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.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that Meta will introduce a "consent or pay" model for Facebook and Instagram, whether they will make arrangements to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill to provide in legislation a person's right to choose to use online services without personalised advertising regardless of the availability of paid ad-free products.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The ICO has recently published guidance on this matter, which states that pay and consent models can be implemented in accordance with the law, so long as websites ensure that consent is still freely given. The guidance sets out a framework of factors that are important to consider when assessing whether a “consent or pay” model meets this standard of consent. This reflects and builds on existing UK GDPR standards and ICO guidance.
The Government will continue to engage with businesses, the ICO and users on these models, and on the guidance, but we do not think there is currently a case for taking action to ban the practice.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many data protection complaints were lodged with the Information Commissioner's Office in 2024; of these, in respect of how many the ICO took regulatory action; and what conclusions they draw from comparison of those figures.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The ICO received 41,271 complaints from January to December 2024. In that same period, the ICO issued two monetary penalty notices under GDPR totalling £757,500 and 13 monetary penalty notices under Privacy and Digital Marketing Regulations, totalling £1,270,000.
Unlike an Ombudsman, the ICO does not take regulatory action on each case but uses the information to guide its strategic direction and ensure effective use of resources. When compliance issues are identified, the ICO often provides advice to improve information rights handling, leading to significant improvements.
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 plan to invite the Equality and Human Rights Commission to review the rights implications of the Information Commissioner's Office regulatory record; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Although DSIT acts as the ICO’s sponsor within government, it is an independent regulator and accountable to Parliament in how it carries out its duties.
The Data (Use and Access) Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on Thursday 6 February, introduces a new governance structure for the ICO – including a new statutory board - to bring it into line with regulatory best practice. The Bill also seeks to introduce new reporting requirements on the ICO, including annual metrics on its investigations, their outcomes and use of its powers. This will bring greater transparency and accountability.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential role of rural taxi services in reducing pressure on bus services in low-population areas of the country, thereby improving environmental performance.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Taxi and private hire vehicle policy is a devolved matter in all UK nations. The role the trade can play in providing flexible transport services, especially in rural areas, is recognised in Department for Transport guidance issued to licensing authorities in England.
The Rural Mobility Fund demand responsive transport (DRT) minibus pilot, currently underway in 14 different local authorities, is exploring whether DRT can provide a solution in rural and suburban areas, either alone or in conjunction with other services. A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation process is in place, consisting of a process evaluation and an impact evaluation. The final process evaluation report is due next year.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether children in low-income families are permitted to use funding from the apprenticeship levy to stay on at secondary school.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Apprenticeships are jobs with training that are open to anyone aged 16 and over. The apprenticeship levy was introduced to support employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The department’s annual budget for apprenticeships in England has increased to over £2.7 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. This budget is ringfenced for spend on apprenticeships training and assessment only to meet employer demand for high-quality apprenticeships and cannot be used for other purposes.
To ensure that every child, regardless of their background, can excel at school and achieve their full potential, the department has targeted a greater proportion of the schools national funding formula towards deprived pupils than ever before. In total, 10.2%, over £4.4 billion, of the formula will be allocated according to deprivation factors in the 2024/25 financial year and 17.8%, or £7.8 billion, will be allocated for additional needs overall. This will help schools in their vital work to close attainment gaps and level up educational opportunities.
The pupil premium grant, introduced in 2011, also offers direct funding to schools to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged 5 to 16 year olds in state-funded schools in England. The department increased the premium pupil funding to over £2.9 billion this financial year to ensure the most disadvantaged pupils receive the support they need to succeed at school.
The department is providing funding to ensure that every 16 to 18 year old has a place in further education or training if they want one. The department invested over £7 billion on 16 to 19 programme funding during the 2023/24 academic year, which included over £590 million to support students who are economically deprived and to account for low prior attainment in English and mathematics. Over £35 million has also been allocated in the 2023/24 academic year to provide free meals for 16 to 19 year olds in further education. Additionally, the department allocated over £159 million of bursary funding to institutions in the 2023/24 academic year to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with costs such as travel, books, equipment and trips, which is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for the 2022/23 academic year.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to give effect to the recent United Nations Human Rights Council resolution affirming the rights of intersex people; and what is their planned timetable for addressing the rights violations experienced by people born with variations in their sex characteristics, including genital-normalising operations carried out on intersex children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The UK recognises the fundamental importance of protecting the human rights of all people, including those with variations in sex characteristics (VSC), and we await the OHCHR report on the human rights of intersex people.
It is important to understand the experiences of people living with VSC in the UK and to use this insight to shape policy. In this vein, the Government is currently monitoring and considering evidence and research specific to people living with VSC.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what plans the House of Lords has to provide a facility within the Palace of Westminster for Members to organise screenings of high-quality audio-visual work.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce legislation relating to cybersecurity practices and offences.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Government keeps the UK’s cyber legislation under regular review to ensure that it can be used to tackle new and emerging threats. The UK’s regulatory framework for cyber resilience is a mixture of: sector-based regulation such the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018; thematic regulation such as the Data Protection Act 2018; and criminal legislation such as the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
The Government has undertaken several amendments to legislation to ensure it keeps pace with the evolving cyber threat, including updating the Computer Misuse Act in 2015 and updating the Network and Information Systems Regulations (2018) in 2020.
In 2022 the Government published proposals to make changes to the Network and Information Systems Regulations and these will be implemented as soon as Parliamentary time allows. The government has also carried out a review of the Computer Misuse Act and is currently considering whether to bring forward legislative proposals.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote greater awareness of cyberthreats among (1) the civil service, (2) public sector workers, and (3) the general public.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government Cyber Security Strategy, published in January 2022, sets out how we will build and maintain our cyber defences - by building greater cyber resilience across all government organisations and working together to ‘defend as one’ which enables a greater defensive force. A key component of the strategy is that the civil service and the public sector at large will have sufficient cyber security knowledge and awareness to identify and respond to cyber threats. In central government this work is being led by the Security, Education and Awareness Centre which promotes awareness of all security issues, including cyber threat, across government.
The National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Aware campaign is encouraging the public to take the necessary steps to improve their online security. The campaign sets out the six behaviours they can adopt to stay safe. These range from creating stronger passwords using three random words to turning on two-step verification.