Online Safety

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

The so-called Small but Risky task force that was set up in response to an exchange of letters between the Secretary of State and the CEO of Ofcom is undertaking a review of all the risks of these small units. I do not know the detail of whether it has broken it down into the categories suggested by the noble Baroness but I think that is an extremely good idea and I hope it will do it, because it is an important activity.

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords, having recognised the Herculean task that Parliament has given Ofcom in terms of regulating platforms—Ofcom is set to become probably the world’s most formidable regulator in this space, with commensurate expertise—I will trot out a quick cliché and say, let us not allow the best to be the enemy of the good but support Ofcom as it navigates this very complex environment. Picking up what the Minister mentioned earlier about education, can he update the House on Ofcom’s plans for what is clunkingly called “media literacy”, because prevention is better than cure and the more we can educate children, and indeed adults, on the perils of the internet and how to navigate it safely, the better it will be? It seems almost to be a bit of an orphan within Ofcom’s responsibilities.

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I think the noble Lord is right that Ofcom has a very large task ahead of it. It is a very professional organisation and one that takes all its duties very seriously. I cannot comment in detail on what it is doing on the media side, but I know that that is part of what it intends to do. I will pick up on something else he said: the urgency now is to get this implemented and the danger is that we add lots of things to it now. We must get on and do this. It is very important to get this working. We know that the enforcement starts just after March and that the new codes for children will come out in early summer. Getting this moving is the key priority, and working out how to stop the really unacceptable activity that goes on on some of these sites.