Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with Ofcom on the terms of reference for the Advisory Committee on Online Information.

Ofcom and its advisory committees are independent of government. The design of the advisory committee’s Terms of Reference are therefore a matter for Ofcom.

The Online Safety Act includes clear requirements for the Committee’s responsibilities: advising Ofcom on how providers should address mis- and disinformation, how the regulator should exercise their transparency powers and fulfil their statutory duty to promote media literacy in relation to mis- and disinformation. These obligations are unchanged and are duly reflected in the terms of reference for the Online Information Advisory Committee.