Ofcom: Protection of Children Codes

Debate between Baroness Jones of Whitchurch and Baroness Penn

Monday 2nd June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right about that. As part of my role, I have seen horrendous material that I do not think anybody—not adults and certainly not children—should see. We are determined to get this right and to be forward-looking, because anything that we do in legislation needs to be fit for the next generation as well. There is no point legislating just for the now; we need to legislate for the future. We are very aware of that. We are continuing to talk to Ofcom and other stakeholders about how we can take this work forward. We are determined to make this a safe place for children to grow up and thrive.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, the Minister talked about the research that the Government are doing on the impact of phones on children. The research is overwhelming on the impact of screen use on early years development for children, but there appears to be no specific guidance to help parents navigate that. What are the Government doing to ensure that parents of preschool children get proper, age-appropriate guidance on the use of screens?

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes an important point. We are looking at what further advice we can give to parents. This is a sensitive issue and, as the noble Baroness will understand, we must be careful in how we raise these issues. We all understand that children often have a very different experience and a detailed knowledge of how smartphones work from their parents, so we have a role in education. Obviously, media literacy is an important part of that, but we are looking again at what further guidance we can give to parents.

Online Safety Act 2023 (Category 1, Category 2A and Category 2B Threshold Conditions) Regulations 2025

Debate between Baroness Jones of Whitchurch and Baroness Penn

Monday 24th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

The SI before us today, based on Ofcom’s advice, is the best way that we can find, in terms of practicality, of enforcing what was written in the Act.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

Does the Minister accept that the Act does not oblige the Secretary of State to follow Ofcom’s advice, and that the Government have a separate decision-making moment—a process—to consider that advice and reach their own decision? So it is not on Ofcom; it is on the Government. It is the Government who think it is the correct way forward to ignore what was previously in the Act.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right that that is a factor that we considered. The Secretary of State received Ofcom’s advice, duly reflected on it, looked at all the evidence and decided that we would abide by Ofcom’s advice on the issue. It was the Secretary of State’s decision, and that is why we have this SI in front of us today.

Health and Care Bill

Debate between Baroness Jones of Whitchurch and Baroness Penn

Committee stage
Wednesday 9th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, for this amendment. Like others, I pay tribute to her tremendous work on behalf of people with learning difficulties and autism, which we all acknowledge and respect.

The amendment would reinforce and hasten the implementation of and the legislative basis for the Government’s commitment to developing a mandatory training and professional development system for health and social care staff. It would also establish a statutory code of practice, to be updated every three years, setting out guidance on the content, accreditation, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the training.

The NHS England pilots for the modules to support the development of the training are currently under way, as the noble Baroness said. They involve key stakeholders, including Mencap and the National Autistic Society. It would be helpful if the Minister could provide the Committee with an update on the progress and timescale for completing and assessing the pilots and for moving forward and implementing the new training system.

The amendment is comprehensive in terms of both amending the 2014 regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and setting out issues that the code must address, including the relevant core education and training frameworks and strategies applying to learning disabilities and autistic people. It also contains the definitions of autism and learning disability on which the code should be based.

In this debate, we are all sadly reminded of the tragic death of Oliver McGowan, who died after those treating him medicated his autism incorrectly. His mother’s petition and determined campaign for mandatory training is thankfully coming to fruition, so that we can ensure that all staff receive proper training and can develop the skills and experience needed to provide the safest and most effective care and support for people with learning difficulties and autism. Including the mandatory training requirement on the face of the Bill would be a major step forward and I look forward to the Minister’s response.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I too am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, for bringing the important matter of staff training on learning disability and autism for the health and social care workforce before the Committee today. Evidence tells us that there is a pressing need to improve understanding and awareness of learning disability and autism among health and social care staff and that the staff themselves want this training. Introducing mandatory training is an important way in which we can address persistent disparities in health and care outcomes for people with a learning ability and autistic people. As we set out in the Right to Be Heard publication of November 2019, the Government have committed to requiring all NHS and social care providers who carry out regulated activities to ensure that their staff have achieved the learning outcomes relevant to their role.