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Category: Technology

  • Gordon Brown – 1999 Speech to the UK Internet Summit

    Gordon Brown – 1999 Speech to the UK Internet Summit

    The speech made by Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 28 October 1999.

    Can I first of all congratulate the New Statesman, one of the country’s oldest established journals founded in the days of the quill pen, for organising this, one of the first national conferences on the opportunities of the Internet.

    Thirty years ago this month the Internet was invented and the modern Internet was invented by a Britain. Today in Britain and throughout the world the Internet is revolutionising our access to information – the way we communicate, educate, buy and sell, and entertain ourselves – and from the acquisition and servicing of people to the management of stocks and supplies the Internet is transforming the way we do business.

    We are determined that Britain lead in the next stage of the Internet revolution.

    Let me set this target of our Government – within three years we want to become the world’s best environment for electronic commerce.

    And today I want to set out how we plan to achieve this great ambition — how we plan to benefit from being part of the European Single Market of 390 million people, how we plan to employ our language, educational and communications strengths to grow with speed, how creativity and adaptability – our British talents – will be put to best use.

    Of course with 50 per cent of all people on the Internet, and 75 per cent of all Internet commerce, the US leads in the Internet. And if we examine why the US enjoys such an advantage it is not just because it has the largest domestic market, but because it leads in innovation, it has an economic culture which supports risk-taking and thus the introduction of new technologies, it has a better record of turning good ideas into businesses that succeed. Commercial links between business and universities bring a speedier commercial application of cutting edge technologies. Clusters, like Silicon Valley in California and Silicon Alley in New York, generate a wave of technological innovation.

    But we believe that in the next few years the rate of innovation will continue to accelerate.

    The rewards for uncovering lucrative ideas will be even greater.

    Whichever country is able to make use of inventions and innovations fastest will come out ahead.

    I want that country to be Britain.

    And I believe the UK can lead in Europe.

    Today, one in ten companies in the UK sell-online.

    One in four companies make purchases on-line.

    Over forty percent of households already have computers.

    Over ten million people are already on the Internet.

    And we have a number of key strengths and advantages:

    • our language. More than 80 per cent of web sites are in English;
    • our telecoms market. We lead the world in having a highly liberalised and competitive telecoms market;
    • our capital markets. London is one of the world’s leading financial centres, and can provide a good source of capital;
    • our willingness to embrace new technologies. Our strong track-record of early deployment of new technologies, including interactive digital TV, multi-media mobile communications and pervasive computers;
    •  our access to a market of 390 million people. Today 10 per cent use the web. By 2002 it is expected to be 35 per cent. Half of Europe is expected to be on-line by 2006. I want Britain to lead the world in getting people on-line.

    We recognise success will not come automatically.

    So I want to explain today the key building blocks we are putting in place for success:

    First, greater economic stability;

    Second, a more competitive environment including a new independent competition authority;

    Third, the right legislative framework for e-commerce;

    Fourth, fostering innovation;

    Fifth, transforming education;

    Sixth, widening access for all;

    Seventh, modernising government – a public sector willing to innovate.

    We will review progress every year in the Budget.

    Let me explain our policies in detail.

    The precondition for all else is of course macro-economic stability so that businesses and individuals are able to plan for the long term.

    In today’s global marketplace, national economies must be founded on a platform of monetary and fiscal stability.

    So we have put in place a new long term framework with clearly defined objectives: a symmetrical inflation target and a golden fiscal rule; new rules for delivering them – Bank of England independence and a Code of Fiscal Stability — and a new openness and transparency that builds confidence and trust.

    With these reforms and the record – the lowest inflation for over thirty years, and long term interest rates at historically low levels – I believe that Britain now has a sound and credible platform of stability from which to achieve steady growth.

    Second, competition

    But stability is not enough, the sharpest spur to innovation, efficiency and improvement is competition.

    Monopoly protects the privileged. Competition empowers the consumer. Competition promotes better services and better prices.

    The new economy of the next decade will need more competition, more entrepreneurship, more flexibility and more long term investment.

    That is why this Government is reviewing every barrier to competition in the emerging e-commerce market. Old monopolies and cosy cartels have no place in this new market.

    So, our new Competition Act for the first time prohibits all anti-competitive practices.

    So that competition will be encouraged for the long term needs of the economy and the public, we are making our competition authority – like the Bank of England – independent of political influence.

    In every area we are asking what we can do to enhance competition.

    We must ensure that the price of telephone use is not a barrier to greater Internet use, or lead to a divide between IT-haves and IT-have nots.

    So the forthcoming Utility Bill will place a new primary duty on the telecoms regulator to protect the interests of consumers through promoting competition.

    Already competition is forcing the price of Internet access down. BT are reviewing charges for Internet access. OFTEL will continue to ensure that competition drives down the cost of Internet access.

    And competition will be essential to promote innovation in the new generation of digital technology and broadband access.

    • first, Britain is at the forefront of the new third generation technology that will revolutionise the mobile phone – allowing access to data up to two hundred times faster than through existing mobile phones; the new spectrum auction – the auctioning of five licenses, one of which will be reserved for a new entrant into the market – is designed to maximise competition, the best way of rolling out this technology;
    • secondly, broadband fixed wireless access can deliver fast and inexpensive broadband services. This would provide additional competition in the provision of broadband services. Having consulted on this the Radio Communications Agency of the DTI is reviewing the responses and an announcement will be made shortly.
    •  and thirdly, making available BT’s local loop to competitors widens access to the local network. Again, using competition to roll out new technology.

    And BT has now announced a an upgrade of their local network. This will promote the early introduction of high speed access to the Internet to homes and businesses across the UK.

    Third, the legislative framework

    The Internet economy needs the right legislative framework for electronic commerce, and Patricia Hewitt will say more about this later.

    The Electronic Communications Bill – which we will introduce this year – will not only recognise electronic signatures, but remove unnecessary legal obstacles that force people to use paper.

    And we are determined to advance the Internet not just by implementing the best British legal framework but also by pushing for the best European framework to encourage competition, innovation and e-commerce.

    Fourth, fostering innovation

    The Internet economy will need higher levels of private investment – not least in university science and commercial R and D, and in hi tech start ups and in skills.

    To modernise our science base, we have invested in an innovative 700 million pound public-private partnership with the Wellcome Trust and the awards that have already been made include for example support for an advanced Technology Institute in the University of Surrey.

    The new R and D tax credit which we propose to next April for SMEs will mean that nearly a quarter of new investment is underwritten even before a penny profit is made.

    We have created a new University Challenge Fund to help universities commercialise their inventions and help university based companies transform British inventions into British-made products.

    And to help universities gain management expertise to commercialise inventions and to help transfer technology from the science lab to the market place, the Government is creating new Institutes of Enterprise.

    Indeed we are keen that British universities build trans-Atlantic and trans-European alliance in research and commerce.

    A new government backed regionally based Venture Capital Fund is being created to encourage investment in early-stage, high technology companies.

    And to encourage investment in new companies, we have cut small business tax from 23 to 20p and introduced a new starting rate of tax for small companies of 10p in the pound. Every company making profits of up to £50,000 will benefit.

    Corporation tax has been cut from 33 to 30 per cent. And to encourage and reward new business investment, we have cut the long term rate of capital gains tax from 40p to 10p.

    Corporate venturing has been vital in Silicon Valley and elsewhere – providing smaller high tech firms with a strong capital base, better skills in marketing and management, and a greater market-reach. So to help the large companies sponsor the development of the small, we are considering new incentives to promote corporate venturing.

    The City of London is one of the largest financial centres in the world and this month alone a number of UK Internet start-ups have found financial backing.

    But we need to do more to build on the strengths of our capital markets.

    Next week, I will be launching Techmark, a new market within the London Stock Exchange for companies whose success depends on innovation.

    And today with the publication of a new Treasury consultation document we are announcing new proposals for cutting through red tape for dynamic new high tech businesses – freeing high tech start ups from unnecessary regulation to allow quicker access to finance. Our proposals could save months, in an area where this can make the difference between business failure and business success.

    These new companies will be able, from next April, to benefit from the Government’s Enterprise Management Incentive Scheme. To recruit top managers for smaller high risk companies, we are offering tax relief for key employees on stock options worth up to £100,000.

    Fifth, Transforming education

    Success in the Internet age depends upon an educated economy. The extra £19 billion our country is now investing in education is designed to give everyone the opportunity to master the skills and technologies of the new information age.

    Today we are pushing through huge educational reform. We are introducing early learning; a new focus on basic skills in primary schools; restructuring teachers’ pay and performance; zero tolerance of failing schools; expansion of further and higher education through an extra 800,000 students by 2002.

    When we came to power two years ago barely one in ten of our schools were linked to the Internet.

    I can report to you that the extra investment this Government has made is already giving access to the Internet’s new world of knowledge to pupils in two in every three schools across Britain.

    By 2002 there will be 32,000 schools connected to the Internet, with around 400,000 teachers computer-trained. We are well on track to achieve this target with over 20,000 schools already on-line. Our IT strategy is allowing for the first time teachers and head teachers to share experience and good practice techniques over the web.

    New help worth 20 million pounds is making it possible for more teachers to have computers for home use.

    But we must go further. Next year we will double the money on IT in schools. We can now promise that by 2002 every school – rural and urban, rich and poor, north and south – all of our schools connected to that new world of knowledge. And parts of the National Curriculum will be taught through software accessed on the Internet, motivating all pupils.

    So everyone will have the chance to succeed in the new economy we are delivering Individual Learning Accounts. A million men and women can receive 150 pounds to set up their own Individual Learning Accounts – putting the power to plan and prepare for their own careers in their own hands. Next year any adult with an Individual Learning Account will be able to claim a discount of 20 per cent, an additional grant of up to 100 pounds, on the cost of their learning.

    For all adults signing up to improve on their basic computer literacy, there will be a discount of 80 per cent on course fees.

    The Internet not only brings home the need for lifelong learning but also enables lifelong learning to be brought into every home.

    The University for Industry will use the latest technology, including the Internet, to do in the 90s for lifelong learning what in the 70s the Open University did through TV for university learning – to bring education and training into the home and the workplace.

    With our new university, Individual Learning Accounts, and with help with computers and computer literacy, the Government is embarked upon the biggest public education programme on offer in our history-opening up new opportunities for millions of people.

    Sixth, Wider access

    And we must make sure that the opportunities of new technologies are shared by everyone.

    As a nation we could stand aside. We could have a society divided between information haves and information have nots. A society with a wired up superclass and an information underclass. An economy geared to the needs of some parts of Britain but not the whole of Britain.

    But the blessings of new technology give us the means to break down the walls of division, and the barriers of isolation.

    In Sweden the biggest single measure that increased the number of families with computers and the Internet was the tax incentive we are introducing in Britain.

    To bring more computers into more British homes, we have made it possible for employees to be able to borrow computers from their companies as a tax-free benefit.

    And we now expect the number of people doing so to rise to 300,000 over the next two to three years.

    Anyone left out of the new knowledge revolution will be left behind in the new knowledge economy.

    So in the last Budget, we allocated an additional half a billion pounds to the establishment of new ICT learning centres. Our target is a national network of 1,000 computer learning centres, one for every community in Britain. They will be in schools, colleges, libraries, in Internet cafes and on the high street.

    A whole new network of computer learning with one purpose only, that the whole of Britain is equipped for the information age.

    And here new forms of providing access are being introduced – as libraries pioneer easier access – including drop-in centres in shopping locations.

    And we will pioneer a system under which poorer individuals – sometimes through local partnerships – will be able to lease computers and software in the new century in the same way local libraries have loaned books in the last century.

    We aim to have 100,000 computers on loan by end 2001.

    So with our new University for Industry providing education in peoples homes, with one million Individual Learning Accounts that can finance computer courses, with help to loan computers and use them in computer learning centres, Britain is now embarking upon the biggest public education programme on offer in our history – opening up new opportunities for millions of people.

    Imagine it, every child in every school in every community given access through computers and the Internet to the greatest libraries and museums in the world.

    Imagine it. The 45 year old redundant worker in my part of the world – who has the courage and opportunity to go on an IT course and who acquires new skills and gets a new job.

    Imagine it. The disabled person. House bound, but now free – able to work from home through their personal computer.

    All based on the understanding that in the new economy the more individual talent we nurture the more economic growth and prosperity we will achieve.

    Seventh, modernising government

    Businesses and individuals are responding to new technologies and the new challenges of the Internet age. Government must do the same.

    Just as businesses have used the Internet to refocus their activities on the customer — supplying new services, when, where, and how the customer wants them — government needs to do the same.

    So we are restructuring our public services, from taxation to procurement, from health to our legal systems – organising government in new, innovative and more flexible ways.

    The £2.5 billion Capital Modernisation Fund was set up to support capital investment to improve public services.

    The Internet presents a great opportunity to enhance the interaction between people and government. As Bill Gates recently pointed out, this new technology is making government more democratic.

    And we have introduced the new £230 million pound Invest to Save Budget – funding innovative ways of delivering services.

    The first round of the Invest to Save Budget funded a number of innovative projects, including an electronic one stop shop for land and property information which will help reduce house buying delays; a pilot scheme enabling applications for vehicle tax discs over the Internet; and an electronic catalogue enabling public bodies to order goods and services more cheaply and efficiently.

    Almost 500 bids were submitted in round 2. These are now being considered. The winners are likely to include:

    • projects increasing electronic access to services for individuals and business;
    • new websites giving the public increased access to information; and
    • projects facilitating electronic data exchange between public bodies.

    By 2002, our aim is that the public will be able to access on-line:

    • book driving and theory tests;
    • look for work and be matched to jobs;
    • submit self-assessment tax returns and get information and advice about benefits;
    • apply for training loans and student support, all on-line.

    Businesses will on-line be able to:

    • complete VAT registrations and make VAT returns;
    • file returns at Companies House; and
    • receive payments from government for the supply of goods and services.

    Looking to the future

    Britain is well known for its tolerance, its strong traditions of fair play, its decency. But it is also known for its history of being adaptable, being creative, and being outward looking. These are precisely the qualities that will help us lead in the new information revolution.

    If as a country we now master the challenges of change, this transformation from industrial age to information age has staggering potential to make us more educated, more enterprising and more prosperous.

    We require both an industry sufficiently alive to the opportunities — and a public willing to adapt. I believe that with the changes I propose Britain will be ready to meet this challenge.

  • Julia Lopez – 2022 Speech on App Security

    Julia Lopez – 2022 Speech on App Security

    The speech made by Julia Lopez, the Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Commons on 9 December 2022.

    I am pleased to inform the House that the Government have published two documents titled “Code of Practice for App Store Operators and App Developers” and “Call for Views Response on App Security and Privacy Interventions”. This follows on from a call for views held between 4 May and 29 June 2022 where we sought feedback on our proposed interventions to protect users’ security and privacy from malicious and poorly developed apps.

    We are publishing a world-first voluntary code of practice that sets minimum security and privacy requirements for app store operators and app developers. Given that people’s lives are dependent on apps to use services, such as online banking, health and entertainment services, this code is essential as malicious and poorly designed apps continue to be accessible to users on app stores which can result in the loss of personal data, money and access to devices. This work will help deliver an objective within the national cyber strategy to reduce the cyber risk at source by ensuring that app stores—and app developers—follow better levels of cyber security.

    This code will improve the security and privacy practices of both developers and operators and therefore ensure that apps are more suitably built. The code, and the eight principles within it, have been informed by feedback from operators, developers and security experts following the call for views, and received support from a vast majority of respondents. It has been thoroughly tested to ensure it strikes an appropriate balance in protecting users whilst also not overly burdening operators and developers. Furthermore, the code will ensure that more information about an app’s data practices is conveyed to users so they can make informed decisions when deciding whether to download an app.

    Given the global nature of cyber security issues and digital markets, we plan to prioritise creating international alignment on the code’s security and privacy requirements. We will do this by engaging with international counterparts to promote the need for the requirements, particularly in the context of future competition regulation, and explore the viability of creating an international standard based on the code.

    I will place a copy of both the “Code of Practice for App Store Operators and App Developers” and “Call for Views Response on App Security and Privacy Interventions” in the Libraries of both Houses.

  • Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Telecoms Diversification

    Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Telecoms Diversification

    The statement made by Julia Lopez, the Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Commons on 8 December 2022.

    I would like to inform the House that today the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is announcing a joint statement on telecoms diversification alongside the Governments of Australia, Canada and the United States of America. This further progresses His Majesty’s Government’s efforts to build global support for our approach to telecoms diversification and identify tangible opportunities for collaboration with a range of international partners as set out in the 5G supply chain diversification strategy in 2020, and following the recommendations of the telecoms diversification taskforce in 2021.

    The joint statement marks the one-year anniversary of the 2021 Prague proposals on telecommunications supplier diversity, to which our four Governments have reaffirmed our commitment. It also announces the endorsement of the UK’s open RAN principles by the Governments of Australia, Canada and the United States of America, which I would like to welcome.

    Collectively, these Governments hold a shared view that open and interoperable solutions could help to create a more diverse, competitive and innovative telecoms supply market. To support this we intend to work together across a number of areas ranging from sharing information on our respective policy approaches to supporting greater transparency in industry-led standard-setting processes. We also intend to seek ongoing support from other likeminded countries truly to realise the benefits of a diverse telecoms supply chain on a global scale.

    This announcement builds on the strong progress we have made to increase the resilience and security of the UK’s telecoms critical national infrastructure since the publication of the 5G supply chain diversification strategy, which is backed by the £250 million open networks fund committed at the 2021 spending review. The fund aims to accelerate the adoption of open RAN solutions as a means to diversify the market. It includes research and development interventions of up to £36 million for the Future RAN Competition, up to £25 million for the Future Open Networks Research Challenge, as well as funding for testing facilities such as the SmartRAN Open Networks Interoperability Centre, and the UK Telecoms Lab. HM Government has also previously announced a joint ambition with UK mobile network operators to increase the share of open and interoperable equipment in UK networks by 2030. Indeed, we are also seeing positive progress from industry, for example, Vodafone and Telefonica have now deployed their first live open RAN sites, with both using new market entrants.

    While there is still more to do, today represents a significant milestone in the Government’s efforts to grow international consensus on telecoms diversification. In order to support a lasting and meaningful change it will be crucial for the global community to work together. I am grateful to the Governments of Australia, Canada and the United States of America and look forward to working with them, along with partners around the world, to achieve our vision of a more innovative, competitive and diverse telecoms supply market. Full details of the announcement will be published on www.gov.uk today.

  • Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Project Gigabit (Autumn 2022)

    Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Project Gigabit (Autumn 2022)

    The statement made by Julia Lopez, the Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Commons on 1 December 2022.

    Today we have published Building Digital UK’s latest Project Gigabit delivery update. We continue to make excellent progress with Project Gigabit, the Government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK.

    In this Project Gigabit autumn update, we report on the awarding of a £108 million contract in Cumbria that will bring gigabit-capable connectivity to up to 60,000 homes and businesses across the region. This is the first regional contract awarded under Project Gigabit, and follows local contracts awarded in Teesdale and north Northumberland in the past two months.

    We also report on the boost we are giving to the gigabit broadband voucher scheme, increasing the value of vouchers to £4,500 for all beneficiaries, up from £1,500 and £3,500 for homes and businesses respectively. To date, over 111,000 vouchers have been provided through the scheme and its previous iterations, with more than 77,000 vouchers used to connect premises to gigabit-capable broadband.

    The report also provides an update on the progress of the Project Gigabit procurement pipeline. BDUK has now undertaken market engagement exercises across the whole of England, and has launched procurements with a total value over £780 million, to connect up to 545,000 premises. The publication also reports on the completion of a public review by Highland and Islands Enterprise, working with BDUK and the Scottish Government, ahead of a first potential local procurement in Scotland.

    I will place a copy of the Project Gigabit delivery plan autumn update in the Libraries of both Houses.

  • Caroline Nokes – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Rural Broadband

    Caroline Nokes – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Rural Broadband

    The parliamentary question asked by Caroline Nokes, the Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North, in the House of Commons on 1 December 2022.

    Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)

    What steps her Department is taking to expand broadband coverage in rural areas.

    The Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Julia Lopez)

    We are investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband to hard-to-reach areas across the UK, and we are making great progress, having already launched procurements with a value of £780 million. Today, we announced the award of a new £108-million contract to connect up to 60,000 homes and businesses across Cumbria with the fastest broadband speeds. We are also boosting our voucher scheme: we have increased the value of the vouchers so that people can apply for as much as £4,500 towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband in rural and particularly hard-to-reach areas.

    Caroline Nokes

    I assure the Minister that the people of Nether Wallop, Over Wallop and Barton Stacey do not feel that Project Gigabit is delivering for them. They have seen changed criteria; an inability to split postcodes, which is difficult when they are on a county boundary; delays in the processing of their applications; and then being told that they will not be able to reapply until 2023, because the project will still not be procured for those areas. They want answers and delivery, not the news that the project is delivering in Cumbria.

    Julia Lopez

    I thank my right hon. Friend, although I cannot agree with her on the importance of Cumbria, which is one of the hardest to reach areas of our country. That we are taking that area as one of our first shows just how much we care about narrowing the digital divide. More than 95% of premises in my right hon. Friend’s constituency now have superfast broadband, which is up 55% over the past 12 years. During the same period, gigabit-capable coverage has risen from 0% to 71% in her constituency. I appreciate that particular villages and parts of people’s constituencies do not have the coverage they need, and that is why we are significantly boosting the voucher scheme. We have launched two of our procurements in areas that cover my right hon. Friend’s constituency in Hampshire. I also host regular Building Digital UK drop-ins for colleagues—I hosted one yesterday—and if she would like to come along and speak directly to BDUK officials, we shall look into the villages affected.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2022 Statement on the Online Safety Bill

    Michelle Donelan – 2022 Statement on the Online Safety Bill

    The statement made by Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Commons on 29 November 2022.

    The Online Safety Bill is a vital, world-leading piece of legislation, designed to ensure that tech companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users, particularly children. It is also vital that people can continue to express themselves freely and engage in pluralistic debate online. For that reason, I am today committing to make a number of changes to the Online Safety Bill to strengthen its provisions relating to children, and to ensure the Bill’s protections for adults strike the right balance with its protections for free speech.

    Since taking up the role of Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport I have engaged extensively with colleagues to hear views on this legislation. We have heard concerns from many parliamentarians, stakeholders and members of the public on a number of issues, including a desire to go further on child protections, wanting better protections for legal speech and a concern that too much power over what we see and engage with online rests with tech giants themselves. Making progress on these important concerns did not, in my view, need to come at the expense of one another. I therefore set out a clear approach with three main aims:

    Strengthen the protections for children in the Bill

    Ensure that adults’ right to legal free speech is protected

    Create a genuine system of transparency, accountability and control to give the British public more choice and power over their own accounts and experience.

    We can say with confidence that all three aims have been achieved with the amendments the Government are putting forward. We will go further to strengthen the elements of the Bill that specifically protect children online. At the same time, we will remove the clauses pertaining to “legal but harmful” content for adults and replace them with a “triple shield” that empowers users and ensures that control over the online experience rests with individuals rather than anonymous committees in Silicon Valley.

    Protections for Children

    The Bill’s key objective, above everything else, is the safety of young people online. Not only will we preserve the existing protections, I will table a number of amendments that go further to strengthen the existing protections for children in the Bill to:

    make clearer the existing expectations of platforms in understanding the age of their users and, where platforms specify a minimum age for users, require them to clearly explain in their terms of service the measures they use to enforce this and if they fail to adhere to these measures, Ofcom will be able to act. I will table these amendments in the Commons;

    require the largest platforms to publish summaries of their risk assessments for illegal content and material that is harmful to children, to allow users and empower parents to clearly understand the risks presented by these services and the approach platforms are taking to children’s safety

    name the children’s commissioner as a statutory consultee for Ofcom in its development of the codes of practice to ensure that the measures relating to children are robust and reflect the concerns of parents.

    The Government will table the remaining amendments in the Lords.

    Legal Free Speech

    A large number of colleagues, stakeholders and members of the public have been particularly concerned about provisions that would result in the over-removal of legitimate legal content by creating a new category of “legal but harmful” speech. However admirable the goal, I do not believe that it is morally right to censor speech online that is legal to say in person.

    I will therefore table a number of amendments in the Commons to remove “legal but harmful” from the Bill in relation to adults, and replace it with a fairer, simpler and we believe more effective mechanism called the triple shield, which will focus on user choice, consumer rights and accountability while protecting freedom of expression. We are taking the same approach when assessing the proposed new harmful communications offence, which when applied could potentially have criminalised legitimate discussion of some topics. I have therefore tabled amendments for the second day of Report stage to remove the harmful communications offence from the Bill.

    To retain protections for victims of abusive communications, including victims of domestic abuse, we will continue progressing new offences for false and threatening communications. Furthermore, the Bill will no longer repeal the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and relevant sections of the Communications Act 2003. To avoid duplication in legislation, the Government will remove elements of the offences in these Acts which criminalise false and threatening communications.

    Protection for Adults: The Triple Shield

    It is unquestionable that speech that is illegal in the street should also be illegal online, and that major platforms should remove illegal content from their sites. While most platforms, including social media sites, have robust terms of service detailing the types of content they do or do not allow, anyone who uses these platforms regularly will know that there is a widespread failure of companies to enforce their own terms of service and platforms can often treat some sections of society differently. Lastly, I believe that rather than censoring adults, the Government should be standing up for free speech and choice by empowering people.

    Together, these three common sense principles form the basis of the triple shield, a comprehensive set of tools to protect and empower adults. Under this system, three important rules apply:

    Illegal: Content that is illegal should be removed. The Bill includes a number of priority offences, and companies must proactively prevent users from encountering this content. The Bill includes the relevant offences for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Companies will also have to remove other relevant illegal content, when they become aware of it.

    Terms of service: Legal content that a platform prohibits in its own terms of service should be removed, and legal content that a platform allows in its terms of service should not be removed.

    User empowerment: Rather than tech giants’ algorithms alone deciding what users engage with, users themselves should have the option to decide. Adults should be empowered to choose whether or not to engage with legal forms of abuse and hatred if the platform they are using allows such content. So the “third shield” puts a duty on platforms to provide their users with the functionality to control their exposure to unsolicited content that falls into this category. These functions will, under no circumstances, limit discussion, robust debate or support groups’ ability to speak about any of these issues freely.

    The user empowerment tools will allow adults to reduce the likelihood that they will see certain categories of content if they so choose. The duty will specify legal content related to suicide, content promoting self-harm and eating disorders, and content that is abusive or incites hate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sex, gender reassignment, or sexual orientation. This is a targeted approach that reflects areas where we know adult users, in particular vulnerable users, would benefit from having greater choice over how they interact with these kinds of content. For the first time, tech giants will be required to give individual adults genuine control over their own accounts and online experience. I will table amendments relating to these provisions in the Commons.

    This will be done while upholding users’ rights to free expression and ensuring that legitimate debate online will not be affected by these stronger duties. There are high thresholds for inclusion in these content categories, which will exclude discussions about these broad topics—even where that could be controversial or challenging—but where it does not become abusive. Nothing in this duty will require companies to remove or take down legal content. This will also be made clear through the Bill’s explanatory notes.

    Category 1 services will still need to give users the option to verify themselves and choose not to interact with unverified users. This duty will remain unchanged, and again reinforces this Government’s commitment to ensuring users have genuine choice over their online experience.

    These changes will ensure the Bill protects free speech while holding social media companies to account for their promises to users, guaranteeing that users will be able to make informed choices about the services they use and the interactions they have on those sites.

    Accountability and further measures

    Publication of enforcement notices: The regulator, Ofcom, will hold companies to account if they fail to comply with the requirements in the Bill by issuing fines or notifications requiring them to take steps to remedy compliance failures. To further strengthen transparency for users, we will give Ofcom the power to require services to publish the details of any enforcement notifications, including notices requiring them to remedy breaches, that they receive. I have now tabled these amendments in the Commons.

    Self-harm: I am aware of particular concerns around content online which encourages vulnerable people to self-harm. While the child safety duties in the Bill will protect children, vulnerable adults may remain at risk of exposure to this abhorrent content. I am therefore committing to making the encouragement of self-harm illegal. The Government will bring forward in this Bill proposals to create an offence of sending a communication that encourages serious self-harm via an amendment in the House of Lords. This new offence will ensure that trolls sending such messages to a person, regardless of the recipient’s age, face the consequences for their vile actions.

    Tackling violence against women and girls: It is unacceptable that women and girls suffer disproportionately from abuse online and it is right that we address this through the Online Safety Bill. Therefore, extensive work has been undertaken, including with Home Office colleagues, to understand how we can further protect women and girls through the Online Safety Bill, including to:

    List Controlling or Coercive behaviour as a priority offence. This is an offence that disproportionately impacts women and girls—listing this as a priority offence means companies will have to take proactive measures to tackle this content, therefore strengthening the protections for women and girls under the Bill.

    Name the Victims’ Commissioner and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner as Statutory Consultees for the codes of practice, to ensure that they are consulted by Ofcom ahead of drafting and amending the codes of practice.

    These changes will be made to the Bill in the House of Lords.

    As announced last week by the Deputy Prime Minister, we are also going to take forward reforms to the criminal law on the abuse of intimate images. Building on the campaign of my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Dame Maria Miller), as well as recommendations from the Law Commission, we will 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 in particular as they are disproportionately affected by these activities. The Government will table these amendments in the Lords. Separate to the Online Safety Bill, the Government will also bring forward a package of additional laws to tackle a range of abusive behaviour including the installation of equipment, such as hidden cameras, to take or record images of someone without their consent.

    Epilepsy Trolling: I have tabled amendments for the second day of Report Stage to legislate for a new flashing images offence. I would like to pay tribute to the passionate campaigning that has been done on this issue, both by the Epilepsy Society, and parliamentarians from across both Houses to help the Government ensure that this appalling behaviour is tackled and that we fulfil the Government’s previous commitment to legislate to protect victims from epilepsy trolling. We have also made a number of other technical changes to clarify existing policy positions, further details of which can be found in the amendment paper.

    To ensure the proposed changes go through proper scrutiny, we intend to return a number of clauses back to a Public Bill Committee for consideration. These are issues that are of fundamental importance to the regime, and to members of this House, such as freedom of expression, user empowerment, and age assurance, and it would not be right to proceed with these changes without detailed scrutiny in the House of Commons. We intend to make further changes, as set out above, in the House of Lords, however the timing of these amendments will depend on parliamentary scheduling.

  • George Freeman – 2022 Statement on UK Earth Observation

    George Freeman – 2022 Statement on UK Earth Observation

    The statement made by George Freeman, the Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the House of Commons on 23 November 2022.

    The Government are announcing today a package of up to £200 million funding to invest in the UK Earth observation sector, to protect the future of UK talent and industry in earth observation and mitigate the impact of ongoing delays to UK participation in the EU Copernicus programme, while the EU continues to block our association.

    Earth observation (EO) is a vital science and a growing industry. This is the right time to invest in projects that benefit our planet and grow our economy: EO supports the UK to become a science superpower and prioritises our space and net zero ambitions—more than half of key climate data comes from space.

    The UK has a vibrant landscape of world-leading EO academic and industrial organisations and a well-founded reputation for excellence in EO. For example, in climate science, leading UK research institutions have been measuring sea and land surface temperature from space for over three decades—Oxford University, RAL Space, Reading University and Leicester University. This data is used by meteorological agencies around the world to improve weather forecast accuracy, helping to save lives, infrastructure and crops.

    In the “National space strategy”, His Majesty’s Government committed to remain at the forefront of earth observation technology and know-how. The investments announced today will deliver an essential funding boost to recognise the importance of this work/market and will benefit academia and industry and build our national capability. The funding is spread across 17 projects delivered through the following Government partner organisations:

    £137.6 million UK Space Agency (UKSA)

    £19.3 million Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

    £14.7 million Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

    £11.7 million Met Office

    £4.2 million Innovate UK

    These projects will deliver benefits across the UK and include a broad range of activities from measuring wind speeds to improving the accuracy of climate data, and from funding small and medium-sized enterprise projects to additional PhD places. Some projects will involve new or extended collaborations with international partners such as Australia.

    Investing in the UK EO sector is a vital part of achieving our ambitions in space and with the range of applications of EO data, including net zero targets, but it is just the first step.

    Over the last few months, my officials have begun discussions with the Earth observation community about the longer-term plans for the sector. The package announced today provides an interim response to what we have been hearing are their biggest challenges. We will continue to work with the sector to identify strategic priorities to keep building on the world-leading excellence in UK Earth observation.

    These investments are UK-wide and will provide targeted support during this time of uncertainty. They aim to support the retention of talent and firms across the sector, and we have particularly focused on how to ensure that both academia and industry can benefit from these projects.

    Context

    The EU has now delayed our association for nearly two years. The UK has done everything it can to secure association, including entering into formal consultations to encourage the EU to implement its obligations.

    The Government remain ready to discuss association with the EU, but with the EU continuing to refuse our request to formalise association, we cannot wait forever. Our priority is to invest in the UK’s EO sector and protect our knowledge and capabilities.

  • Julia Lopez – 2022 Speech on Cyber Essentials

    Julia Lopez – 2022 Speech on Cyber Essentials

    The speech made by Julia Lopez, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports, at DCMS in London on 7 November 2022.

    Introduction

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us at this Cyber Essentials showcase event. I’m very excited to be here today, and it is great to see so many people here from a range of organisations including large and small businesses, government departments, trade bodies and charities. I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to attend and celebrate this fantastic event with all of us here at DCMS.

    It has been great to hear about the Cyber Essentials journey from Chris [Pinder, IASME] and Lindy [Cameron, CEO, National Cyber Security Centre], and some of the noteworthy milestones of the scheme over the past 8 years. It is amazing to be able to say that the 100,000th certificate was awarded a few months ago, and I know that many of you here today are Cyber Essentials certified and are counted in that number.

    The UK government is working to make the UK the safest place to live and work online. DCMS plays a critical role in strengthening the UK’s cyber ecosystem and building a resilient and thriving digital UK, in line with our £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy. As part of that strategy, we are committed to increasing the uptake of standards such as Cyber Essentials. To date, Cyber Essentials has had a profound impact in driving improved cyber security across a wide range of organisations. It is becoming increasingly embedded within our economy and it is playing a vital role in driving a more resilient and prosperous UK.

    We regularly hear from organisations that are benefitting from the scheme – from large blue chip companies to small organisations and local charities, helping the most vulnerable in society – a small managed service provider in Northern Ireland, a nursing home in Liverpool, a domestic abuse charity in the Midlands and a charity supporting those with visual or hearing loss in Scotland – are just a few organisations that have gone through the Cyber Essentials scheme recently.

    We have heard a lot about growth today, not just of the Cyber Essentials scheme itself but of the entire ecosystem that surrounds it. It is also helping improve all organisations’ productivity and growth as they securely embrace digital technologies. The government’s vision is for this growth to continue, especially in the face of economic adversity. We want to raise awareness of the scheme, to see an exponential increase in the number of Cyber Essentials certifications and to raise the baseline of cyber resilience across the economy. We want all organisations in the UK to be working towards Cyber Essentials. To do this, we need organisations to be asking their suppliers, partners and other third parties they engage with to have it. Most suppliers to government need to have Cyber Essentials and we believe that organisations across the wider economy should be asking their own suppliers to do likewise and that is our ask of you today – to promote and use Cyber Essentials as a key tool when assessing the security of your suppliers.

    Supply chains

    I know a lot of you are grappling with cyber security challenges in your supply chains. Worrying incidents have shown us that exploiting supply chain vulnerabilities can have severe, far reaching consequences. In the supply chain call for views we published last year, 46% of organisations said a lack of tools is a severe barrier to managing their supplier risk.

    I believe Cyber Essentials has an important role to play here. It is not a silver bullet and does not guarantee organisations won’t  fall victim to a cyber attack, but it does provide protection and resilience for so many. In our engagements with industry, including many of you, we are seeing an increasing number of organisations use Cyber Essentials as a tool to assure themselves that third parties, including suppliers, have implemented minimum cyber security controls.

    For example, the NHS recently introduced a requirement for IT suppliers to have Cyber Essentials, thus raising the bar for those organisations that wish to do business with the NHS.  Other organisations have seen reduced costs and increased efficiency in their due diligence processes by requiring suppliers to have Cyber Essentials. A well known property website recently told us that asking for Cyber Essentials from suppliers has reduced their due diligence process from days to hours. For them, Cyber Essentials has a commercial benefit and is saving them money.

    In a similar vein, we are delighted to announce that DCMS is now working in partnership with St James’s Place, a large financial services firm, who have recently required all of their partners to become Cyber Essentials Plus certified. We will hear more from them in our panel discussion in just a few minutes, but this is a great example of an organisation proactively driving improved security practices in those organisations they work so closely with.

    Cyber Essentials Pathways

    Now, it would be remiss of me to not recognise the fact that for some organisations, especially those with large and complex IT infrastructures, it is a struggle to comply with all aspects of Cyber Essentials. As Lindy mentioned, we are looking forward to seeing the results of the Cyber Essentials Pathways pilot and anticipate this will provide a further opportunity for organisations to attain Cyber Essentials. We want to ensure that being Cyber Essentials certified is accessible for all organisations. To this end, we are also in the process of launching an evaluation of the scheme, to help us identify and address any barriers that organisations face when going through the Cyber Essentials process.

    Conclusion

    On that note, I wanted to close by saying that my officials and I would love to hear from you, to better understand how DCMS and industry can work together to ensure Cyber Essentials is an effective certification scheme. I invite you to collaborate with us, to join us on the journey to improve Cyber Essentials and ensure it continues to raise the baseline level of cyber security across our supply chains.

    The new government remains intent on improving cyber security across our economy. Our Product Security and Telecoms Infrastructure Bill is close to completing its passage through Parliament and when it becomes law, this will ensure much better security in consumer IoT products. We are also working to improve our cyber resilience legislation and expand the number of skilled people working in cyber security. We’re continuing to build our digital identity framework, which will help the public and businesses verify identities in an easy, secure and trustworthy manner.

    Together we can reduce the social and economic harm that we continue to see from cyber security attacks and drive a more resilient and prosperous UK. Thank you once again for working with us on this amazing scheme.

  • Jo Gideon – 2022 Speech on the Genetic Technology Bill

    Jo Gideon – 2022 Speech on the Genetic Technology Bill

    The speech made by Jo Gideon, the Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, in the House of Commons on 31 October 2022.

    It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). I think we have had a very thoughtful and good-humoured discussion. It is clear that animal welfare is a key feature for both sides of this House. I just want to mention amendment 7, with which I have a great deal of sympathy, but I will not be supporting it because I think the question of labelling needs to be looked at in a much wider context. I would very much urge the Minister, within that wider context, to look at consumer information, which I think is a really important issue.

    Last week, I spoke in the Chamber on the national food strategy and food security. Much has changed since Henry Dimbleby published his recommendations last summer. The cost of everyday staples continues to rise as the war in Ukraine pushes food price inflation to its highest level in 14 years. So this is the right time to consider alternative ways that our Government can strengthen the nation’s food security.

    By removing barriers to precision breeding, the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill will open the future to developing crops that are more resistant to pests, disease and climate change, reducing the need for fertilisers and pesticides. Genome editing provides the opportunity to achieve the outcomes of plant breeding, which has been so successful in controlling diseases and improving yields, but in a much more precise manner.

    In encouraging this innovation, placing UK researchers and commercial breeders at the forefront of exploring what these technologies have to offer, we can use science to move away from chemical use and make land more productive, both reducing the cost of food and restoring the balance of nature. However, the UK’s world-leading animal welfare standards must be upheld, so I support the step-by-step approach to legislation, with a focus on plants and maintaining our high standards in animal welfare. I am sure that the Minister has listened to some of the concerns that have been expressed, and that will probably be reflected in looking at the wording of the Bill.

    This Bill is a real opportunity to make a positive contribution to a more sustainable food system. For instance, by reducing the spoiling and browning of foods and increasing their shelf life, we can help reduce food waste. It could enable us to improve the nutritional profile of foods—for example, by increasing antioxidants, phenols and tannins in fruit and vegetables, or improving oil and carbohydrate profiles, delivering foods that benefit consumers and reduce the burden on healthcare providers.

    Precision breeding represents an opportunity to develop crops with modified macronutrient status, such as increased resistant starch, which naturally reduces the calorific content of food, but increases the level of fibre. Through agritech innovations, farmers around the world will have the opportunity to make better use of their land, fight off harmful pests and better regulate the nutrients in their soil, while removing unnecessary barriers, and helping the world grow more and strive towards a greener tomorrow. In that spirit, I think the Bill is the right step forward, and I just hope that we can all get behind it.

  • Jim Shannon – 2022 Speech on the Genetic Technology Bill

    Jim Shannon – 2022 Speech on the Genetic Technology Bill

    The speech made by Jim Shannon, the DUP MP for Strangford, in the House of Commons on 31 October 2022.

    It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and to follow the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Dr Hudson). He brings much knowledge to the debate and I thank him for sharing that with us.

    I welcome the Bill and I declare an interest, as I must, as a member of the Ulster Farmers Union and a farmer in Northern Ireland. The Bill will bring great benefits, not just to England but to the whole United Kingdom. In my earlier intervention, I mentioned the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which I will touch on later. I welcome the Minister’s response.

    I live among farmers, who are incredible people. They love their animals and the job they do. They are very efficient. Near me, they have high-quality dairy herds, beef cattle, lamb, pork and poultry. My farmers want the best, and that is what I want for Northern Ireland. It is no secret that Northern Ireland’s high-quality produce is some of the best in the world and is much envied. Northern Ireland leads the way, but we want to be part of the Bill. The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, however, does not enable us to do the same as the farmers here.

    As the Member for Strangford, a strong agricultural constituency, legislation to unlock new technologies to boost food production, support farmers and grow more productive crops is certainly of great interest to me and those I represent—my neighbours across Strangford and across Northern Ireland. As always, one of my first ports of call was to see what the farmers thought about it. They were clear and quickly explained to me that gene editing is different from GM and gives us an opportunity to be more efficient and farm better. It does not result in the introduction of DNA from other species and creates new varieties similar to those that could be produced more slowly by natural breeding processes. It will potentially provide a greater yield and better farming practices.

    Crucially, precision breeding technologies will help to develop foods with direct benefits to the public, such as products of better quality, increased nutritional value and a longer shelf life. Those are things that we are all striving for and we should all try to make those ambitions happen, so the technology can only be a good thing as long as it is safe and has farmer buy-in. From my discussions with farmers, it clearly has that buy-in.

    We must be realistic and say that farmers have been gene editing for generations but did not have a fancy name for it; they knew it as splicing. I am old enough to remember my grandmother splicing the peas and beans to make bigger and better varieties of peas and beans. That goes back to the ’60s—it was not yesterday—but even in those early days, perhaps my grandmother was a bit of a pioneer in doing such things. Today we do not call it splicing but genetic technology. That is a much fancier name, and much greater, because it is about more than that, which is why the Bill is important. Through trial and error, science has allowed us to go to the next level, yet we must be mindful of the difficulties that can come by decimating the wonderful structure of nature that God has put in place. I believe that the Bill provides safety and security, and a way forward to UK food security.

    A fortnight ago, I had the opportunity to meet a constituent, Stephen Alexander, who keeps 130 Dexter cattle—an almost-unique herd across Northern Ireland. He takes 60 acres of land at Orlock in North Down, he has some land at home in Greyabbey, and he takes other land just down the road. He made a deal with the National Trust, which was that he would not use fertilisers or bring anything new on to the land—it all had to be natural; the grass was natural—which was quite unique. Along with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Edwin Poots and others, I had a chance to see how that works. It does work: it is an organic farm in every sense of the word, yet all the cattle are exceptional.

    That is another reason why it is essential to bring in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill as a matter of urgency. As Edwin Poots outlined:

    “The introduction of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill in England will not apply to Northern Ireland. The Protocol requires alignment to EU rules so gene-edited crops developed in England under the Bill”—

    that we could take advantage of in Northern Ireland—

    “would not be available for cultivation in Northern Ireland.”

    We need parity of opportunity and of legislation. When the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill returns to this House from the other place, we need to see that we will have that opportunity.

    The fact is that for any British gene-edited crops we would have to apply to the European Food Safety Authority for approval before they could be sent to Northern Ireland, which imports, among other things, grain for animal feed. Even then, the crops could still be banned by Dublin, and that is what this really is: the EU and Dublin, with their hand—their dead hand—upon us on many occasions. That would present a fresh headache in ensuring the affected plants did not cross that invisible Irish border.

    It is clear that while this Bill is a stand-alone one, the fingerprints of European intransigence are all over it. I again make the point that it is not this Bill, but the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, whenever it comes back, that will give us in Northern Ireland the same chance as the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill. I would ask the House and the Government to reinstate their support for us whenever the Bill, which I think is going through the other place tomorrow, comes back to us.

    As someone who loves the land and always supports the farmers, I trust those who have farmed for generations when they say that this is an enhanced version of splicing and that there is a need to be open to all possibilities. I say the Bill is the right way to go to ensure that the facility is there and so suits the farmers and food producers, and allows Northern Ireland to play a crucial and important role to advance our markets across the world. It will also ensure that we can grow and provide more jobs and a stronger economy, and that we can determine this for ourselves, rather than have the unelected EU, with no Northern Ireland voices, dictating our food security and farming practices.

    That is my bid for the Minister about what has been brought here tonight. I really do support this, and I think it is the right thing to do. I will say in advance that amendment 4—perhaps the Minister can clarify this for me at the end, if possible—while it has been put forward by the Labour Opposition, has I believe been done in the best possible sense. I understand that the Minister’s colleague, the hon. Member for Crawley (Henry Smith), was going to put forward something similar, and we were apt to support that. So if the Opposition move amendment 4, which would ensure that the Secretary of State takes into account animal welfare in relation to Northern Ireland, that is the one on which we will probably disagree with the Minister, unless clarification can be given to us. However, on everything else, I fully support the Minister and the Government as they bring this Bill forward.