Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Government had discussions on the threats posed by AI-generated child sexual abuse material at the AI Safety Summit of 1 and 2 November 2023.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK believes that the global risks posed by frontier AI are increasingly urgent, including risks to online safety. That is why the summit programme included a roundtable discussion on risks from the integration of frontier AI into society.
The Government has already passed legislation to protect children online. The world-leading Online Safety Act contains robust duties for companies to address AI-generated CSEA material. All services will be required to proactively tackle that content, preventing users from encountering it, and removing it immediately if it does appear.
Additionally, existing criminal law, such as the Protection of Children’s Act 1978 captures and criminalises a wide range of behaviours which extend to AI-generated CSEA material.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 effectiveness of the 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy; and whether she plans to update that strategy.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is committed to closing the digital divide and meeting the government’s commitment that nobody should be left behind in the digital age.The 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy, and the four pillars it sets out, remains as relevant today as it was when published. These principles were further echoed in the Government’s UK Digital Strategy published in 2022, and our vision to enable everyone from across the UK to benefit from all that digital innovation can offer.
The Department has further considered the 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy following the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee’s report on digital exclusion and cost of living and will formally respond to that Committee’s recommendations for the publication of a new digital inclusion strategy this month.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the term crime in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill includes fraud and scams.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Tackling fraud requires a unified and co-ordinated response from government, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud, reduce the impact of fraud on victims, and increase the disruption and prosecution of fraudsters. This is why we will shortly publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud.
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which is currently before Parliament will make it easier for businesses to process personal data in order to tackle all types of crime, including fraud and other types of economic crime. When the Bill is commenced, they will be able to rely on a new lawful ground of ‘recognised legitimate interests’ under the UK GDPR to process personal data for these purposes. Unlike the current legislation, this will not require businesses to do a detailed assessment of the potential impact of the processing on the rights of individuals, which may affect the speed at which intelligence information relating to suspected fraud is shared.
Reforms in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will also enable businesses, in certain situations, to share information more easily for the purposes of preventing, investigating or detecting economic crime by disapplying civil liability for breaches of confidentiality for firms who share information to combat economic crime.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill on the scope for businesses to share data in order to reduce fraud; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Tackling fraud requires a unified and co-ordinated response from government, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud, reduce the impact of fraud on victims, and increase the disruption and prosecution of fraudsters. This is why we will shortly publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud.
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which is currently before Parliament will make it easier for businesses to process personal data in order to tackle all types of crime, including fraud and other types of economic crime. When the Bill is commenced, they will be able to rely on a new lawful ground of ‘recognised legitimate interests’ under the UK GDPR to process personal data for these purposes. Unlike the current legislation, this will not require businesses to do a detailed assessment of the potential impact of the processing on the rights of individuals, which may affect the speed at which intelligence information relating to suspected fraud is shared.
Reforms in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will also enable businesses, in certain situations, to share information more easily for the purposes of preventing, investigating or detecting economic crime by disapplying civil liability for breaches of confidentiality for firms who share information to combat economic crime.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on mid-contract price increases on (a) mobile and (b) broadband contracts.
Answered by Paul Scully
This is clearly a very difficult time for families up and down the country who are struggling to pay their bills as a result of the global rise in the cost of living.
On 23 January, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport met with Chief Executives from major broadband and mobile providers at which she asked them to consider carefully the need, at this time, for above inflation price increases and highlighted the impact they may have on those already struggling to pay their bills.
In addition, Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, has rules in its General Conditions which ensure that any price increases which may occur during the length of the contract are clear, transparent and prominent at the point of sale.
Both the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom are independent. The government engages regularly with Ofcom on matters relating to affordability of communication services, and we continue to carefully monitor retail pricing in the sector.