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Written Question
Politics: Education
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)

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 - Minister of State (Education)

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.


Written Question
Elections: Disinformation
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)

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 - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

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.


Written Question
Internet: Disinformation
Tuesday 12th September 2023

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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

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.


Written Question
Politics: Education
Monday 10th January 2022

Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)

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.


Written Question
Politics: Education
Tuesday 30th November 2021

Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)

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.


Written Question
Financial Services: Education
Tuesday 30th November 2021

Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of financial 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.


Written Question
Elections: Disinformation
Tuesday 11th February 2020

Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of misinformation and disinformation on the last General Election; and what plans they have to mitigate any risks to the UK’s electoral system arising from such misinformation and disinformation.

Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords

The Government has a coordinated structure in place working with relevant organisations to identify and respond to emerging issues, and protect the safety and security of democratic processes. We have worked with a large number of organisations to do this, including social media companies and civil society organisations.

One way to combat the spread of misinformation or disinformation online and limit its potential impact on democratic debate is to ensure that people have the critical literacy skills and digital skills to enable them to assess and analyse the information they read online. In the Online Harms White Paper the Government committed to developing a new online media literacy strategy. This strategy will ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to online media literacy education and awareness for children, young people and adults. The Government is also taking action to increase public awareness with our Don’t Feed The Beast campaign. This aims to educate and empower those who see, inadvertently share and are affected by false and misleading information.

The Government remains committed to the integrity of UK elections and ensuring they are secure and fit for the modern age. We have announced that it will implement an imprints regime for digital election material. This will ensure greater transparency and make it clearer to the electorate who has produced and promoted online political materials.


Written Question
Civil Servants: Training
Monday 13th May 2019

Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increased religious literacy across the Civil Service.

Answered by Mark Field

The Government has long held the view that religion plays an important role in the political and social life in many countries throughout the world. The FCO provides a wide range of resources, including though the Diplomatic Academy, to ensure that staff, including those across Whitehall working in our overseas posts, understand the influence that faith can have on foreign policy, and on their specific jobs.


Written Question
Diplomatic Service: Training
Tuesday 30th April 2019

Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans his Department has to ensure that diplomats receive training on local faith communities in advance of postings.

Answered by Mark Field

​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) provides a wide range of resources to ensure that staff understand the influence of faith on foreign policy. For the past few years, we have offered two-day courses on religious literacy, in partnership with the London School of Economics. Other courses are held throughout the year, often tailored to geographical departments, for example the Political Islam, and Ethnic and Religious minorities in the Middle East and North Africa courses. In countries where religion has an impact on the work of a diplomat, this is covered in both pre-posting briefings and during the first few weeks following arrival at post. More generally, religion and diplomacy forms part of the 'Key Themes in International Politics' module of the Diplomatic Academy, which is compulsory for new fast stream entrants into the FCO.


Written Question
Social Media: Disinformation
Tuesday 12th February 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

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 31 January to Written Question 908935 on Social Media: Information Warfare, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of disinformation on social media on the efficacy of news reporting.

Answered by Margot James

The Internet has greatly enhanced the public’s access to news and political engagement, but it has also created unforeseen challenges to the accuracy of information. Government is committed to maintaining a news environment, both online and offline, where accurate content can prevail and high-quality media has a sustainable future. The Cairncross Review into press sustainability was published on 12th February 2019 and considered the roles of tech platforms, digital advertising, media literacy and subsidisation. The Government will now assess Dame Frances' recommendations and respond later in 2019.