Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much Ofcom has spent to implement the Online Safety Act 2023; and how many staff have been (a) hired by and (b) seconded to Ofcom for implementation of that Act.

As published in the NAO’s report on preparedness for online safety, Ofcom spent £2.7m in 2020-21, £14.7m in 2021-22, £38.2m in 2022-23 and their spend in 2023-24 is to be confirmed, noting the Government-set spending cap is £47m. This report can be found here: www.nao.org.uk/reports/preparedness-for-online-safety-regulation/

The Government’s intention is that the regulation of online safety will become cost neutral to the exchequer. The Online Safety Act 2023 allows Ofcom to raise the required income to cover the costs of running the online safety regime, including set up costs, through industry fees.

As of March 2024, there are 202 colleagues in Ofcom’s Online Safety Directorate. Beyond the Online Safety Directorate, there are employees within Ofcom's Legal and Enforcement, Research and Analytics, Strategy and Research, and Corporate groups that also work full time on Ofcom's online safety work.