Children: Exposure to Harmful Content

Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran [V]]

The noble Baroness is right to point out both the benefits for children of being online, through education, entertainment and communication with their friends, but also the risks. We remain committed to bringing forward the online harms legislation in this Session, and I hope she will be pleased to hear that the laying of the age-appropriate design code, in which she was closely involved, is imminent.

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the figures in the BBFC survey are shocking but not a surprise. Millions of pounds were spent so that effective age verification could be delivered, and it was ready to be introduced. Then, on 16 October, the Government abruptly abandoned Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act, which would have prevented children accessing unsuitable and harmful content. It is all very well talking about the online harms legislation, but it has been delayed and it is still ages away from implementation. Why were the Government so intent on waiting, when age verification was ready to start? Does the Minister agree that the facts clearly demonstrate that the Government have contributed directly to these shocking figures?

[Baroness Barran [V]]

I cannot agree with the noble Lord’s last remarks. The Government have worked very hard on the guidance that has been published, the funding we have made available to organisations supporting vulnerable people, and the work we have been doing with the sector. As I have already said, we believe that the way to protect children from accessing harmful online content is through the legislation that we will bring forward later this Session, but a number of other elements are also being brought forward, including our media literacy strategy and the safety by design framework.

Charitable and Voluntary Sector

Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts

Thursday 30th April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, I begin by declaring my interest as chair of the Fundraising Regulator, the independent non-statutory body that regulates charitable fundraising. Our role is to promote best practice so as to protect donors by setting standards, by investigating public complaints and by enforcing the Code of Fundraising Practice. These are challenging times for charities. Some charities will fail, possibly including well-known household names. The Government assistance package addresses only part of the £4 billion shortfall highlighted by the NCVO. We do not know when the current health crisis will end, but the economic aftershock will be long-lasting, so the two-way squeeze, in which charities have less money but greater demand on their services, will continue. The problems are not going away anytime soon.

If we want charities to continue to play a pivotal role in society, the question for the Minister is whether the Government will provide further support for charities as the coronavirus crisis continues, including the many excellent suggestions made in this debate, and ensure no less favourable treatment than that under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme announced by the Chancellor?

Recent weeks have seen extraordinary fundraising efforts and generosity by the British public in response to the pandemic. Despite personal incomes being squeezed, I hope that will continue. To this end, the Fundraising Regulator, working with the Charity Commission and the Institute of Fundraising, has published new guidance designed to equip people with the tools they need for their own charitable appeals while adhering to the standards of the Code of Fundraising Practice. Similarly, the regulator is working with online platforms to increase transparency of fees and card charges so that people can be confident about how much of what they give goes to the charities concerned.

We have also been collaborating with other organisations, including National Trading Standards, which I also happen to chair, to alert people to those nauseating fraudsters and scammers who are trying to cash in on people’s generosity at this time of crisis. I hope the Minister will continue to support these efforts so that the public can continue to trust charities and their fundraising.