Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that young people from all regions, including the North East, are represented in consultations on online safety and Al regulation.

We will ensure that young people from across the country, including the North East are represented in consultations.

We are shortly launching a consultation exploring children’s use of technology to understand how they can be protected and how their wellbeing can be improved during technological change. The consultation will seek views on tackling ‘addictiveness’ of social media, introducing a minimum age of access and additional protections for AI chatbots.

We will ensure children's voices are heard by launching a child-friendly version of the consultation and progressing a national conversation to hear directly from children and young people.