Crime: Child Abuse

Debate between Baroness Howe of Idlicote and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

These are important issues, and I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for the way in which she supports moves to strengthen the Government’s position in this regard. The work of the Internet Watch Foundation to encourage search engines and internet service providers to put in place warning messages known as splash pages that tell users that they are about to access a website containing illegal child abuse images is a very important development. However, our preference is for such websites to be taken down or, where that is not possible, blocked from being accessed. Work with the internet service providers is key to getting this problem solved.

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

My Lords, the quite appalling April Jones case has raised wider questions about access to pornographic material on the internet, with its very obvious dangers for children. What progress do the Government think has been made after publication of the response to the report on the outcomes of parental control consultation? Is there not increasing evidence of the need for an adult age verification opt-in requirement, as proposed in my Online Safety Bill, if adult viewers wish to watch pornography?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I thank the noble Baroness for bringing her Bill to the House during the previous Session. I understand, and hope, that she will bring her Bill here again so that we can discuss these matters. The respondents to the Department for Education’s consultation said clearly that parents feel that it is their responsibility, with the help of the industry, to keep their children safe online. It was also clear that, in accepting that responsibility, parents want to be in control, and that it would be easier for them to use the online safety tools available to them if they could learn more about those tools. We are focusing our discussions with the industry on those lines.

Crime: Stalking

Debate between Baroness Howe of Idlicote and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Tuesday 12th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

This is part of a fuller education strategy in sexual health and education involving both young men and girls, which I hope is being practised by schools across the country.

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

My Lords, will the Government reassure us that they will be paying particular attention to the use by stalkers of the internet, where the stalker can reinvent themselves as a victim and cause even greater misery and upset to the entire families of those being persecuted in this way?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

The noble Baroness is also a member of the justice unions group, and I am grateful for the work that that group did. Cyber offences are explicitly included in the new offences and are designed to recognise that stalking can take many different forms. It is a form of harassment that this Government will not tolerate.