Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether controlling and coercive behaviour will be listed as one of the priority offences under Schedule 7 of the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Online Safety Bill includes stringent provisions to tackle online violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse.
All in-scope services will need to proactively tackle priority illegal content. This includes a number of offences that disproportionately target women and girls, such as offences relating to sexual images, such as revenge and extreme pornography, harassment and cyberstalking. The Government has also announced its intention to add controlling or coercive behaviour as a priority offence during passage through the Lords.
All services will need to ensure that they have effective systems and processes in place to quickly take down other illegal content directed at women and girls once it has been reported or they become aware of its presence.
The Government has also announced its intention to use the Bill to criminalise the sharing of people's intimate images without their consent. This, in combination with the measures already in the Bill to make cyberflashing a criminal offence, will significantly strengthen protections for women.
The strongest protections in the Bill will be for children, ensuring that they are protected from content that is harmful to them. Additionally, major platforms will have a duty to ensure that all adult users, including women, will be able to exercise greater control over the content and other users they engage with. Women and girls will also benefit from better mechanisms to report abuse online.
We also announced our intention to name the Victims’ Commissioner and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner as Statutory Consultees for the codes of practice. These bodies will be consulted by Ofcom ahead of drafting and amending the codes of practice, ensuring the voices of those affected by these issues are reflected in the way this legislation works in practice.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to include specific provisions to tackle violence against women and girls in the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Online Safety Bill includes stringent provisions to tackle online violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse.
All in-scope services will need to proactively tackle priority illegal content. This includes a number of offences that disproportionately target women and girls, such as offences relating to sexual images, such as revenge and extreme pornography, harassment and cyberstalking. The Government has also announced its intention to add controlling or coercive behaviour as a priority offence during passage through the Lords.
All services will need to ensure that they have effective systems and processes in place to quickly take down other illegal content directed at women and girls once it has been reported or they become aware of its presence.
The Government has also announced its intention to use the Bill to criminalise the sharing of people's intimate images without their consent. This, in combination with the measures already in the Bill to make cyberflashing a criminal offence, will significantly strengthen protections for women.
The strongest protections in the Bill will be for children, ensuring that they are protected from content that is harmful to them. Additionally, major platforms will have a duty to ensure that all adult users, including women, will be able to exercise greater control over the content and other users they engage with. Women and girls will also benefit from better mechanisms to report abuse online.
We also announced our intention to name the Victims’ Commissioner and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner as Statutory Consultees for the codes of practice. These bodies will be consulted by Ofcom ahead of drafting and amending the codes of practice, ensuring the voices of those affected by these issues are reflected in the way this legislation works in practice.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how domestic abuse victims will be adequately protected through the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Online Safety Bill includes stringent provisions to tackle online violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse.
All in-scope services will need to proactively tackle priority illegal content. This includes a number of offences that disproportionately target women and girls, such as offences relating to sexual images, such as revenge and extreme pornography, harassment and cyberstalking. The Government has also announced its intention to add controlling or coercive behaviour as a priority offence during passage through the Lords.
All services will need to ensure that they have effective systems and processes in place to quickly take down other illegal content directed at women and girls once it has been reported or they become aware of its presence.
The Government has also announced its intention to use the Bill to criminalise the sharing of people's intimate images without their consent. This, in combination with the measures already in the Bill to make cyberflashing a criminal offence, will significantly strengthen protections for women.
The strongest protections in the Bill will be for children, ensuring that they are protected from content that is harmful to them. Additionally, major platforms will have a duty to ensure that all adult users, including women, will be able to exercise greater control over the content and other users they engage with. Women and girls will also benefit from better mechanisms to report abuse online.
We also announced our intention to name the Victims’ Commissioner and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner as Statutory Consultees for the codes of practice. These bodies will be consulted by Ofcom ahead of drafting and amending the codes of practice, ensuring the voices of those affected by these issues are reflected in the way this legislation works in practice.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to protect Jewish (a) pupils and (b) teachers from anti-Semitic abuse in schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
The government is clear that antisemitism, as with all forms of bullying and hatred, is abhorrent and has no place in our schools. All educational institutions should be inclusive and welcoming for students and staff from all backgrounds.
The department is aware of reported increases in such incidents, during an escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in May 2021, which is why the former Secretary of State for Education wrote to schools to remind them of their responsibilities to deal with antisemitic incidents with due seriousness as well as their legal duties regarding political impartiality. The department has also published further guidance on political impartiality in schools to help them to ensure educational initiatives in schools are not politically biased or one-sided.
The government continues to take action to support schools to tackle all forms of bullying, including antisemitism. Our Preventing and Tackling Bullying guidance sets out that schools should develop a consistent approach to monitoring bullying incidents and evaluating the effectiveness of their approaches. It also directs schools to organisations who can provide support with tackling bullying related to race, religion and nationality, as well as sexual harassment and sexual bullying.
The department is also providing over £2 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2023, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of groups who share protected characteristics, including race and faith and belief, such as those who are victims of hate related bullying.
The government has also supported Holocaust education for many years and is fully committed to continuing this support. In recognition of its importance, the Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the national curriculum for history at key stage 3. Effective teaching about the Holocaust can support pupils to learn about the possible consequences of antisemitism and extremism, to understand how society can prevent the repeat of such a catastrophe. The department provides funding for several programmes to support school pupils’ and teachers’ understanding of the Holocaust.
The department has published guidance for schools on the Equality Act 2010, which sets out the general provisions that apply to schools in their role as employers. The guidance is clear that all of the protected characteristics are covered by these provisions and that harassment or victimisation against potential or existing employees in relation to any of the protected characteristics is unlawful. We encourage schools to consult the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidance and Codes of Practice for Employers for more detailed information on their obligations to their teachers and other staff.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will amend the Ministerial Code to include what the steps that will be taken in the event that a (a) Minister and (b) Special Adviser is accused of sexual harassment.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Ministerial Code makes clear that: “harassing, bullying or other inappropriate or discriminating behaviour wherever it takes place is not consistent with the Ministerial Code and will not be tolerated”. Sections 1.4 to 1.6 of the Ministerial Code sets out steps to investigate allegations of a breach of the Ministerial Code.
The model contract for Special Advisers and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the standards of conduct expected of special advisers, and the disciplinary procedures that will be followed where necessary.