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 - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

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 - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

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 - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask His Majesty's Government when a decision will be made and communicated as to whether a fiat will be granted to enable an application to the High Court to reopen the inquest into the death of Julian ‘Jools’ Sweeney.

Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General

After careful consideration, the Solicitor General gave permission to Ellen Roome to make an application to the High Court for a fresh inquest into Jools' death. The Solicitor General believes there is a reasonable prospect the High Court will order one and wrote to Ellen Roome’s legal representative on the 13th of March to confirm this.

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 - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

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 - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.