Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 14 October (HL Deb cols 9–11), what progress they have made on implementing the provisions of the Online Safety Act 2023 relating to pornography, and when they expect the age verification provisions to be enforced.

Ofcom’s implementation progress update, published 17 October, sets out their intention to publish finalised guidance on age assurance for publishers of online pornography in January 2025. Ofcom expects to start monitoring and enforcing the age assurance duties at that point.

The child safety duties – which require user-to-user services to prevent children encountering pornography – come into effect after parliament has considered Ofcom’s finalised Children’s Safety Code of Practice. We anticipate this will happen by Summer 2025.