Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of powers of (a) the Financial Conduct Authority and (b) the Advertising Standards Authority and (c) other regulators to effectively ensure that online platforms are protecting their users against fraudulent and scam content.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
I am deeply concerned about the growth and scale of online fraudulent and scam content. My officials are working closely on this matter with those from other government departments, including the Home Office (as the government department responsible for tackling fraud), the Treasury as well as with industry, regulators, and consumer groups with a view to tackling this issue in a cohesive and robust way.
My department has been considering how online advertising is regulated through our Online Advertising Programme, and we will be consulting on this issue later this year following an initial call for evidence in 2020. Our aim is to foster fair, accountable and ethical online advertising that works for citizens, businesses, and society as a whole. In particular, we want to ensure standards about the placement and content of advertising can be effectively applied and enforced online so that consumers are protected from harmful or misleading advertising.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the regulatory framework governing the responsibility of online platforms, including search engines and social media sites to protect their users against scam content on their sites.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We are deeply concerned about the growth and scale of online scams. My officials work closely on this matter with other government departments, including the Home Office as the government department responsible for tackling fraud, as well as with industry, regulators and consumer groups. Through an ongoing programme of work, the government is considering additional legislative and non-legislative solutions to effectively address the harms posed by all elements of online fraud in a cohesive and robust way.
Within my department, the Online Advertising Programme will be considering further regulation of online advertising to tackle harms including fraud. The government will launch a public consultation on measures to enhance how online advertising is regulated in the UK this year.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he expects to publish his Department's response to the BBC Charter Review consultation.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government's BBC Charter Review Public Consultation closed in October. Over 190,000 people responded to the consultation - the second largest response to any Government consultation. We are in the process of reading and analysing all the responses, and will publish the results once this exercise is completed.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will commission research on the proportion of public and private service providers which offer access to their services through video relay.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Annual correspondence with the FTSE 100 companieshas indicated that from 2013 to present there has been a steady increase in the number of companies that provide video relay. With regards to public sector, DWP plan to launch a pilot service by the end of the year.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with Ofcom on introducing requirements on communications providers to improve access to relay video services since Ofcom's review of relay services on 2011-12.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
DCMS has had several discussions with Ofcom to promote the provision of video relay services in the UK. In addition we have hosted meetings of the eAccessibility ForumVideo Relay Services Providers Working sub-group and have written to the FTSE 100 companies to challenge them to introduce the service. We welcome the increasing number of companies offering video relay services. Public facing Government departments will continue to work with interested parties to ensure this positive progress continues.Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his polices of the report by the UK Council on Deafness, Impact assessment: telephony equivalence for d/Deaf people, published in November 2013.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
We welcome what has been achieved over the years with the introduction of Next Generation Text Relay and the number of companies offering video relay services increasing. Public facing Government departments will continue to work with interested parties to ensure this positive progress continues.