Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has had discussions with Ofcom on the likely categorisation of Telegram; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that categorisation on the risks of violence against women and girls on that platform.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Assessment and designation of services against the categorisation threshold conditions is a statutory duty for Ofcom. The regulator plans to publish the register of categorised services and to launch consulting on the relevant additional duties in July.
In November 2025, Ofcom published guidance for services on how they can tackle online VAWG on their platforms. The Secretary of State has been clear that platforms should implement this guidance by the end of the year – regardless of how services are categorised under the Online Safety Act. Information on Ofcom’s approach to implementing the Act, including on categorisation, is available here.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department has taken to support platform compliance with Ofcom's guidance entitled A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls; and by what metrics she plans to measure the impact of that guidance.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State has been clear that the government expects platforms to implement Ofcom's guidance by the end of the year and has engaged directly with platforms to communicate this message. Ofcom plans to publish a report on platform's compliance with the guidance and the Secretary of State has encouraged Ofcom to do this as soon as possible.
Ministers have regular meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects, including online safety for women and girls.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Ofcom’s Guidance, A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls, and whether the Guidance will be sufficient to reduce the risks women experience of non-consensual intimate image abuse on social media.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act provides world-leading protections against non-consensual intimate image abuse. The Government strengthened these by introducing a duty requiring platforms to remove NCII within 48 hours of a valid user report.
Ofcom published updated illegal content codes to prevent the re-upload of NCII, going beyond simple takedown. Its Codes of Practice and guidance outline steps providers can take to keep users safe.
The Secretary of State has been clear with platforms that they should implement Ofcom’s guidance to keep women and girls safe online by the end of the year and that this Government will monitor progress closely.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
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 adequacy of Ofcom’s guidance entitled A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls in reducing the risks of non-consensual intimate image abuse on social media.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act provides world-leading protections against non-consensual intimate image abuse. The Government strengthened these by introducing a duty requiring platforms to remove NCII within 48 hours of a valid user report.
Ofcom published updated illegal content codes to prevent the re-upload of NCII, going beyond simple takedown. Its Codes of Practice and guidance outline steps providers can take to keep users safe.
The Secretary of State has been clear with platforms that they should implement Ofcom’s guidance to keep women and girls safe online by the end of the year and that this Government will monitor progress closely.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has taken steps to support platform compliance with Ofcom’s Guidance, A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls, and what discussions she has had with the Minister for Women and Equalities with respect to the metric(s) they intend to use to measure the impact of the guidance.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State has been clear that the government expects platforms to implement Ofcom's guidance by the end of the year and has engaged directly with platforms to communicate this message. Ofcom plans to publish a report on platform's compliance with the guidance and the Secretary of State has encouraged Ofcom to do this as soon as possible.
Ministers have regular meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects, including online safety for women and girls.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to allocate funding from Ofcom’s fines to platforms for failure to comply with the Online Safety Act 2023 to organisations working to end violence against women and girls.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, fines imposed by Ofcom are paid into the Consolidated Fund, in line with standard practice across its regulatory functions. This ensures funds are distributed in accordance with overall government priorities, which may include victim support services.
However, fines are intended to drive compliance, not to act as a funding stream. Their inherently unpredictable nature makes them unsuitable for directly supporting work on violence against women and girls or compensating victims.
Decisions on the use of such funds are for HM Treasury, while the Ministry of Justice retains primary responsibility for victim support and compensation policy in England and Wales.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of making UK AISI / Thorn's guidance entitled Recommended Practice for AI-G CSEA Prevention, published in December 2025, mandatory for AI developers to prevent the creation of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 15 January 2026 to Question UIN 104313.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions she has had with Ofcom on the disproportionate impact Physical Infrastructure Access costs have on the deployment of fibre optic broadband in rural areas.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
DSIT is engaging on this issue with Ofcom at an official level. In July, we published our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when her Department plans to publish the review on the impact of social media on young people’s wellbeing and mental health commissioned in November 2024.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The feasibility study into research on any causal impact of social media and smartphones on children’s mental health and wellbeing has been completed. My department is considering the study’s recommendations for further research, and the report will be published in due course.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has (a) implemented a domestic abuse policy for staff and (b) trained line managers to effectively respond to staff who are experiencing domestic abuse.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT is committed to supporting employees experiencing domestic abuse. We provide comprehensive advice to these employees and their managers including how to identify abuse, actions which colleagues and managers can take, and links to organisations providing advice and support. Our guidance also covers the actions of perpetrators and how disciplinary action would be implemented.
In July 2024 we implemented Domestic Abuse Guidance for employees and line managers. Line managers can access departmental online information and 121 support is available for the line manager where this is needed for specific instances of domestic abuse.