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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals in line with New Zealand legislation extending regulation of classification of films and DVDs to online streaming platforms from 2021.

The Government will continue to unlock the huge opportunities presented by digital technologies while seeking to minimise the risks to online consumers. While adoption of the British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) best practice age ratings by online platforms is currently voluntary, we welcome Netflix’s commitment to work towards complete coverage of its content under the BBFC’s ratings and support the BBFC’s drive to encourage other Video On Demand platforms to follow suit. By doing so, this will provide consumers with well recognised age ratings and consumer advice.