are equipped with the essential knowledge and skills to enable them to adapt and thrive in the world and workplace of the future. The Review will consider the skills needed to ensure that children are resilient to misinformation and can distinguish fact from fiction.
The role of the Review group is to consider the evidence, the responses to the call for evidence and widespread engagement with the sector, and then make recommendations for the government to consider. The Review group will publish an interim report in early spring setting out its interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work, and will publish its final report with recommendations this autumn. The department will take decisions on what changes to make in light of these recommendations.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the integration of (a) political and (b) media literacy into school curriculums.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Political and media literacy are currently taught through the national curriculum for citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, which covers parliamentary democracy, the power of government, and how citizens and Parliament hold government to account. It also equips young people to distinguish between fact and opinion and understand the role of a free press. Primary schools can choose to teach citizenship, using non-statutory programmes of study at key stages 1 and 2. Complementary aspects of media literacy are also taught through relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing, which together equip pupils to evaluate and apply information technology and to be a discerning consumer of information online.
Support for curriculum delivery is available through optional, free and adaptable resources from Oak National Academy (Oak). Oak launched its new curriculum sequences for secondary citizenship earlier this academic year, with the full package of curriculum resources expected to be available by this autumn. Oak resources are available here: https://www.thenational.academy/.
The Educate against Hate website also hosts a series of online media literacy resources, which seek to help young people evaluate the validity of information. These resources can be accessed here: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, conducted by a group of education leaders (the Review group) and chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The terms of reference were published last July and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/curriculum-and-assessment-review.
The Review will seek to deliver a curriculum that is rich and broad, which ensures children and young people are equipped with the essential knowledge and skills to enable them to adapt and thrive in the world and workplace of the future. The Review will consider the skills needed to ensure that children are resilient to misinformation and can distinguish fact from fiction.
The role of the Review group is to consider the evidence, the responses to the call for evidence and widespread engagement with the sector, and then make recommendations for the government to consider. The Review group will publish an interim report in early spring setting out its interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work, and will publish its final report with recommendations this autumn. The department will take decisions on what changes to make in light of these recommendations.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the British Youth Council on the political literacy of young people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I was sorry to learn about the closure of the British Youth Council and want to express gratitude for its work over the years. Government is committed to the delivery of the UK Youth Parliament and intends to use funding allocated to BYC in 2024/25 to support the programme. We are working alongside previous UKYP delivery partners from English regions and the devolved administrations, to understand the implications of BYCs closure for programme delivery. We have been working at pace to identify a suitable organisation which can hold overall grant management responsibility for the UKYP 24/25 and I will update the house as soon as next steps have been formalised. In parallel, we will be leading engagement with young people and key stakeholders to plan for the longer-term future of the UKYP.
An evaluation of the impact of the Youth Parliament was conducted between October 2022 and March 2023 and found that all stakeholders, participants, delivery staff and policy officials, agreed that the programmes were important vehicles to engage young people in the UK political processes and support youth-informed policy development. A new evaluation of the UK Youth Parliament programme was started in 23/24 and is due to conclude in 24/25.
Since 2017, Government has provided a total amount of c.£2.4m to the British Youth Council to deliver youth voice activities including the UK Youth Parliament, Youth Select Committees and Make Your Mark.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment on the impact of (a) the Our Generation Our Vote project and (b) other political literacy projects on levels of political engagement among young people.
Answered by Damian Hinds
As part of the national curriculum for Citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, pupils will learn about Parliament, the importance of voting and elections, and the actions citizens can take in democratic and electoral processes to influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond. The national curriculum programmes of study for Citizenship are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.
Schools are subject to statutory duties regarding political impartiality, which require them to present partisan political issues in a balanced and impartial way. The department has published guidance to support schools to meet their duties regarding political impartiality which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance is clear that schools are responsible for reviewing any external materials that they use to ensure they are factual, balanced and age appropriate. The department therefore has no plans to assess the impact of the Our Generation Our Vote project or other political literacy projects, centrally.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Defending Democracy Taskforce is taking to reduce the potential threat of artificial intelligence generated deepfakes being used in elections.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
The Government is committed to safeguarding the UK’s elections and already has established systems and processes in place, to protect the democratic integrity of the UK.
DSIT is the lead department on artificial intelligence and is part of the Defending Democracy Taskforce which has a mandate to safeguard our democratic institutions and processes from the full range of threats, including digitally manipulated content. The Taskforce ensures we have a robust system in place to rapidly respond to any threats during election periods.
Furthermore, the Online Safety Act places new requirements on social media platforms to swiftly remove illegal misinformation and disinformation - including artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes - as soon as they become aware of it. The Act also updates Ofcom’s statutory media literacy duty to require it to take tangible steps to prioritise the public's awareness of and resilience to misinformation and disinformation online. This includes enabling users to establish the reliability, accuracy, and authenticity of content.
The new digital imprints regime, introduced by the Elections Act 2022, will also increase the transparency of digital political advertising (including artificial intelligence-generated material).
Finally, the threat to democracy from artificial intelligence was discussed at the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, reinforcing the Government’s commitment to international collaboration on this shared challenge.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase young people's (a) awareness of and (b) ability to identify (i) disinformation and (ii) other online harms.
Answered by David Johnston
Pupils are taught about online safety and harms through the citizenship, computing and Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum.
Citizenship is statutory within the National Curriculum at key stages 3 and 4 and primary schools can also choose to teach it. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils with the skills and knowledge to explore political and social issues critically, to weigh evidence, debate and make reasoned arguments. Citizenship includes coverage of media literacy topics such as safeguarding democracy and a free media, understanding the role of responsible journalism in democratic society, identifying mis-, dis- and mal- information and countering the effects of negative and harmful news, events and information. The citizenship curriculum can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.
The computing curriculum is designed to ensure that pupils can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems, and that they are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology. Using technology safely, securely, respectfully and responsibly is taught at all key stages of the computing curriculum to provide pupils with the e-safety knowledge they need to make informed decisions whilst online. The computing curriculum can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study.
The RSHE curriculum was introduced in 2020 and is compulsory. Pupils are taught about online relationships, the implications of sharing private or personal data online, harmful content and contact, cyberbullying, an over-reliance on social media and where to get help and support for issues that occur online. The RSHE statutory guidance also says that it is important for young people to know what the law says about sex, relationships and young people, as well as broader safeguarding issues. The RSHE statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
In health education, under the topic of internet safety and harms, pupils should be taught about how advertising and information is targeted at them and how to be a discerning consumer of information online.
To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence, the department has produced the RSHE teacher training modules, ‘online and media’ and ‘internet safety and harms’. The modules can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health#train-teachers-on-relationships-sex-and-health-education.
To support schools further, the department has also published ‘Teaching online safety in schools’. This non-statutory guidance aims to support schools in teaching pupils how to stay safe online within new and existing school subjects, such as relationships education, relationships and sex education, health education, citizenship and computing. The guidance outlines the importance of teaching pupils the underpinning knowledge and behaviours that can help them navigate the online world safely and confidently, regardless of the device, platform, or app. This includes how to evaluate what they see online. This will enable pupils to make judgements about what they see online and not automatically assume that what they see is true, valid, or acceptable. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for City of Chester, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps are being taken to improve levels of political literacy among young people in Newport West.
Answered by Christian Matheson
The Electoral Commission has an important duty to promote public awareness of the UK’s electoral systems.
Following the extension of the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds in Wales, the Commission has been working with teachers and youth leaders to support citizenship education, and has shared new education resources for young people across the UK, including versions specific to Wales.
The Commission continues to develop further political literacy resources for young people across the UK, and will publish additional materials ahead of the upcoming elections in May 2022. It has also recently established a youth voice network to inform this work, which includes representation from young people in Wales.
The Commission is also promoting Welcome to Your Vote week to schools this month, to help young people to feel more confident and more prepared to engage in democracy.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of political literacy education are required to be taught to pupils at (a) primary and (b) secondary school.
Answered by Robin Walker
All schools are required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. Financial education and political literacy are important aspects of the citizenship programmes of study, which are statutory at key stages 3 and 4 in maintained schools.
The department has also introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. In the primary mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic knowledge that pupils should be taught. This knowledge is vital, as a strong grasp of numeracy and numbers will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some specific content about financial education, such as calculations with money. At secondary level, there is more specific content related to financial education in both the secondary mathematics curriculum and in the mathematics GCSE content. Pupils are taught how to solve problems such as loan repayments and interest rates and personal finance problems such as compound interest.
The government does not specify how schools should allocate their time to deliver the curriculum. School managers will need to design their timetables to meet their curriculum requirements. Teachers are encouraged to develop their practice in a way that meets the specific needs of their pupils.