Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Online Safety Act 2023 in tackling instances of (a) online deception and (b) coercive and controlling behaviour by impersonations on (i) social media and (ii) dating apps.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act requires all in-scope services to protect users from online illegal content and criminal behaviour on their services. Coercive and controlling behaviour is a priority offence under the Act. Adult users of services over the designated threshold will also have the ability to verify their own identity, reduce the likelihood of seeing non-verified users’ content, and prevent non-verified users from interacting with their content. The government and Ofcom’s priority is getting these protections implemented effectively.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the support for victims of intellectual property theft provided by Action Fraud.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
In 2023 the Government published a Fraud Strategy, setting out plans to reduce fraud by 10% by December 2024.
Action Fraud is the UK’s national information and reporting centre for fraud and financially motivated internet crime, including intellectual property theft. As part of the national fraud strategy, the government is committed to replacing Action Fraud with a new state-of-the-art reporting service, making it easier for victims to report crime, and for law enforcement to take action on victims’ reports.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with representatives of Ofcom on price increases for (a) mobile and (b) internet contracts in the last 12 months.
Answered by John Whittingdale
We recognise that this is a difficult time for families across the country who are struggling to pay their bills as a result of the global rise in the cost of living.
My Department has engaged regularly with Ofcom over the past 12 months on a range of telecom consumer-related issues including the affordability of services.
Ofcom - the independent regulator - has a statutory duty to monitor ongoing household affordability in the sector, and Part C of their General Conditions require telecoms companies to provide clear information about their contracts.
On 9 February 2023, Ofcom announced a review into the transparency of in-contract price rises. Ofcom expects this review to conclude by the end of the year.