Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Media Literacy Taskforce has taken to protect the public from (a) misinformation and (b) disinformation.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Media Literacy Taskforce, a body of 17 media literacy experts drawn from the tech industry, civil society, the press sector and academia, was established in March 2022. DSIT consults the Taskforce on how to tackle the key challenges facing the media literacy landscape, in particular that of how to improve provision for citizens who are disengaged or lack access to support.
For example, the Taskforce played a key role in launching the Media Literacy Taskforce Fund, a grant scheme through which we awarded over £800,000 to four innovative media literacy projects delivered over the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24. These projects seek to build the online safety and critical thinking skills of users from all age groups, empowering them to respond effectively to the threats posed by mis- and disinformation, along with other online harms. Taskforce members advised the government on which projects should be awarded funding, and then helped grant recipients to maximise the impact of their projects.
The Taskforce does not produce its own reports or other written materials for publication. However, Government has committed to publishing annual Action Plans until the end of Financial Year 2024/2025, setting out initiatives to meet the Online Media Literacy Strategy’s ambition. All projects funded in relation to the Strategy are evaluated robustly and findings will be published on gov.uk, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of future media literacy initiatives and informing government policy moving forward.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether any telecoms provider has been fined up to a maximum of 10 per cent of its relative turnover as set out in the Online Safety Act 2023, since that Act came into force.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. As with other areas it regulates, Ofcom must first establish codes of practice and enforcement guidance, before duties come into force and enforcement action can be taken. Ofcom has begun a programme of consultations on the relevant codes and guidance, which are expected to be in force by early 2025.
The new laws in the Act apply to online search services and services that allow users to post content or interact with each other online. They do not apply to services outside of this scope – e.g. ‘offline’ telecoms services.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if her Department will publish the recent work of the Media Literacy Taskforce.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Media Literacy Taskforce, a body of 17 media literacy experts drawn from the tech industry, civil society, the press sector and academia, was established in March 2022. DSIT consults the Taskforce on how to tackle the key challenges facing the media literacy landscape, in particular that of how to improve provision for citizens who are disengaged or lack access to support.
For example, the Taskforce played a key role in launching the Media Literacy Taskforce Fund, a grant scheme through which we awarded over £800,000 to four innovative media literacy projects delivered over the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24. These projects seek to build the online safety and critical thinking skills of users from all age groups, empowering them to respond effectively to the threats posed by mis- and disinformation, along with other online harms. Taskforce members advised the government on which projects should be awarded funding, and then helped grant recipients to maximise the impact of their projects.
The Taskforce does not produce its own reports or other written materials for publication. However, Government has committed to publishing annual Action Plans until the end of Financial Year 2024/2025, setting out initiatives to meet the Online Media Literacy Strategy’s ambition. All projects funded in relation to the Strategy are evaluated robustly and findings will be published on gov.uk, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of future media literacy initiatives and informing government policy moving forward.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many prosecutions have taken place under the false communications offence as set out in section 179 of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The false communications offence was introduced by the Online Safety Act 2023 (“the Act”). The communication offences in the Act, including the false communications offence were commenced on 31 January this year.
The Ministry of Justice publish information on prosecutions, convictions and sentence outcomes under specific legislation. The Act gained Royal Assent in October 2023; therefore, it is not yet available in the published figures. Figures up to December 2023 are intended for publication in May 2024.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress he has made on tackling SIM farms since 3 May 2023.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Last week, I joined a City of London Police operation which saw two men arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. The men were in possession of SIM farms which allow fraudulent texts to be sent to the public.
We must deny criminals access to any tool that allows them to send bulk messages or make scam calls.This is why in May 2023, we consulted on proposals to ban SIM farms. The Government’s response to the consultation is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/preventing-the-use-of-sim-farms-for-fraud
We are now taking legislative action to ban “SIM farms”, technical devices that allow criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at the same time.
The Criminal Justice Bill introduces a new offence of supplying or possessing SIM farms, without good reason or undertaking adequate due diligence. The measures will also allow the extension of the ban to other technologies that are exploited by criminals to scam the British public, subject to a high level of scrutiny and checks.
This new offence will make it more difficult for criminals to access and use these devices for the purpose of fraud and will give police the necessary tools to disrupt fraudsters.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in his Department are working on countering deepfake material.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office is working closely with law enforcement, international partners, industry and across Government – including with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) as lead Department - to address the risks associated with deepfakes.
This includes Home Office teams working across crime and policing, national security, immigration and science and technology as well as the Defending Democracy Taskforce. Work on deepfakes forms part of a wider Home Office programme to manage the risks and opportunities from artificial intelligence.
We are unable to provide figures for departmental staff working on deepfakes as headcount is captured according to crime type, or broader work on artificial intelligence, and not broken down into activities specific to deepfakes.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the safety of people in Pakistan who (a) have previously had an application to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme rejected and (b) are waiting for their application to be reconsidered.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK Government has had constructive and ongoing conversations with the Government of Pakistan to take steps to prevent the deportation Afghans eligible for UK resettlement schemes from Pakistan.
I have instructed MOD officials to raise awareness of this issue with the Pakistani authorities so that protection from deportation can be extended to those individuals within scope of the forthcoming reassessment of decisions taken on ineligible applications from former members of Afghan specialist units.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the safety of people in Pakistan previously rejected by the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy who are having applications reconsidered.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK Government has had constructive and ongoing conversations with the Government of Pakistan to take steps to prevent the deportation Afghans eligible for UK resettlement schemes from Pakistan.
I have instructed MOD officials to raise awareness of this issue with the Pakistani authorities so that protection from deportation can be extended to those individuals within scope of the forthcoming reassessment of decisions taken on ineligible applications from former members of Afghan specialist units.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what support he plans to provide to international partners to tackle (a) disinformation and (b) misinformation in the next 12 months.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, the FCDO has established a new directorate to increase its capability to assess and respond to the full range of information threats by hostile actors and build international partnerships to work together in tackling these threats.
The FCDO has established programmes to challenge Russian disinformation activity in Europe. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we have enhanced these long-standing capabilities to support partner Governments, independent media and civil societies across Europe to challenge and resist Russia's information manipulation and attempts to fracture unity. We have enhanced our partnership with the Government of Ukraine to help them challenge Russian disinformation domestically and internationally. In the coming 12 months we will continue our partnerships with Ukraine and countries across Europe to tackle Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Defending Democracy Taskforce is taking to help reduce disinformation at the next general election.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government is committed to safeguarding the UK’s elections and already has established systems and processes in place, to protect the democratic integrity of the UK.
DSIT is the lead department on artificial intelligence and is part of the Defending Democracy Taskforce which has a mandate to safeguard our democratic institutions and processes from the full range of threats. The Taskforce ensures we have a robust system in place to rapidly respond to any threats during election periods.
Furthermore, the Online Safety Act places new requirements on social media platforms to swiftly remove illegal misinformation and disinformation - including artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes - as soon as they become aware of it. The Act also updates Ofcom’s statutory media literacy duty to require it to take tangible steps to prioritise the public's awareness of and resilience to misinformation and disinformation online. This includes enabling users to establish the reliability, accuracy, and authenticity of content.
Finally, the threat to democracy from artificial intelligence was discussed at the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, reinforcing the Government’s commitment to international collaboration on this shared challenge.