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Written Question
Fraud: Internet
Wednesday 23rd July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act 2023 in preventing fraud.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Online Safety Act (OSA) was passed in November 2023 and requires all in-scope platforms to tackle fraud on their platforms. The OSA’s first codes, dealing with illegal content, came into effect and were enforceable from March 2025. This means that all in-scope companies will need to put in place systems and processes to stop fraud from appearing on their platforms and services.

In addition, the Act’s fraudulent advertising duty will require the largest companies to appropriately tackle fraudulent advertising. According to Ofcom’s Online Safety Act Roadmap the draft codes for this duty will be published in draft in early 2026.

The Government is working closely with Ofcom on the implementation of the Online Safety Act and will continue to monitor its efficacy as the Act is enforced.


Written Question
Internet: Fraud
Wednesday 23rd July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act 2023 for preventing fraud.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Online Safety Act now requires in-scope platforms to implement effective measures to prevent illegal fraudulent user-generated content and activity. Ofcom has launched an enforcement programme to monitor compliance with the illegal content duties and a consultation to strengthen codes of practice, including proposals for automated tools to detect illegal content, including fraud. Additionally, the largest user-to-user and search services (Category 1 and 2A) must tackle paid-for fraudulent ads once the relevant codes are in force.

The Government is required to review the effectiveness of the online safety framework, two to five years after key provisions have come into force.


Written Question
Tickets: Touting
Tuesday 22nd July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the contribution of secondary ticketing platforms to the economy.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Earlier this year, the government consulted on the resale of live events tickets to seek views on a range of proposals aimed at improving fairness for consumers – including a price cap that would restrict the price at which tickets could lawfully be resold.

In the consultation document, we set out our assessment of the beneficial role of the secondary ticketing market and ongoing issues relating to how it currently operates.

We are currently reviewing all the evidence that we received in response to the consultation and we intend to publish the government response later this summer.


Written Question
Tickets: Touting
Tuesday 22nd July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many meetings ministers in his Department have had with secondary ticketing platforms since July 2024.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Details of the Department for Business and Trade’s ministerial meetings can be found at Gov.uk.


Written Question
Intellectual Property: Arts
Wednesday 16th July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, which organisations have been invited to meet his Department in plenary sessions to discuss the intellectual property rights of creative industries.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government has committed to establishing stakeholder working groups to inform the development of policy on copyright and AI.

In line with debates in Parliament on the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the Secretaries of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are convening the first meeting of these stakeholder working groups on 16th July. The Government will publish details and a list of working group members in due course.


Written Question
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Wednesday 16th July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his speech to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists World Congress, published on 23 June 2025, what his planned timetable is for the NHS Chief Executive and Chief Nursing Office to meet (i) Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (ii) Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust; and if he will publish the outcomes of those meetings.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

An initial meeting between the Chief Executive of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the NHS Chief Executive, and the Chief Nursing Officer for England to discuss maternity and neonatal services took place on 25 June 2025. Further in-depth meetings will take place in due course, and following these meetings the trust board should report on their progress to their public board.


Written Question
Newspaper Press: Ownership
Wednesday 16th July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of foreign (a) company and (b) government ownership of British media on national security.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the detail of security and intelligence issues.

More generally, the Government is committed to a pluralistic media landscape, where citizens are able to access information from a range of sources in order to form opinions. The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport have provided an assessment on the potential impact of foreign states investing in UK Newspapers, which can be found in the Written Statement Ministerial of 15 May 2025 - Official Report Vol 767 Col 17WS.


Written Question
Media: Foreign Investment in UK
Wednesday 16th July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of foreign governments investing in UK media on national security.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the detail of security and intelligence issues.

More generally, the Government is committed to a pluralistic media landscape, where citizens are able to access information from a range of sources in order to form opinions. The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport have provided an assessment on the potential impact of foreign states investing in UK Newspapers, which can be found in the Written Statement Ministerial of 15 May 2025 - Official Report Vol 767 Col 17WS.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Expenditure
Tuesday 15th July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment she has made of the level of spending as a proportion of GDP on the state pension (a) other European nations, (b) other developed economies and (c) the UK.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

It is difficult to make comprehensive direct comparisons between different countries’ spending on State Pensions as a proportion of GDP because there are many fundamental differences in the types of system and the wider social and economic contexts. There are many factors to take into account such as different tax systems, cost of living, access to occupational pensions and their taxation treatment plus the availability of healthcare free at the point of use, other social security benefits and the provision of services and goods free to pensioners or at concessionary rates.


Written Question
Employment: Artificial Intelligence
Tuesday 15th July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of greater use of artificial intelligence in workplaces on welfare spending.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are already witnessing AI’s impact on the labour market: transforming the workplace, demanding new skills and changing the jobs landscape. We remain mindful of this impact and its effect on the UK workforce and DWP customers, whilst working to harness the benefits that AI can bring.

DWP has a strong track record of providing financial help during economic shifts and supporting people to reskill and to re-enter work. We are continuing to deliver our Get Britain Working reforms to ensure we provide people with access to good work and training opportunities fit for the future.

DWP is also working across government to ensure that we are able to respond to emerging trends within the labour market, and to make the most of opportunities for economic growth, job creation and productivity.