Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has assessed the most popular smartphone applications used by 8 to 14-year-olds after (a) 21:00 and (b) 23:00.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Protecting children online is a priority for the Secretary of State and this government. That is why we published the ‘Growing up in the Online World’ consultation, accompanied by a National Conversation on 2 March 2026.
The consultation asked for views on children’s use of social media, including questions on screen time and the impact on children’s health. The government published a progress report on the consultation on 15 June, outlining plans to restrict social media services from providing access to under 16s alongside restrictions on functionalities for wider services. Further details will be published in July.
Ofcom also published research in May 2026 of children’s usage of online services after 9 PM, including apps on phones. Ofcom’s research continues to inform the government’s next steps for online safety.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment of the online services where eight to 14-year-olds are most likely to encounter harmful content.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Children’s safety and wellbeing online is the Secretary of State’s top priority. That is why we published the ‘Growing up in the Online World’ consultation, accompanied by a National Conversation on 2 March 2026.
The government published a progress report on the consultation on 15 June, outlining plans to restrict social media services from providing access to under 16s alongside restrictions on functionalities for wider services. Further details will be published in July.
In May 2026, Ofcom published a report on children’s use of online services, including on which platforms children encountered harmful content. Ofcom’s research continues to inform the government’s next steps for online safety.
Where Ofcom has concerns that significant numbers of children are at risk of harm on a service, the government expects them to act. Ofcom has significant enforcement powers at its disposal when a service does not comply with the Act’s requirement and has the government’s full support to use the complete range of these powers.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many bids to the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund were successful in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber region, (b) East Riding of Yorkshire local authority area, and (c) Beverley and Holderness constituency; and what proportion of all successful bids submitted these represent.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Our ambition is that everyone in every corner of the UK, whatever their circumstances, can participate in our modern digital society. That’s why we launched the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund – supporting local initiatives that increase digital participation and aim to meet the specific and diverse needs of digitally excluded people in communities across the UK.
Some applicants have been announced and DSIT are currently in the process of onboarding successful applicants of the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, with a regional spread across England. The department intends to announce and publish a full list of successful projects in due course.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make it his policy to require fixed line operators to share infrastructure to help tackle the proliferation of telegraph poles.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
We understand concerns about the excessive deployment of telegraph poles, and are urgently considering options to address this.
Telegraph poles can play an important role in delivering affordable connectivity to communities, and competition can offer consumers greater choice and cheaper rates. However, it is vital that operators share infrastructure wherever possible, as the last thing anyone wants is for our towns and villages to be littered with countless unnecessary competing telegraph poles.
Existing regulations require operators to share infrastructure where practicable, and the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 made it easier to upgrade and share existing apparatus.
In addition, the Communications (Access to Infrastructure) Regulations 2016 are designed to facilitate sharing for physical infrastructure.