Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many respondents to their consultation paper Growing up in the online world, published on 2 March, said that they either (1) strongly agree, or (2) somewhat agree, that “social media services should have a minimum age of access of at least 16 and should not be accessible to any children under that age”; and how many otherwise expressed support for restricting access to social media services for children under 16.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We have always been clear that we will build on the protections for children in the Online Safety Act. This is why we published a consultation and began a national conversation which sought views and evidence from across the UK on measures that could further protect children online and enhance their wellbeing.
The government published a progress report on the consultation on 15 June. In response to the full-length consultation, 82% of respondents agreed with proposals to ban under 16s from social media. In response to the parents' consultation, 90% of parents also agreed with a ban. Support was lower among children who responded to the consultation, but two in three (66%) of children and young people supported a minimum age of 16 for at least some social media sites, with 19% supporting it for all social media sites.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Lloyd of Effra on 19 March (HL15262), which individuals attended the meeting of academic, researchers and other experts chaired by Dame Angela McLean in February to consider the objectives and methodologies for the pilots announced as part of the Growing up in the online world consultation.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Dame Angela McLean drew on expertise from inside and outside government to gather advice on how best to pilot policy options relating to young people’s use of social media.
Following standard procedure for a meeting of this kind, the names of the attendees will be published in due course by the Government Office for Science. This may be after the government responds to the consultation.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many in-person and virtual meetings ministers, senior aides or officials in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology have had with representatives of any providers of social media or gaming platforms, including trade bodies for those businesses, since June 2024; and how many of those meetings took place after 1 September 2025.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Ministers, aides and officials meet regularly with representatives of technology companies that provide social media or gaming platforms, including their trade bodies, to discuss issues within the department’s remit.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of whether civil society, charitable or academic organisations or individuals responding to the Growing up in the online world consultation have relationships with investors in, or providers or promoters of, technology services that give rise to conflicts of interest.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government welcomes contributions from all individuals and organisations to the Growing Up in the Online World consultation. Respondents may contribute either as individuals or on behalf of organisations; where organisations choose to provide information about their interests or affiliations, this will be considered as part of the standard analytical process. All consultation responses will be assessed in line with established Government standard practice. Officials will consider all relevant information submitted to ensure that the analysis is robust, balanced, and transparent.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government which civil society, charitable or corporate organisations, if any, were invited to comment on or provide input to the content of the Growing up in the online world consultation prior to its publication on 2 March.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We regularly meet with civil society stakeholders to discuss online safety policy.
Any civil society, charitable, or corporate organisation mentioned in the consultation was asked to check that the specific references to them were factually accurate before publication.
All organisations are invited to respond to the consultation.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government which academics or consultants will design and supervise the pilots announced as part of the Growing up in the online world consultation; and whether they will publish the protocols for those pilots.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is working with Savanta to design and supervise the pilots.
Officials have sought expert advice from the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Dame Angela Mclean, and the Government Office for Science (GO-Science). In February, Dame Angela convened and chaired a roundtable with academics, researchers and others with expertise in digital safety and evaluation design; to consider the objectives and methodologies for the pilots to ensure they can effectively inform future policy decisions.
Further information on the pilots will be provided in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government who will select academics to join the academic panel announced in the Growing up in the online world consultation; on what basis those academics will be selected; and what steps they will take to ensure that any actual or potential conflicts of interest, including research funding relationships, can be publicly disclosed by those on the panel.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
DSIT has received advice from the Government Office for Science (GO-Science), academia and members of the research community on the potential makeup of the panel.
Prospective members will be required to declare conflicts of interest, which the Department will review before any appointment. The declarations of all panel members will be made public.
Further information about the panel will be made available in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many investigations Ofcom has commenced under the Online Safety Act 2023 in relation to regulated user-to-user services as defined in that Act; how many penalties have so far been imposed as a result; and how many of the fines imposed have been paid.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Ofcom, as the independent regulator for online safety, publishes information on its website about the enforcement action it takes, including details of the investigations it has opened into potential breaches of online safety duties. As a result of this work, Ofcom has exercised its powers to issue financial sanctions in several cases, with at least one regulated service having already paid its fine.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the £1.3 billion in co-investment reported by UK Research and Innovation in the report Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, published on 24 July 2024, was independently verified after project award.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
UKRI verifies co-investment commitments at several stages of the grant lifecycle. Verification processes are managed according to the terms and conditions of specific grant awards and vary depending on the size of the awards. For large co-investment commitments, UKRI engages third parties to conduct verification.
At the application stage, UKRI portfolio managers verify co-investment commitments as part of usual due diligence checks, with host research organisation also undertaking due diligence to confirm that information included in applications is accurate. For completed awards, grant holders are able to report actual co-investment values via the research outcomes process.
The co-investment figure of £1.3 billion provided in the 2023-24 UKRI Annual Report and Accounts reflects project partner contributions declared at the point of application.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current outstanding balance of the innovation loans portfolio managed by UK Research and Innovation; and what proportion of that balance is classified as non-performing.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
Since April 2018, £267.7m commitments have been made across 304 loans (including those approved and currently in execution). £221.2m in commitments are currently live across 248 loans, of which £191.9m is drawn. Under the terms of the loans with Innovate UK repayment of all of the loans in the current portfolio is due by 2033, with over half by 2028.
31 loans have already repaid in full, recovering £18.4m in capital. 16 defaulted loans with a combined outstanding exposure of £12.7m have completed the administration / recovery process, with £400k recovered and the remainder written-off. These write-offs occurred over following financial years as follows:
Year | Number | Value of write-off |
2018-2020 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 1 | £1m |
2022 | 1 | £0.5m |
2023 | 2 | £2.4m |
2024 | 4 | £2.9m |
2025 | 8 | £5.5m |
A further 59 loans are currently in default against their obligations. 40 of these (£28.3m total commitment) are subject to recovery action through legal recourse and administration; 19 (£12.5m commitment) are subject to restructuring within Innovate UK Loans Limited with a view to securing a realistic plan for repayment over time.