Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the adoption of Recommendation CM/Rec(2025)7 by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, what steps they are taking to implement this recommendation; and what plans they have to prohibit non-consensual medical interventions on intersex children until they are old enough to decide for themselves.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I would like to assure you that the Government is committed to improving the lives of intersex people, who deserve our support, respect, and understanding.
We were interested to read the Council of Europe’s report and are grateful for its work in this important area.
The Government is committed to improving the lives of intersex people, who deserve support, respect and understanding. The Government is also committed to furthering the understanding of intersex people and the challenges they face. The Office for Equality and Opportunity regularly engages with representatives from a range of intersex rights based organisations.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have the sufficient powers to take down websites that promote or advertise activity offline which would be illegal if it were online.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Yes, the government considers that Ofcom has sufficient enforcement powers under the Online Safety Act.
The Online Safety Act provides that Ofcom can apply to the courts for business disruption measures (BDMs) in the most egregious cases of non-compliance with duties under the Act. BDMs include access restriction orders requiring third parties to withdraw ‘access facilities’ from regulated services, including websites, in breach of duties’
Services regulated under the Online Safety Act have duties to remove illegal content.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to update consumer rights law to prohibit publishers from disabling video games they have sold without providing recourse for customers to retain or repair those games.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is aware of concerns relating to the continued access to video games, including licensed, online-only video games, and we appreciate the frustrations of players of some games that have been discontinued. The Government has responded to a recent petition on this issue.
There are no plans to amend existing consumer law on disabling video games. Those selling games must comply with existing requirements in consumer law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) and Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), giving clear advice to consumers. Video game sellers must not omit or hide material information, or provide it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.