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1701035

registered interest
date	15/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Online Safety Act 2023
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much Ofcom has spent to implement the Online Safety Act 2023; and how many staff have been (a) hired by and (b) seconded to Ofcom for implementation of that Act.
tabling member constituency	Buckingham
tabling member printed	Greg Smith
uin	21852
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>As published in the NAO’s report on preparedness for online safety, Ofcom spent £2.7m in 2020-21, £14.7m in 2021-22, £38.2m in 2022-23 and their spend in 2023-24 is to be confirmed, noting the Government-set spending cap is £47m. This report can be found here: <a href="http://www.nao.org.uk/reports/preparedness-for-online-safety-regulation/" target="_blank">www.nao.org.uk/reports/preparedness-for-online-safety-regulation/</a></p><p> </p><p>The Government’s intention is that the regulation of online safety will become cost neutral to the exchequer. The Online Safety Act 2023 allows Ofcom to raise the required income to cover the costs of running the online safety regime, including set up costs, through industry fees.</p><p> </p><p>As of March 2024, there are 202 colleagues in Ofcom’s Online Safety Directorate. Beyond the Online Safety Directorate, there are employees within Ofcom's Legal and Enforcement, Research and Analytics, Strategy and Research, and Corporate groups that also work full time on Ofcom's online safety work.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 23/04/2024 14:52:58 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4778 label Biography information for Greg Smith

1701036

registered interest
date	15/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Internet: Safety
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will hold discussions with the Leader of the House on making parliamentary time available for scrutiny of Ofcom’s guidance on age verification and age assurance before publication of a government response.
tabling member constituency	Buckingham
tabling member printed	Greg Smith
uin	21853
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>Parliamentary scheduling is a matter for the Business Managers. <br> <br> The government is focused on implementing the Online Safety Act as quickly as possible. Ofcom published its consultation on draft guidance about use of age assurance for sites displaying pornographic content on 5 December 2023, and this was open for responses until 5 March 2024. The Act requires that Ofcom consult with the Secretary of State before producing this guidance.</p><p>For the broader duties under the Act about protecting children from harmful content, we expect Ofcom to publish its draft codes of practice later in the Spring. The Act requires that codes of practice are laid in both Houses before coming into force.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 23/04/2024 14:54:50 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4778 label Biography information for Greg Smith

1700251

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's media literacy strategy in countering (a) mis- and (b) dis-information.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	21042
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>Improving media literacy is one of the government’s key tools in tackling the harm caused by misinformation and disinformation. To demonstrate how the Government is delivering against the objectives of the Online Media Literacy Strategy, we are publishing annual Action Plans each financial year until the end of 2024/25. Through media literacy grant schemes, we have provided almost £2 million in funding to a range of educational projects.</p><p>These projects seek to build the online safety and critical thinking skills of internet users, empowering them to respond effectively to the threats posed by mis- and disinformation, along with other online harms. All funded projects are evaluated robustly, including by independent experts, and findings will be published on gov.uk upon completion. This will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of future media literacy initiatives and inform government policy moving forward.</p><p>As part of this work, we established the Media Literacy Taskforce to bring together organisations in the media literacy landscape to amplify, increase and improve media literacy provision across underserved parts of the UK. Taskforce members advised the government on which projects should be awarded funding, and then helped grant recipients to maximise the impact of their projects.</p><p>Alongside the Strategy, the Online Safety Act updates Ofcom’s statutory media literacy duty to require it to take tangible steps to prioritise the public's awareness of and resilience to misinformation and disinformation online.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 22/04/2024 10:25:45 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis