Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the 5Rights Children and AI Design Code, and what steps they are taking to assess the impact of AI on children.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
The Government recognises the importance of this issue and welcomes proposals on how to ensure technology keeps children safe. The Government engages with a range of stakeholders on the impact of AI, including child safety organisations and experts.
Regarding the impact of AI, the majority of AI systems are regulated by existing regulators, a range of which have specific measures for protecting children. The strongest protections in the Online Safety Act are for children, who will be protected from both illegal content, and legal content which is nonetheless harmful to children, including where that content is AI generated.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the advice to parents from primary schools in St Albans to ban smartphones for children under 14 years old; and whether they plan to ban smartphones for children under 14 years old nationwide.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
The government is committed to keeping children safe online. The Department for Education’s ‘Mobile Phones in Schools’ guidance is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks. We expect all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
We are focused on implementing the Online Safety Act which will protect children from both illegal and legal but nonetheless harmful content, including pornography and violent content. We continue to keep under review all evidence of options to protect children online.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle the risks posed by online communities to teenage boys, and what assessment they have made of the role these play in encouraging sexual and physical abuse, violence and extremism.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
We are aware that harmful content exists online including the risk it poses to boys and children. The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to tackle illegal abuse and protect users from illegal content. This includes content which incites hatred, abuse, harassment and sexual exploitation content.
In addition, in-scope services likely to be accessed by children need to put in place measures to protect children from harmful content, including providing age-appropriate access for content which encourages violence.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator, has enforcement powers where platforms fail to fulfil their duties.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threat posed by online communities known as Com networks.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
We are aware that harmful content exists online including the risk it poses to boys and children. The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to tackle illegal abuse and protect users from illegal content. This includes content which incites hatred, abuse, harassment and sexual exploitation content.
In addition, in-scope services likely to be accessed by children need to put in place measures to protect children from harmful content, including providing age-appropriate access for content which encourages violence.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator, has enforcement powers where platforms fail to fulfil their duties.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect creative industries from the unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI; and what assessment they have made of the risk this poses to the livelihoods of the people behind these works.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government supports growth in both the creative industries and the AI sector, recognising the value of human-centred creativity.
This is a complex topic, and we want to take the time to hear stakeholder views and carefully consider the issues and their impacts – including the use of creative works to train generative AI.
The Minister for AI and Digital Government and the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts, and Tourism held roundtables with the creative and AI sectors in September.
DSIT and DCMS continue to engage with stakeholders to inform and develop our approach.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the finding in the Internet Matters report The new face of digital abuse: Children's experiences of nude deepfakes, published on 22 October, that nearly half a million children have encountered AI deepfake nudes online, what plans they have to ban apps that create deepfake nudes.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Any child sexual abuse material, whether AI generated or not, is illegal in the UK. It is also illegal to share or threaten to share an AI-generated intimate image of an adult without consent. The government will take further action by delivering the manifesto commitment to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes.
The Online Safety Act requires services in scope to proactively tackle child sexual abuse content and intimate image abuse content. The Act also requires services to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from encountering pornography. These requirements apply to AI-generated content.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase their promotion of social tariffs in areas of deprivation in the light of the finding that many older people are unaware of social tariffs, particularly in the broadband sector, in the report A constant struggle: The impact of high household costs on older people facing financial hardship, published by Independent Age in September.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has worked closely with internet service providers to ensure provision of social tariffs for those on Universal Credit and other means tested benefits – including Pension Credit.
Ofcom’s latest Affordability Report shows awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible groups has increased from 16% in February 2022, to 47% in April 2023. The Government recognises more is needed to ensure eligible households know about the support available and continues to work closely with operators, charities, and consumer groups to raise awareness of social tariffs.
In July, Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, wrote to the sector to set out the regulator’s expectation that they should do more to promote awareness, such as by highlighting tariffs on bills and end-of-contract notifications. We continue to work closely with Ofcom to monitor public awareness of social tariffs as well as the other barriers to take up.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent reports by the World Meteorological Organization of the El Niño weather pattern.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The latest World Meteorological Organization reports, with contributions from the Met Office, show that El Niño is emerging. Latest forecasts suggest it is likely to be a large event, which could drive record global heat and produce widespread climatic impacts in tropical countries. The Met Office is closely monitoring the evolution of El Niño, which is expected to peak at the end of the year. The Met Office will continue to provide forecasts and advice on associated impacts to Government and other stakeholders, to support mitigation of potential impacts in countries that will be adversely affected by El Niño.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 9 February (HL4988), what estimate they have made of the number of people relying on Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites for internet access.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom estimates that as of October 2022, 13,000 customers have opted for a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband service from Starlink. Based on analysis of Starlink’s data, at least some of these customers are based in areas which do not have access to traditional decent broadband services. Premises may also use satellite services in conjunction with other terrestrial services.
Ofcom estimated that at the end of 2021, there were 25,500 fixed broadband satellite connections. This data represents data collected from a non-exhaustive list of UK satellite service providers (excluding Starlink), and most likely to be based on Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) services.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 9 February (HL4988), how many rural premises have 4G coverage from more than one operator; and what assessment they have made of (1) consumer choice, and (2) higher costs, for broadband users in rural areas.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom publishes 4G coverage data in its Connected Nations Report. As of September 2022, 4,544,995 (99%) rural premises have outdoor 4G premises coverage from at least one mobile network operator (MNO), with 4,042,465 (88%) having coverage from all 4 MNOs. The Shared Rural Network programme will help provide 4G coverage to 280,000 rural premises and provide consumers with more choice of provider.
Geographically differentiated pricing is not allowed in the UK. Internet Service Providers should therefore not charge differential prices to consumers in rural locations and Ofcom has prohibited Openreach from introducing geographical pricing on its network. Ofcom’s Connected Nation report also shows that 97% of UK homes have access to superfast broadband with gigabit capable infrastructure services available to 70% of premises - which means consumers have a choice of services depending on their area.