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Written Question
Internet: Older People
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15588 on Digital Technology: Disadvantaged, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of availability of free or low cost internet training for people aged 65 and over to tackle digital exclusion.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The government recognises that digital skills are important for adults of all ages, and we are committed to improving their level of digital skills to support active participation in society.

From August 2020, the department introduced a digital entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake specified digital qualifications, up to level 1, free of charge. The new entitlement mirrors the existing legal entitlements for English and maths, and puts essential digital skills on an equal footing in the adult education system, as a third basic skill. The department introduced new Essential Digital Skills qualifications (EDSQs) at entry level and level 1 from August 2020, funded under the digital entitlement. EDSQs are based on the new national standards for essential digital skills and are designed to meet the diverse needs of adults with no or low digital skills, reflecting different learning needs, motivations and starting points.

To further enhance the essential digital skills offer for adults, from August 2023 the department introduced new digital Functional Skills qualifications (FSQs), which have replaced FSQs in Information and Communication Technology. Digital FSQs have standardised content and assessment, providing a benchmark of digital skills for employers. The department published the final subject content for digital FSQs in October 2021.

The government recognises that formal qualifications are not appropriate for everyone. That is why the department also funds community learning and other non-regulated learning, such as building confidence in essential digital skills, through the Adult Education Budget. Many local authorities and other further education providers are already delivering these courses that help equip adults with the essential digital skills they need for work, life and further learning.

More information about essential digital skills and other government funded training opportunities can be found here: https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/skills-for-life.


Written Question
Internet: Young People
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to help (a) educate young people about the dangers of internet use and (b) prevent engagement in harmful online activities by young people.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

As part of the statutory relationships and health education in primary schools and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in secondary schools, pupils are taught about online safety and harms. This includes being taught about what positive, healthy and respectful online relationships look like, the effects of their online actions on others, how to recognise and display respectful behaviour online, and where to get help and support for issues that occur online. The government’s guidance for primary and secondary school teaching on relationships, sex and health education can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-education-primary and: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-and-sex-education-rse-secondary.

The department has updated the Teaching Online Safety in Schools non-statutory guidance (2023), on how to teach about all aspects of internet safety in a coordinated and coherent way across their curriculum. Teaching about online safety also complements the computing curriculum, which covers the principles of online safety at all key stages, with progression in the content to reflect the different and escalating risks that pupils face. The computing curriculum can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study.

The statutory ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ guidance, which all schools and colleges must have regard to when drawing up and implementing their own safeguarding policies, has been strengthened with regards to online safety in recent years. Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure online safety is a running and interrelated theme whilst devising and implementing their whole school or college approach to safeguarding and related policies and procedures. This includes doing all that they reasonably can to limit children’s exposure to the harmful online content on the school’s or college’s IT system.

The department has brought forward the review of the RSHE curriculum and statutory guidance. Stakeholders will have the opportunity to feed into the process through a thorough consultation. Following the consultation, the department will make a decision about any new content to be included in the RSHE curriculum. The department expects to publish the revised guidance soon after.


Written Question
Broadband: Social Tariffs
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 17385 on Broadband: Social Tariffs, what steps she is taking to ensure that access to social tariffs is equitable across (a) regions and (b) nations.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Social tariffs are available in 99% of the UK and are offered by a range of telecoms providers. National providers, such as BT, Virgin Media, Sky and Vodafone, as well as regional or local ‘alternative network providers’ (often referred to as altnets) such as Community Fibre, Greyshott Gigabit Connect, and Lothian Broadband offer social tariffs. Mobile social tariffs are also available nationwide, using normal mobile networks across the UK. Ofcom has published a full list of social tariffs and the locations they are available on their website.

We recognise that the delivery of social tariffs by regional or local altnets means that not all eligible consumers are able to access every social tariff, however provision by internet service providers (ISPs) on Openreach’s national telecoms network means that vast majority households across the UK will have social tariff options from their provider.

We continue to work with operators to encourage them to do all they can to support customers and ensure strong provision of social tariffs across all the UK.


Written Question
Broadband
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether broadband access is classed as an essential utility.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

There is no standard definition of what constitutes a utility, with gas, water, electricity, and telecoms all regulated differently. The UK telecoms market features strong competition both at wholesale and retail levels which sets it apart from gas, water and electricity, which are regulated in such a way as to address competition concerns. However, the Government recognises that access to the internet is increasingly essential for full participation in society.

The Government has taken action to ensure as many people as possible are able to access the internet. Since 2021, we have worked closely with telecoms operators to ensure social tariffs are available across 99% of the UK. Available to nearly 5 million households on Universal Credit as well as other means tested benefits, social tariffs are available from 28 individual providers (including BT, Sky, Virgin Media and Vodafone) and start at £10 per month.

Over 80% of the UK can now access gigabit-capable broadband from at least one provider, and the Government is investing £5 billion via Project Gigabit to bring fast, secure and resilient connections to those parts of the country unlikely to be reached by commercial roll-out.

In March 2020, The Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) came into effect, giving consumers the right to request a decent broadband connection of at least 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload. The USO is applicable in situations where access to decent broadband will cost more than £54 per month, the property isn’t due to be connected by an existing government scheme within 12 months and the cost of connection does not exceed a reasonable threshold of £3,400.


Written Question
Internet: Sales
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the regulation of online (a) ordering and (b) delivery of (i) age-restricted products and (ii) bladed items to self-service lockers.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 it is the legal responsibility of sellers to ensure that age-restricted bladed articles are not delivered or arranged to be delivered to a self-service locker.

The law requires (set out what is expected of online sales of knives and age verification and the requirements on those who deliver) This legislation is enforced by the police and Trading Standards.

We keep the law in this area under close review and the Government has recently taken action to prohibit the sale, manufacture, supply and possession of zombie style knives and machetes, subject to the relevant Statutory Instrument being approved by Parliament.


Written Question
Broadband
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of open access fibre networks on broadband rollout targets.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

As set out in the 2018 Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, the Government believes competition is the best way to rapidly increase the deployment of gigabit-capable networks, including full fibre, across the UK. Companies are free to decide their own business model, for example whether they run only as a network operator, only as an internet service provider or if they operate as a vertically integrated business. Companies are also free to decide which companies they partner with. Some companies have decided to be open access, while others have adopted other models.

While the Government has not conducted research specifically on the impact of open access fibre networks on broadband rollout targets, the current pro-competition approach has been successful in increasing gigabit-capable networks in the UK from less than 10% coverage in 2019 to more than 80% coverage today. More than 100 companies with various business models across the UK helped with this rapid rollout - the fastest rate in Europe. Consumers also benefit from competitive broadband prices. In difficult to reach areas which might not be commercially viable, the government has invested £5bn to incentivise the rollout of gigabit capable networks.


Written Question
Gaza: Press Freedom
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the governments of (1) Egypt, and (2) Israel, about allowing free access to Gaza for all foreign media through the Rafah Crossing.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We recognise the valuable work of journalists operating on the ground in Gaza, providing important coverage of the conflict in incredibly challenging circumstances. On 5 December, the UK supported a joint statement of the Media Freedom Coalition expressing concern over the repercussions for the safety of journalists and access to information due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. As the statement highlights, access to reliable, independent and diverse information sources and access to the internet are essential in times of conflict. We call on all parties to the conflict to comply with international law and protect civilians, including guaranteeing the protection of journalists and media workers.

We continue to engage closely with the Israeli Government to discuss a range of issues relating to access to Gaza, and we continue to reiterate the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza. We are working with the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to support any remaining eligible people still in Gaza.


Written Question
Pornography: Internet
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many pornographic websites have been the subject of (1) regulatory inquiries, or (2) formal investigations by the Information Commissioner’s Office, regarding their use of children’s personal data, on the basis that they are likely to be accessed by minors, since the Age Appropriate Design Code came into force in September 2020.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Following publication of its “Likely to be accessed by children" guidance, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has worked with Ofcom and engaged with two pornographic website companies (Aylo and XHamster).

During the development of its guidance on the Age Appropriate Design Code, the ICO also worked with the content subscription service provider OnlyFans on how the code would impact their processing activities.

The ICO proactively reviewed the Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for all three organisations, providing feedback where appropriate, and suggesting improvements in two cases. These were not formal investigations.


Written Question
Pornography: Internet
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made any assessment of the government of Australia’s response to the Roadmap for Age Verification for online pornographic material in August 2023, specifically the decision not to mandate age verification for the time being; and whether there are lessons for UK policy in this area.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, publishers of pornographic content and user-to-user providers which allow pornography must use highly effective age verification or age estimation to ensure children are not normally able to encounter this content on their service. This reflects the serious risks that this type of content poses to children.

The Australian response to the Roadmap notes that age assurance technologies are still in development. The Act ensures that, as new solutions develop, these can be used to support the protection of children.


Written Question
Children: Social Media
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment the Government has made of the impact of (a) smartphone and (b) social media use by under 16s on their (i) mental health and (ii) safety.

Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The government is committed to making the UK the safest place to be a child online, as evidenced by the landmark Online Safety Act.

Harmful and age-inappropriate online content and activity can be particularly damaging for children. That is why the Online Safety Act places robust, much-needed responsibilities on technology companies – including social media platforms, search services and other services which host user-generated content – to keep all users, but particularly children, safe online.

In 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers noted that the available research did not present evidence of a causal relationship between screen-based activities and mental health problems; however, some research found associations between screen-based activities and negative effects such as increased risk of anxiety or depression.

The government is committed to ensuring that children have a positive experience online, using the internet for connecting with peers, as well as to access educational resources, information, and entertainment.