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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what level of funding her Department plans to allocate to Ofcom to support the duties proposed for that organisation in the Online Safety Bill.

Through Spending Review 2021, over £110m has been allocated to the implementation of the online safety regime over the next three financial years (2022/23 - 2024/25). This will enable my Department to deliver the Online Safety Bill and will enable an independent regulator (Ofcom) to be established for the new regulatory framework which the Bill will put in place. It will also deliver a package of innovative online safety implementation measures which are required to implement the legislation and create the conditions for the legislation to be effective.

This outcome will ensure that Ofcom has the resources it needs to establish its online safety functions for the successful implementation of the online safety legislation.

Once the online safety regime is operational, Ofcom will be industry funded and therefore cost neutral to the government. Ofcom will be given powers to charge an annual fee to providers of a regulated service whose qualifying worldwide revenue meets a financial threshold. The fees charged to providers whose revenue is at or above the threshold will be differentiated and will be levied proportionately in order to recoup Ofcom’s annual operating costs.