Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 11 June (HL Deb col 1424), how many creative and artificial intelligence sector working groups there will be, and what the focus will be of each of those groups.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has committed to establishing stakeholder working groups to inform the development of policy on copyright and AI.
There will be one plenary group and two sectoral subgroups. These sub-groups will each consider potential policy solutions in the areas of (1) transparency and (2) content control tools and standards.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the terms of reference for the economic impact assessment on copyright and artificial intelligence as required by section 135 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, and what opportunities industry will have to provide input to that assessment.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in Section 135 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the Government is required to publish an economic impact assessment within 9 months of the Act’s Royal Assent.
The Impact Assessment will cover the options laid out in the Government’s copyright and AI consultation, as well as any alternative options that are under consideration. It will assess the evidence provided by industry in their consultation responses, alongside input received through the expert stakeholder working groups.
The above scope of the IA was confirmed in parliament during debates on the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 11 June (HL Deb col 1424), what process will be used to determine the terms of reference and the membership of the parliamentary working group focused on artificial intelligence and copyright.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has committed to establishing a working group to engage parliamentarians in the development of policy on copyright and AI.
All parliamentarians will be invited to express their interest in joining this group, before the Government, working with relevant Select Committee chairs, finalises its plans for the group and determines the membership. Once arrangements are finalised, the Government will publish information relating to this group on GOV.UK, including any terms of reference and a list of group members.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 11 June (HL Deb col 1424), what process will determine the terms of reference and the membership of the artificial intelligence and copyright working groups.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In line with debates in Parliament on the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the Secretaries of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport convened the first of three initial meetings of the copyright and AI stakeholder working groups on 16th July.
The Government will agree the groups’ terms of reference with stakeholders and publish this, along with a list of working group members, in due course.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - 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 the decision by Meta to end fact-checking across its online platforms will have on the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Meta has stated that they are not rolling out these changes for the UK market at this stage. We are in contact with the platform to understand potential implications for UK users and will monitor changes as they are operationalised.
Regardless of changes to Meta’s US policies, the UK’s Online Safety Act will oblige all social media companies to remove illegal content and content harmful to children in the UK. Failure to comply could lead to significant fines and potentially legal action. We continue to engage with Meta on the implementation of the OSA.