Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty of care for children’s safety on Gen AI companies to ensure they are held accountable for the safety of children.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the UK, AI systems are regulated at the point of use under existing frameworks such as data protection law, competition law, equality law, and other forms of sectoral and cross-sectoral regulation.
Generative AI services that allow users to share content with one another, search live website to provide search results, or publish pornographic content are regulated under the Online Safety Act. These services must protect users from illegal content and children from harmful and age-inappropriate content. The Technology Secretary has confirmed that the government is considering how the Online Safety Act applies to AI chatbots and whether more is needed to protect users.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report from the Molly Rose Foundation entitled the Children’s exposure to (a) suicide, (b) self-harm, (c) depression and (d) eating disorder content online, published in October 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government thanks the Molly Rose Foundation for its research.
Under the Online Safety Act, intentionally encouraging or assisting suicide is a priority offence for providers’ illegal content duties, and the government is taking action to give illegal self-harm content the same status, something the Molly Rose Foundation has long campaigned for.
Services likely to be accessed by children must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children encountering content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.
Ofcom has enforcement powers under the Act and has announced investigations into over 60 services suspected of failing to comply with their duties, including a pro-suicide forum.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to introduce statutory safeguards to help prevent AI chatbots from being used to simulate sexual (a) activity and (b) scenarios involving children.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to tackling the atrocious harm of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The strongest protections in the Online Safety Act are for children – regulated services must remove illegal content and prevent children from encountering harmful content, including where it is AI generated.
The government has introduced an offence in the Crime and Policing Bill which criminalises possessing, creating or distributing AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material. We are committed to ensuring the UK is prepared for the changes AI will bring. When it comes to keeping children safe online, we will not hesitate to act.