Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with Ofcom on progress by the Small but Risky taskforce on tackling the risk posed by dangerous online platforms.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act’s illegal content and, where relevant, child safety duties, will apply to services of all sizes. In September 2024, a public exchange of letters between the Secretary of State and Ofcom CEO outlined information about the taskforce: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/about-ofcom/public-correspondence/2024/letter-from-dame-melanie-dawes-to-the-secretary-of-state-11-september-2024.pdf?v=380026. The taskforce is developing and delivering a workplan focusing on high priority themes such as terror, hate and offences against women and girls. Should small but risky services choose not to engage and there is evidence of non-compliance, Ofcom will undertake enforcement action.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 tackle the risk posed by small high-risk online platforms.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act’s illegal content and, where relevant, child safety duties, will apply to services of all sizes. In September 2024, a public exchange of letters between the Secretary of State and Ofcom CEO outlined information about the taskforce: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/about-ofcom/public-correspondence/2024/letter-from-dame-melanie-dawes-to-the-secretary-of-state-11-september-2024.pdf?v=380026. The taskforce is developing and delivering a workplan focusing on high priority themes such as terror, hate and offences against women and girls. Should small but risky services choose not to engage and there is evidence of non-compliance, Ofcom will undertake enforcement action.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will take steps to encourage social media and search platforms to exceed the requirements of the Online Safety Act 2023 in reducing access to harmful suicide and self-harm content.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government engages regularly with social media and search services and is clear that they should be taking action now to make their services safe for users.
Under the Online Safety Act, in-scope services must prevent all users from encountering illegal suicide and self-harm content, and children from legal content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide and self-harm.
The government are committed to continuing to engage with those with lived experience and keeping online safety policy under review and will take whatever steps are needed to protect the public.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has plans to consult people with lived experience of self-harm and suicide on the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government engages regularly with social media and search services and is clear that they should be taking action now to make their services safe for users.
Under the Online Safety Act, in-scope services must prevent all users from encountering illegal suicide and self-harm content, and children from legal content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide and self-harm.
The government are committed to continuing to engage with those with lived experience and keeping online safety policy under review and will take whatever steps are needed to protect the public.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the National Semiconductor Strategy published in May 2023, if she will provide funding in the forthcoming Autumn Statement to support non-silicon semiconductor manufacturing including flexible circuits.
Answered by Paul Scully
The National Semiconductor Strategy sets out the government’s plan to build on the UK’s strengths to grow our sector, increase our resilience and protect our security.
We will announce plans by the autumn to further support the competitiveness of the semiconductor manufacturing sector that is critical to the UK tech ecosystem or our national security.
We have engaged extensively with industry including with the new Semiconductor Advisory Panel to inform our approach.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help deliver nationwide gigabit broadband to 85 per cent of all households by 2025.
Answered by Julia Lopez
I am pleased to share that more than 98% of premises in the City of Durham constituency can access a superfast connection, above the national average. More than 61% of premises are also able to access a gigabit-capable connection, which is a significant increase from just 1% of premises in 2019.
The Government is committed to working with broadband suppliers further so that 85% of UK premises can access gigabit-capable broadband by 2025. We are on track to achieve our target. At present, over 74% of UK premises can access a gigabit-capable connection, up from just 6% in January 2019.
Project Gigabit is the Government’s £5 billion mission to deliver fast, reliable broadband across the UK. More than £1 billion of public subsidy has been made available to broadband suppliers to extend their gigabit-capable networks to rural and hard to reach parts of the country. To date, we have awarded seven contracts in locations from Cornwall to Cumbria, and we have launched a further 14 procurements, which combined will deliver fast, reliable broadband to up to 748,000 premises that would have otherwise missed out.
Support is also available for homes and businesses through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The voucher scheme provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses in rural areas towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband via local community broadband projects. To date, almost 84,000 vouchers have been used to connect premises to gigabit-capable broadband.