The Government shares the concerns raised by the Council of Europe about the impact of children\u2019s exposure to pornography online.<\/p>
The Online Safety Bill provides protection for children from online pornography. Services in scope of the Bill that host or publish pornography, including pornography sites, social media, video sharing platforms and forums will be required to protect children from this content.<\/p>
The Government continues to engage with international partners, including through multilateral organisations such as the Council of Europe, to lead global discussions and build consensus around our approaches to tackling online harms.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4503", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chris Philp"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Croydon South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Chris Philp"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-05-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-05-16T08:34:29.937Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "10"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-05-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pornography: Internet"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the debate entitled For an assessment of the means and provisions to combat children's exposure to pornographic content, which took place at the Council of Europe on 25 April 2022.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1606", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for John Howell"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Henley"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "John Howell"} ], "uin" : "148"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1383860", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1383860/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The strongest protections in the draft Online Safety Bill are for children.<\/p>
The draft Bill covers many the most visited pornography sites, social media platforms, video-sharing sites, forums and via search engines - thereby capturing many of the sites through which children access pornography. Under our proposals, companies in scope will need to put in place technologies such as age verification to prevent children accessing pornography or demonstrate that the approach they are taking delivers the same level of protection for children.<\/p>
The Joint Committee scrutinising the Bill is expected to report by 10th December and the government will introduce the Bill as soon as possible thereafter.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4503", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chris Philp"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Croydon South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Chris Philp"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2021-12-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2021-12-08T12:51:08.313Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "10"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2021-12-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pornography: Internet"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to prevent access to porn websites by school-age boys.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4131", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jim Shannon"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Strangford"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Jim Shannon"} ], "uin" : "85267"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1313038", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1313038/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda and wider government priorities. The strongest protections in the online safety legislation will be for children.<\/p>
<\/strong><\/p> Under our now-published draft Online Safety legislation, we expect companies to use age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing services which pose the highest risk of harm to children, such as online pornography.<\/p> <\/strong><\/p> The online safety regime will capture both the most visited pornography sites and pornography on social media, therefore covering the vast majority of sites where children are most likely to be exposed to pornography. Social media platforms will need to put appropriate systems and processes in place to prevent children viewing pornography on their services.<\/p> <\/strong><\/p> The draft Online Safety legislation will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny in this session. We are also working closely with Ofcom to ensure that the implementation period, that will be necessary following passage of the legislation, is as short as possible.<\/p> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4008", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Gosport"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Caroline Dinenage"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2021-05-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2021-05-17T11:30:34.797Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "10"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2021-05-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pornography: Internet"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to implement an age verification process for access to legal online pornography.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3945", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Sajid Javid"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bromsgrove"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Sajid Javid"}
], "uin" : "199"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1287575", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1287575/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " <\/p> Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda, and wider government priorities. Under our proposals, social media, websites, apps and other services which host user-generated content or facilitate online user interaction (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming) will be subject to a duty of care, giving them new responsibilities towards their users. The online harms regime will capture both the most visited pornography sites and pornography on social media, therefore covering the vast majority of sites where children are most likely to be exposed to pornography.<\/ins><\/p> <\/p> We expect companies to use age assurance or age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing services which pose the highest risk of harm to children, such as online pornography. We are working closely with stakeholders across industry to establish the right conditions for the market to deliver age assurance and age verification technical solutions ahead of the legislative requirements coming into force.<\/ins><\/p> <\/p> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4008", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Gosport"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Caroline Dinenage"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2021-03-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "true", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1287575/answer/previousversion/86254", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4008", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Gosport"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Caroline Dinenage"}
}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2021-03-01T17:32:09.587Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
], "questionFirstMinisteriallyCorrected" : [{"_value" : "2021-04-06T10:03:18.247Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "10"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2021-02-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pornography: Internet"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that forthcoming legislative proposals on preventing children's exposure to pornographic content online apply equally to all pornographic websites accessible by children.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4488", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Martyn Day"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Linlithgow and East Falkirk"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Martyn Day"}
], "uin" : "155215"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1260285", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1260285/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " Our Online Harms proposals will deliver a higher level of protection for children than for the typical adult user. We expect companies to use a proportionate range of tools, including age assurance and age verification technologies, to prevent children accessing age-inappropriate content, such as online pornography, and to protect them from other harms. The new regulatory framework will cover social media companies, where many children access pornography, and all sites on which there is user-generated functionality, including pornography sites, regardless of where they are based. Further details of how the online harms legislation will protect children from harmful content, including online pornography, will be published later this year in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation.<\/p> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4008", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Gosport"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Caroline Dinenage"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-12-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-12-15T15:07:18.66Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "10"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2020-12-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pornography: Internet"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to include in legislative proposals on online harms provisions that (a) protect children from online pornography and (b) apply to all pornographic sites accessible from the UK regardless of where they are based and whether their content is user-generated.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4857", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Carla Lockhart"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Upper Bann"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Carla Lockhart"}
], "uin" : "128327"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1242350", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1242350/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " As we announced on 16 October last year, we will not be commencing Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2017 and its provisions on age verification for online pornography as originally intended. Instead we will repeal Part 3 of the DEA and the online harms regime will include provisions to protect children from age-inappropriate content, including online pornography. Our Online Harms proposals will go further than the DEA\u2019s focus on online pornography on commercial adult sites and provide a higher level of protection for children.<\/p> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4008", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Gosport"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Caroline Dinenage"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-10-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "102107"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-10-15T15:52:58.307Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "10"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2020-10-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pornography: Internet"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made on implementing Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4443", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Carol Monaghan"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Glasgow North West"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Carol Monaghan"}
], "uin" : "102106"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1236035", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1236035/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " Providers of online services which are likely to be accessed by children are required by UK data protection legislation to ensure that children\u2019s data is processed fairly, lawfully and transparently. They should not be sharing data with third parties unless there are compelling reasons to do so, taking account of the best interests of the child.<\/p>In negotiations with the EU, the UK proposed expanding a list of activities for Short Term Business Visitors to cover musicians, artists and their accompanying staff. This would have enabled musicians, artists and support staff to tour and perform in the EU without needing work-permits. I deeply regret that the EU rejected our proposals.There is scope to return to this issue in the future should the EU change its mind.<\/del><\/p>UK performers and artists are of course still able to tour and perform in the EU, and vice versa. However, they will be required to check domestic immigration rules for each Member State in which they intend to tour. This is because, while some Member States may allow paid performances without a visa or work permit, others will require musicians, artists and other creative professionals to obtain a visa or work permit, in the same way that they are required for other international artists.<\/del><\/p>The Government is looking at how we can work with our partners in EU Member States to find ways to make life easier for the creative industries touring in the EU.<\/del><\/p>We understand the concerns of the sector regarding the new arrangements and we are committed to supporting them as they get to grips with the changes to systems and processes. The DCMS-led working group on creative and cultural touring, which involves sector representatives and other key government departments, is looking at the issues and options to help the sectors resume touring with ease as soon as it is safe to do so.<\/del><\/p>