Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has carried out an impact assessment for the decision to delay implementation of measures in the Online Safety Act 2023 on fraudulent advertising for Category One services.

Ofcom expects to publish the draft Codes of Practice on the remaining duties on categorised services by early 2026, later than it originally anticipated. The fraudulent advertising duties rely on these codes being in force. Separately, the illegal content duties are now in force and user-to-user services must have appropriate measures to protect users from user-generated fraud. The government has published an enactment impact assessment for the Online Safety Act but has not carried out an impact assessment specifically on the timing of the fraudulent advertising duties coming into effect.