Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 24 November 2025 (HL11755), what are the reasons for the delay in bringing the provisions of section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 into effect; and what is the timeframe for bringing those provisions into effect.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

As with many criminal law provisions, section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 is brought into force by regulations made by the Secretary of State, to ensure sufficient time to take into account and manage impacts on the criminal justice system and operational preparedness.

We have now laid the regulations to bring section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 into force; they were signed by Minister Davies-Jones last week. The offences will come into force on 6 February (21 days after being signed) as is standard practice for new criminal offences.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 20 June 2025 (HL8598), what was the outcome of their consideration of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's (HFEA) priorities for changing the law to bring digital clinics into HFEA's remit; and what measures they plan to take in response.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is continuing to engage with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority on their priorities for changing the law, including issues relating to digital clinics, and will decide how we might move forward to improve the regulatory regime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support is in place to help recover the credit score of victims of domestic abuse when their credit score has been impacted by an abusive partner.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government recognises the devastating impact economic abuse can have on victims, even long after a relationship ends. ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, published on 18 December 2025, outlined a package of commitments to tackle economic abuse.

This included a commitment from His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) to work with Credit Reference Agencies, lenders and the third sector to improve the way coerced debt is reflected on victim-survivors’ credit files with the aim of making it easier for them to access financial products in the future. This commitment was also included in HMT’s recent Financial Inclusion Strategy which considered economic abuse as a key theme, in recognition of the particular challenges victim-survivors can face in accessing financial products and services.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, or plan to have, with the Revenge Porn Helpline about the work it undertakes helping victims of intimate image abuse.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government greatly values the work of the Revenge Porn Helpline, which provides high-quality support and advice to victims of intimate image abuse.

Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls included a commitment to explore routes to ensure that intimate images that are taken, created or shared without consent are removed online. We have engaged – and will continue to engage – with representatives from the Revenge Porn Helpline on options to achieve this commitment. This includes considering amendments tabled to the Crime and Policing Bill on the removal of non-consensual intimate images online.

The Home Office provides funding to the Revenge Porn Helpline, which was increased for the 2024/2025 financial year in recognition of the year-on-year increases to their workload.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they take to ensure that child sexual abuse material is completely removed from cloud servers as well as local devices upon the conclusion of any trial concerning such material.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice does not hold operational responsibility for the removal of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from devices or cloud servers. Where such material is obtained as part of a criminal investigation, responsibility for the retention, secure storage and destruction of such material rests with the police who act in accordance with operational, evidential and legal requirements.

Found: Whitburn Bay; Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill; Lord Knight of Weymouth; Lord McNally; Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge

Found: Whitburn Bay; Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill; Lord Knight of Weymouth; Lord McNally; Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge

Found: Whitburn Bay; Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill; Lord Knight of Weymouth; Lord McNally; Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge