Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions her Department has had with Ofcom on ensuring that the steps it is taking to implement the Online Safety Act (2023) contribute to the delivery of its target to halve the level of violence against women and girls.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Reducing online violence against women and girls and fraud are priorities for this government. Ofcom’s Illegal Harms Codes require platforms to proactively address serious illegal content, much of which disproportionately impacts women and girls. The codes also require platforms to implement strong measures to protect users against fraud.
The Government and Ofcom are actively monitoring changes to platforms' behaviour and the levels of harm experienced online following Ofcom’s codes coming into effect. This work will track the effect of the online safety regime and feed into a statutory Post Implementation Review.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
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 potential impact of Ofcom's Online Safety Act Illegal Content Codes of Practice on levels of online violence against women and girls.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Reducing online violence against women and girls and fraud are priorities for this government. Ofcom’s Illegal Harms Codes require platforms to proactively address serious illegal content, much of which disproportionately impacts women and girls. The codes also require platforms to implement strong measures to protect users against fraud.
The Government and Ofcom are actively monitoring changes to platforms' behaviour and the levels of harm experienced online following Ofcom’s codes coming into effect. This work will track the effect of the online safety regime and feed into a statutory Post Implementation Review.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
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 potential impact of Ofcom's Online Safety Act Illegal Content Codes of Practice on levels of fraud against UK consumers.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Reducing online violence against women and girls and fraud are priorities for this government. Ofcom’s Illegal Harms Codes require platforms to proactively address serious illegal content, much of which disproportionately impacts women and girls. The codes also require platforms to implement strong measures to protect users against fraud.
The Government and Ofcom are actively monitoring changes to platforms' behaviour and the levels of harm experienced online following Ofcom’s codes coming into effect. This work will track the effect of the online safety regime and feed into a statutory Post Implementation Review.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what information his Department holds on the amount of income generated by the Ordnance Survey from public subscriptions in the last five years.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Since 2022-23, Ordnance Survey has published the revenue from paying subscribers to the OS Maps platform and app in its Annual Report and Accounts, and these are set out below.
2022/23: £8.4m
2023/24: £9.5m
The Annual Report and Accounts for 2024-25 will be published in due course and laid before Parliament.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with Ordance Survey on the potential merits of making the Ordnance Survey Maps Premium (a) service and (b) app available to the public for free.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Ordnance Survey is a public corporation, operating on a commercial basis. Ministers meet regularly with the leadership of Ordnance Survey to discuss how the company can support the Government’s priorities.
Ordnance Survey makes its authoritative geospatial data available to the public and private sectors, including individuals, directly and through commercial partners. A free version of the OS Maps app, which uses data that Ordnance Survey makes available under Open Government Licence, is used by over a million people every month. The premium subscription provides additional features and has over half a million active subscribers. It is already freely available to key users such as Mountain Rescue in Scotland, England and Wales.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing further regulations on X to tackle the spread the of (a) disinformation and (b) misinformation.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Online Safety Act will require all in-scope services, including X, to tackle mis- and disinformation where it is illegal or harmful to children.
The Act will also hold Category 1 services to account over the enforcement of their terms of service, including those on mis- and disinformation.
Our immediate focus is getting the Online Safety Act implemented quickly and effectively. Social media companies have a clear responsibility to keep people safe on their platforms, and this is a government priority.