Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Julia Lopez and Andrew Lewer

Thursday 27th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Lewer (Northampton South) (Con)]

T2. The Advertising Standards Authority, despite its misleading name, is a self-regulating body. Nevertheless, it has considerable powers within DCMS’s areas of responsibility. If those were used for social engineering rather than factual accuracy purposes, would that cause Ministers some concern?

[The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Julia Lopez)]

I know how strongly my hon. Friend feels about freedom of speech and thought, and I have great admiration for the work that he does in this wider area. He is right that the ASA is a self-regulating body for the advertising industry, and he is also right that it is at its best when it focuses on its core purpose of making sure that consumers get legal, decent, honest and truthful adverts, rather than value judgments on social issues and pushing a certain world view.