Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how many hours on average (1) adults, and (2) children and young people under 18 years old, spend on (a) Facebook, (b) Instagram, (c) TikTok, and (d) snapchat, per (i) day, (ii) week, and (iii) year.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Children aged 8-14 spend 3 minutes a day on Facebook, 4 minutes on Instagram, 15 minutes on TikTok, and 45 minutes on Snapchat. This is an average of all children across the UK, based on Ofcom data.
Ofcom also indicates adults average 40 minutes a day on Facebook, 16 minutes on Instagram, 16 minutes on TikTok, and 6 minutes on Snapchat. This is an average across all UK adults.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the average amount of time spent using a smartphone by (1) adults, and (2) children and young people under 18 years old, broken down by (a) day, (b) week, and (c) annual averages.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ofcom data indicates that children aged 8-14 average 2 hours and 59 minutes online per day, between smartphones, tablets and computers. This equates to 20 hours and 53 minutes per week and 1088 hours and 55 minutes annually.
For adults, Ofcom found that the average daily smartphone time is 3 hours and 28 minutes. This is equivalent to 24 hours and 16 minutes per week, and 1265 hours and 20 minutes annually, on average.
The children’s measure will be an overestimate due to the inclusion of tablets and computers as well as smartphones, whereas the adult measure is smartphones only, but it is the most robust measure available.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Levitt on 2 March (HL Dec col 1066), what milestones they have established for the joint departmental team tasked with developing the delivery plan for online and offline pornography parity to ensure that the plan is published within six months of the Crime and Policing Bill receiving Royal Assent.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that there is a clear and urgent need for greater parity between the treatment of harmful pornography online and offline. Following Baroness Bertin’s independent review, a joint team, formed by the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice, and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will examine the evidence to inform the Government’s approach to pornography policy, including consideration of how best to achieve parity between online and offline pornography. This evidence will include the effectiveness of existing regulatory regimes, such as the on-demand programme services regulatory framework. The Government has committed to publishing a delivery plan within six months of the Crime and Policing Bill receiving Royal Assent, and further information regarding the delivery plan will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Levitt on 2 March (HL Deb col 1066), what assessment they have made of the existing regulatory framework for on-demand programme services as a model to deliver regulatory parity between online and offline pornography.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that there is a clear and urgent need for greater parity between the treatment of harmful pornography online and offline. Following Baroness Bertin’s independent review, a joint team, formed by the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice, and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will examine the evidence to inform the Government’s approach to pornography policy, including consideration of how best to achieve parity between online and offline pornography. This evidence will include the effectiveness of existing regulatory regimes, such as the on-demand programme services regulatory framework. The Government has committed to publishing a delivery plan within six months of the Crime and Policing Bill receiving Royal Assent, and further information regarding the delivery plan will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the policy paper Giving every child the best start in life, published on 7 July 2025, what is the timeline for the procurement and delivery of the national Best Start digital service.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Best Start in Life website launched on 1 September 2025, bringing together information and support from across government in one place. The content has been shaped by user research with parents, and serves as a key access point for online support and guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from the rollout of online evidence-based parenting programmes by the government of Australia in 2022.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Best Start in Life strategy, the government committed to expanding access to high-quality, evidence-based parenting and home-learning support. This ensures that families receive interventions that best promote children’s early development and help close the gap before they start school.
The department is committed to ensuring that parenting support in England is grounded in high-quality evidence and reflects the needs and circumstances of our population. As part of this commitment, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education visited Australia in December 2025, where she engaged in roundtables and met with ministers to discuss the Australian early years system.
We will continue to monitor emerging national and international practice while taking a careful and evidence-led approach to future decisions including the programmes in Australia.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the Freedom from violence and abuse volume 2: action plan, published on 18 December 2025, which minister has responsibility for the cross-departmental team on pornography policy.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Baroness Bertin’s independent report made 32 recommendations, including on governance and oversight of pornography policy. The ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, published on 18 December 2025 commits to creating a joint team to address the issues detailed in the report.
The team is formed by the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice and Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It will examine the evidence to inform the government’s approach to pornography policy, including the question of departmental responsibility.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the Freedom from violence and abuse volume 2: action plan, published on 18 December 2025, what is the timetable for the cross-departmental team's examination of the recommendations of Baroness Bertin's Independent Pornography Review.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
To address the recommendations of Baroness Bertin’s Review, in December 2025 government announced through the ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse’ strategy, the creation of a cross-government joint team, to rigorously examine the evidence to inform the government’s approach to pornography policy. The team began work in December 2025, and is formed of the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice and Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Merron on 5 December (HL Deb col 2044), what distinction exists under Articles 2, 8 or 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights which means that a legal challenge would not arise for a person under 18 years old compared to those who are (1) under 21 years old, and (2) under 25 years old.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill committee debate on 5 December 2025, the comments referred to were made in relation to the amendments that had been tabled for consideration in the Lords. There would need to be a reasonable, necessary and proportionate justification to underpin restricting access to assisted dying to any age on the face of the Bill. Although the reasons to support an age limit of 18 years old, as opposed to an age limit of 21 or 25 years old, may well be different. This matter was debated at some length on 5 December 2025, and as I stated in that debate, it is rightly for Parliament to decide on any age-related restrictions and to consider the proportionality of the reasons which underpin them. As the Government is neutral, it is not for the Government to comment on the likelihood of a court upholding any particular case brought to challenge the age on the face of the Bill but it was important to note the general risk to aid the debate in the Chamber.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times Ministers have met OpenAI to discuss platform safety.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ministers meet with the AI Industry to discuss a range of issues related to government priorities, including in relation to AI security. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)’s transparency data on ministers’ meetings with external organisations shows that between January and June 2025 there were six meetings with OpenAI, which focussed on issues including support for businesses, AI’s potential for public service delivery, and UK AI policy. Further updates on ministerial meetings will be released in due course.