Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 27 March (HL5777), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, how many (1) charities, (2) campaign organisations, and (3) survivors, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has met regarding adult non-consensual intimate image abuse since 5 July 2024; and how many such meetings they have held in total and on which dates they have taken place.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings with a range of stakeholders about issues related to online harms, including adult non-consensual intimate image abuse.
Ministerial meetings and engagements are published through quarterly transparency reports on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) charities, (2) campaign organisations, and (3) survivors, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has met regarding adult non-consensual intimate image abuse since 5 July 2024; and on which date each meeting took place.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Secretary of State has made it a key priority to tackle intimate image abuse and in September 2024 made new intimate images offences priority offences under the OSA. Online platforms must proactively tackle such content from 17 March.
The Secretary of State cares deeply about this topic and spoke alongside campaigners at Ofcom’s violence against women and girls event in November.
Ministers have regular meetings with a range of stakeholders on a number of subjects, including non-consensual intimate image abuse. Details of Ministerial meetings, including the purpose of meetings, are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made by the Independent Pornography Review, and when they expect the findings of that review to be published.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Independent Pornography Review assessed the effectiveness of current pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement. This is an important area of interest for this government. The Review has now concluded. The government is assessing its findings, and the final report will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle non-compliance regarding removal of non-consensual content from websites that host image-based abuse material.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Online Safety Act gives online user-to-user services new duties to implement systems and processes to reduce the risks of their services being used to facilitate certain ‘priority’ kinds of offending. It also requires providers to take down illegal content when it does appear. These duties extend to intimate image abuse (IIA) content. This is a priority kind of offending under the Act. Ofcom will have strong enforcement powers where platforms fail to comply with their duties for IIA content. It can impose significant fines and, where appropriate, business disruption measures on non-compliant platforms. It can fine companies up to £18 million or 10% of their qualifying global annual revenue.