Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on taking steps to help prevent people being sexually exploited on websites advertising prostitution in Gower.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ministers have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, including protecting people from illegal activity online.
The Online Safety Act gives online platforms new duties to tackle illegal content and activity on their services. Sexual exploitation offences are ‘priority offences’ within the Act; service providers need to take proactive steps to search for, remove and limit people’s exposure to this harmful kind of illegal content. Firms will need to start risk assessing for illegal content by the end of the year and the illegal content duties will be fully in effect by Spring 2025.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 potential impact on young people in Gower constituency of differences in the level of regulation of pornographic content accessed (a) online and (b) offline.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act imposes duties on user-to-user services and publishers of pornography to prevent children encountering pornographic content online.
Ofcom can enforce duties on publishers of pornography from early 2025. The age assurance duties for user-to-user services will come into effect by summer 2025.
Additionally, the Independent Pornography Review will assess the effectiveness of pornography legislation, regulation and enforcement, including online and offline regulation. We expect that the independent review will finalise towards the end of this year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the harmful effects of pornography in Gower constituency.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content including extreme pornography. The Act requires services in scope to understand risks from illegal content online and take mitigating action.
Separate to provisions in the Online Safety Act, the Independent Pornography Review, led by Independent Lead Reviewer Baroness Gabby Bertin will explore the effectiveness of regulation, legislation and the law enforcement response to pornography. The government expects the Review to present its final report by the end of the year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what plans he has for the continuation of the independent pornography review.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government will provide an update on the independent review of pornography regulation, legislation, and enforcement in due course.
The Online Safety Act 2023 has duties for providers to tackle illegal content online and prevent children from accessing pornography online. The government is committed to tackling violence against women and girls, and violent and misogynistic content online.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent steps her Department has taken to help improve broadband coverage in Gower constituency.
Answered by Julia Lopez
Almost 98% of premises in the Gower constituency can access superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps), in line with the national average of 97%. Over 69% of premises have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection, which is below the national average of 80%, but has increased significantly since January 2021, when coverage was under 25%.
To improve coverage further, the Government is rolling out Project Gigabit, and we have launched procurements across the UK inviting suppliers to bid for contracts to bring gigabit-capable broadband to homes and businesses that are unlikely to be reached by broadband suppliers' commercial rollout plans alone. The Gower constituency is included in a cross regional procurement which launched last year, and we expect to award a contract this summer.