Political Monitor 22/05/2020

22 May 2020

COVID-19

Further ISPA members sign up to Government asks

A further seven ISPA members have agreed to publicly commit to the Government’s schemes to help support vulnerable consumers and NHS staff in the current COVID-19 pandemic. The updated commitments can be found here and thanks to Post Office, Voneus, Community Fibre, Spectrum, Wightfibre, Ask4, Zzoomm for their help in supporting the schemes.

ISPA’s Chair Andrew Glover is quoted in the Press Release as follows:
“ISPA supports these measures and have been working with our broader membership on how vulnerable consumers and NHS staff can be provided with the support they need at this time. We are delighted that more of our members are able to commit publicly to these important schemes.

This all comes in addition to a lot of work that broadband providers have been doing behind the scenes to keep the country connected, from connecting new hospitals to supporting those working and learning from home.”

Broadband

 Wayleaves Bill in Lords Committee Stage

The Telecoms Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill continues to make its way through the House of Lords, reaching the Committee Stage this week. During the debate several amendments were introduced before being withdrawn, these included:

• Lord Clement-Jones (LD) amendment clarifying tenanted properties were covered where there was no lease. DCMS Minister Baroness Barran stated this amendment would expand the scope too far and it was withdrawn.
• Further amendments from Lord Clement-Jones looked to bring office blocks, retirement buildings and new builds into scope, as well as third party land, and requiring a more substantive response from landowners. Barran noted that these amendments would upset the balance of rights between landowners and operators.
• Lord Adonis (Lab) amendment sought to ensure all connections under the Bill were at least 1 Gbps. Barran stated gigabit capable connections were the ambition of Government but consumers should not be forced to take out specific services and the amendment was withdrawn.
• Baroness Falkner (NA) amendment sought to establish a deadline by which operators using high risk vendors were unable to use the provisions in the Bill. Barran noted the ongoing supply chain work on this and the amendment was withdrawn.

The Bill will now move to its Report Stage though the date is yet to be announced.

Online Harms

DCMS Committee recalls social media giants

The DCMS Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation has written to Twitter, Facebook and Google to recall them for a further evidence session on how they are tackling “false narratives” about COVID-19. Chair of the Committee, Julian Knight MP, has stated that the standard of evidence given by the companies was “very disappointing”. This follows attempts to gain further information through correspondence after the initial evidence session, however these answers were deemed to be inadequate, and Knight has called on the companies to “demonstrate the importance they attach to this issue” by ensuring witnesses are accountable and knowledgeable on their policies.

Petitions Committee takes evidence on online abuse

Petitions Committee takes evidence on online abuse The Petitions Committee have held an evidence session with “The Only Way is Essex” reality TV star, Bobby Norris. This follows a petition run by Norris which gained 133,000 signatures and called for online trolls to be held accountable for their online abuse via their IP address. This was the first session of the Committee’s inquiry into online abuse. In his evidence, Norris noted the increase in online abuse seen over the lockdown period especially the homophobic abuse levelled at himself. He called for more information to be needed from users when signing up for social media platforms, and for the threshold of “grossly offensive” under the Communications Act to be reviewed.

Lords Oral Question on Age Appropriate Design Code

Lord Stevenson asked when the Government intend to lay regulations before Parliament giving effect to the Age Appropriate Design Code.

DCMS Minister Baroness Barran stated that the final draft of the Age Appropriate Design Code had been notified to the European Commission and the “standstill” period required under the  technical standards and regulations directive had now passed. This allows the Government to lay the code as “soon as is practically possible” but noted a “backlog” of legislation due to COVID-19. She further added that they expect to publish the Government response to the Online Harms White Paper this autumn.

Parliamentary Question on COVID-19 and Online Harms

Conor McGinn MP asked what additional resources had been allocated to keeping children safe from online sexual abuse during the outbreak.

Minister James Brokenshire MP said that government is working with law enforcement, the UK Intelligence Community, safeguarding partners and the third sector to ensure they have the resources they need to tackle this issue and said that the Home Office will further distribute £7.8 million in emergency support for charities helping vulnerable children who have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

Parliamentary Question on Online offences against children and terrorism

Daniel Zeichner MP asked when the Home Office plan to publish their interim voluntary codes on tackling online terrorist and child sexual exploitation and abuse content and activity.

Minister Victoria Atkins MP stated that these codes form part of the full Government response to the Online Harms White Paper which will be published “as soon as possible.”