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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Online Safety Bill will contain provisions to enable Ofcom (1) to proactively investigate pornography websites' compliance with the law, and (2) to take swift enforcement action where necessary.

Ofcom will have a range of robust powers at its disposal to help it assess compliance with the Bill. Ofcom will have the power to require information from regulated companies and relevant third parties, to interview employees, to require a company to undertake, and pay for, a skilled person’s report, to enter and inspect companies’ premises, and to carry out audits on services to assess compliance. Ofcom will need to take a proportionate approach in exercising these powers, and will be able to use information from a wide range of sources to help prioritise its investigation and enforcement activity.

Ofcom will also have robust enforcement powers to take action against companies which fail to comply. Those powers will include being able to require companies to take action to come into compliance or remedy any breach, impose fines and, in exceptional circumstances, to apply to the Court for business disruption measures to block or restrict access to non-compliant services. The Bill also provides for interim business disruption measures, which will provide a fast track, where appropriate, to blocking measures.