British Board of Film Classification

Lord Storey Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Storey]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to re-examine the status of those films, videos and DVDs currently exempt from classification by the British Board of Film Classification.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, under the Video Recordings Act 1984, videos on recordable media, such as DVDs, are classified by the British Board of Film Classification. However, to date many products about sports, music, religion and education have been exempt from this requirement. Following a public consultation, the Government announced last month that they will bring forward legislation to tighten up the exemptions and to ensure that, in future, any products in these genres will be classified if they contain material deemed to be unsuitable for younger children.

[Lord Storey]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply. I am sure that he is not aware of Cannibal Corpse’s “Live Cannibalism” DVD being legally supplied to British children or, indeed, the double-disc set “His Name was Jason: Thirty Years of Friday the 13th”, so the change in the law for such content to be brought within the regulatory scope of the BBFC cannot come too soon.

I note that the Government’s announcement also mentioned another potential loophole in the current regime, that being online music videos. Does my noble friend believe that the music industry should consider following the example of the home entertainment industry by adopting BBFC classifications for online music videos?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I think we are agreed that the number one priority in all we are seeking to do is to protect children. The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State have been rightly robust about this, as have many noble Lords. The Government are taking action to protect children from inappropriate content, and there are strong intentions in the online area as well because it is clearly the case that children are viewing content online. We are therefore going to do more in the area of online video labelling, and we are working with many organisations and parents to deal with music or anything that could be potentially harmful to younger children.