Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have of the number of new jobs that will be created by building data centres in the United Kingdom over the next 10 years.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Data centres can be significant sources of employment, both during construction and to operate and maintain the data centres once completed. These include highly specialised jobs across IT, engineering, cybersecurity, and support services. Data centres also indirectly support employment in other industries, particularly in tech and AI.
My Department has not made a specific estimate of the number of jobs that will be created due to the substantial potential investment in the UK by data centre developers but is actively monitoring the sector. TechUK have estimated that by 2035 there could be 40,200 additional jobs directly employed in data centre operational roles and 18,200 additional jobs directly employed in data centre construction roles over the period 2025–35.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of research by the British Board of Film Classification, published on 23 June, that found that a third of UK pornography users reported exposure to violent or abuse material in the past three months, including scenes of physical violence and adults role-playing as children.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Creating a safer online world is a priority for the government. Services regulated under the Online Safety Act must take action to tackle illegal pornographic content, including extreme pornography, which is a priority offence under the Act. Children will also be protected from pornographic content through the use of highly effective age assurance.
Government departments are also undertaking detailed work to consider how best to tackle the complex set of issues raised by Baroness Bertin’s Independent Pornography Review.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the research by the British Board of Film Classification published on 23 June, what assessment they have made of the finding that 64 per cent of those surveyed believe that violent or abusive pornography is contributing to the normalisation of violent sexual behaviour; and what measures they will take to address that harm.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Creating a safer online world is a priority for the government. Services regulated under the Online Safety Act must take action to tackle illegal pornographic content, including extreme pornography, which is a priority offence under the Act. Children will also be protected from pornographic content through the use of highly effective age assurance.
Government departments are also undertaking detailed work to consider how best to tackle the complex set of issues raised by Baroness Bertin’s Independent Pornography Review.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the finding by the British Board of Film Classification on 23 June that 80 per cent of UK pornography users support rules to prevent online platforms from publishing or distributing pornography that depicts violence or abuse, what plans they have to introduce rules for that purpose.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Creating a safer online world is a priority for the government. Services regulated under the Online Safety Act must take action to tackle illegal pornographic content, including extreme pornography, which is a priority offence under the Act. Children will also be protected from pornographic content through the use of highly effective age assurance.
Government departments are also undertaking detailed work to consider how best to tackle the complex set of issues raised by Baroness Bertin’s Independent Pornography Review.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of existing AI regulatory frameworks; whether they are sufficient to govern advanced AI systems; and if not, what new institutional arrangements are being considered to address regulatory gaps.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Artificial intelligence is the defining opportunity of our generation, and the Government is taking action to harness its economic benefits for UK citizens. As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs. Through well-designed and implemented regulation, we can fuel fast, wide and safe development and adoption of AI.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require safety assessments for AI models before they are released to market to ensure they cannot be used to generate child sexual abuse material.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government takes AI generated images of child sexual abuse extremely seriously.
Creating and possessing CSAM is already a criminal offence, but we are committed to ensuring there are no gaps in the law for criminals to exploit. The Government is therefore banning AI models optimised to produce CSAM and extending existing law for criminalising ‘paedophile manuals’ through the Crime and Policing Bill.
Earlier this year the Government announced that the AI Security Institute will partner with the Home Office to research the most serious emerging risks from AI to criminality, including how it can be used to enable crimes such as child sexual abuse.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the recommendations of the Independent Pornography Review to address the availability of violent online pornography.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government published the final report of the Independent Pornography Review on 27 February. The Review found violent pornography is common and easily available online. It is right that the government takes time to understand this complex, deeply important topic. A further update will be provided in due course.
The Online Safety Act requires services publishing or hosting user-generated pornographic content to prevent children from accessing it using highly effective age assurance. Extreme pornography is a priority offence under the Act, requiring services to proactively mitigate and remove this illegal content on their platforms.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that poor media literacy skills have on (1) young people's employability and (2) employers' concerns about workplace readiness.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
According to the Essential Digital Skills Framework, media literacy-related skills, including understanding online risks, are essential for work. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has worked with FutureDotNow to analyse the benefits of essential digital skills for earnings and employability, with findings being published shortly.
The Digital Inclusion Action Plan outlines steps towards delivering digital inclusion and media literacy for everyone in the UK. The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review is also considering how young people will acquire the digital skills needed for future life, with the interim report highlighting the need for a renewed focus on media literacy.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to implement the recommendations of the report by Baroness Bertin Creating a Safer World–the Challenge of Regulating Online Pornography (HC 592), published on 27 February.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Independent Pornography Review is a wide-ranging and thorough piece of work which assessed the effectiveness of pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement. The Review’s final report was published on the 27th of February 2025.
This is an important yet deeply complex topic. The findings of the Review continue to be assessed by the Government.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the Independent Pornography Review conducted by Baroness Bertin to be completed and 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. The Review has now concluded, and the report was published on Thursday 27 of February 2025. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creating-a-safer-world-the-challenge-of-regulating-online-pornography.