Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help improve levels of digital literacy in the South East.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government published its Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which outlines the first five actions we are taking over the next year to boost digital inclusion in every corner of the UK.
These will be targeted at local initiatives for boosting digital skills and confidence, widening access to devices and connectivity, and getting support to people in their own communities. This includes improving digital literacy, increasing digital upskilling, and enhancing support for the Essential Digital Skills framework, which helps businesses and individuals to get the digital skills they need.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support victims of crimes committed using social media in (a) Eastbourne and (b) the South East.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act gives social media companies new duties to protect all UK users on their services, including users based in Eastbourne and the South East. Under the regulation, platforms need to take steps to reduce the risk their services are used to facilitate illegal activity. They need to remove illegal content when it does appear. They need to offer UK users reporting routes so that they can report illegal content, and they need to take effective action in response. Ofcom oversees these duties and has strong powers to enforce compliance.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to introduce measures to protect men and boys online.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act requires all platforms to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content, including illegal incitement to violence and sexual offences, including where these are targeted at men and boys.
Services must employ age-appropriate measures to protect all children from legal abusive and hateful content, including misandry.
Category 1 services will have extra duties where abuse is not illegal, requiring them to offer user empowerment tools, enabling all adult users greater control over their online experience. Category 1 services will also need to remove legal misandry content, when prohibited in their terms of service.