Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of different content ratings systems on different streaming platforms which are not aligned with standards for cinema or DVD releases nor based on research into the expectations of UK audiences.

As the designated body for age classification of film content, the government has great trust in the British Board of Film Classification’s best practice age ratings. While adoption of the BBFC’s age ratings by online platforms is currently voluntary, we welcome their usage by Video on Demand platforms.

This includes Netflix who on December 1st announced that they have become the first platform to achieve complete coverage of their content under the BBFC’s ratings.

According to recent BBFC research, nearly nine in ten parents find BBFC age ratings on Netflix useful in helping them to choose content well for their family. To build on this success, we will continue to engage with industry to encourage other platforms to adopt the same ratings, and will keep the evidence for legislation in this area under review.