Cracking down on dangers like cyber-bullying, trolling and under-age access to porn, the Government’s Internet Safety Strategy proposes:

• A new social media code of practice to see a joined-up approach to remove or address bullying, intimidating or humiliating online content
• An industry-wide levy so social media companies and communication service providers contribute to raise awareness and counter internet harms​
• An annual internet safety transparency report to show progress on addressing abusive and harmful content and conduct
• And support for tech and digital startups to think safety first – ensuring that necessary safety features are built into apps and products from the very start

In the past year, almost one fifth of 12-15 year olds encountered something online that they ‘found worrying or nasty in some way’ and 64% of 13-17 year olds have seen images or videos offensive to a particular group. Nearly half of adult users also say they have seen something that has upset or offended them on social media.

The Internet Safety Green Paper aims to tackle these growing dangers, while continuing to embrace the huge benefits and opportunities the Internet has brought for British citizens.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley said:

The Internet has been an amazing force for good, but it has caused undeniable suffering and can be an especially harmful place for children and vulnerable people

Behaviour that is unacceptable in real life is unacceptable on a computer screen. We need an approach to the Internet that protects everyone without restricting growth and innovation in the digital economy.

Our ideas are ambitious – and rightly so. Collaboratively, government, industry, parents and communities can keep citizens safe online, but only by working together.

The strategy sets out the government’s ambition to create a strong framework which can tackle online harms. All options will be carefully considered, working collaboratively with industry and charities and supporting children, parents and carers.

Today’s is the first generation of children who are learning about relationships and sex in an online world. So the Strategy also outlines the crucial role that education will play in raising online safety awareness, with a particular focus on children and parents:

• New compulsory school subjects – Relationship Education at primary and Relationship & Sex Education at secondary to provide online safety education
• Social media safety advice – Government will encourage social media companies to offer safety advice and tools to parents and safety messages will be built into online platforms
• Safety features highlighted – Government will work to raise awareness around the safety products and features that are available for parents.

It is proposed that the UK Council for Child Internet Safety becomes the UK Council for Internet Safety to consider the safety of all users, not just children, and help deliver the measures within the Strategy.

Vicki Shotbolt, Chief Executive Officer at Parent Zone said:

Meeting the challenges of the digital age is something parents do every day. It is encouraging to see the government proposing concrete steps to ensure that industry is doing everything they can to support families and make the Internet a place that contributes to children flourishing.

David Wright, Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre said:

As the national centre dedicated to making the UK the safest place in the world to be online, the UK Safer Internet Centre, a partnership of three charities – Childnet, the Internet Watch Foundation and South West Grid for Learning – welcomes the Government’s Internet Safety Strategy, which reflects our own work and priorities.

Technology plays a fundamental role in everyone’s lives presenting both opportunities and threats. Our aim, like this strategy, is to promote national collaboration around these issues to deliver positive change among children and young people across the UK – and those who support them – through education and increased awareness of the safe and responsible use of technology.

As part of our work to make Britain the safest place in the world to be online, today’s announcement complements the action already taken by government to stop the spread of poisonous material and propaganda on the internet that could lead people down the path towards terrorism.

Recently the UK and France joined forces to tackle online radicalisation with plans that could lead to much stronger action against tech companies who fail to remove unacceptable content.

ENDS

The Government has already consulted a wide range of stakeholders including charities, academic researchers and technology companies while developing the objectives and initiatives in the Green Paper.

This is just the first part of work to develop a Digital Charter, which will provide a framework for how businesses and individuals should act online so everyone can benefit from new technologies.

Alongside the Strategy, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published a literature review undertaken by Professor Sonia Livingstone, Professor Julia Davidson, and Dr Joanna Bryce, on behalf of the UK’s Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) Evidence Group.

While DCMS will take a leading role in delivering the Strategy, it will work with a wide range of partners across Government, including the Home Office, the Department for Education, the Department for Health and the Ministry of Justice.

A number of key findings on internet safety are compiled in the Green Paper:

Reporting to social media companies is low amongst those who recognise they have been cyberbullied. Children, particularly those who had no direct experience of reporting issues, had little confidence in social media companies to resolve cyberbullying (Cyberbullying: Research into the industry guidelines and attitudes of 12-15 year olds. Family Kids & Youth. (2017)).

The amount of children exposed to hate content online seems to be rising. 64% of children and young people aged 13-17 have seen people posting images or videos that are offensive to a particular targeted group (Power of image: A report into the influence of images and videos in young people’s digital lives, UK Safer Internet Centre (2017)).

More than four in ten adults users say they have seen something that has upset or offended them on social media in the past 12 months (Adults’ media use and attitudes, – Ofcom report (2017)).

Ofcom estimates that the average weekly time spent online for all adults in 2016 was 22.9 hours, 1.3 hours more than 2013. 5-15 year olds spend 15 hours a week online; exposing themselves to risks. Even 3-4 year olds who go online are spending 8 hours per week doing so (Children and parents: media use and attitudes, Ofcom (2016))

In the past year, almost one fifth of 12-15 year olds encountered something online that they ‘found worrying or nasty in some way’ (Children and parents: media use and attitudes, Ofcom (2016)).

Half of UK adult internet users say they have concerns about what is on the Internet. These concerns relate mainly to offensive/ illegal content (38%), risks to others/ society (22%) and concerns about security/ fraud (20%). Other concerns include personal privacy (9%) and advertising (7%) (Adults’ media use and attitudes, Ofcom (2017)).

The consultation will close at 12 noon on Thursday 7 December 2017. The Government expects to provide a response to the consultation in early 2018.

Prime Minister Theresa May tonight spoke with Donald Trump ahead of the US President’s upcoming decision on recertifying the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).

The Prime Minister reaffirmed the UK’s strong commitment to the deal alongside our European partners, saying it was vitally important for regional security.

The Prime Minister stressed that it was important that the deal was carefully monitored and properly enforced.

Mrs May and the President also discussed the need for the UK, US and others to work together to counter destabilising Iranian activity in the region.

The Prime Minister and President agreed that their teams should remain in contact ahead of the decision on recertification.

They also discussed the importance of the jobs provided by the Bombardier factory to the people and economy of Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister also reiterated her condolences to the President in the wake of the terrible shooting in Las Vegas.

Eight of the most influential business leaders in the UK have joined together to spearhead pioneering industry action to drive out slavery from supply chains.

The group who represent some of the largest companies in the UK – who collectively employ over 800,000 people and have a combined turnover of more than £140 billion a year – united as the founding members of the Business Against Slavery Forum, which launched on Monday (9 October) in partnership with the government.

The 8 founding members are: Mark Cutifani, Anglo American CEO; Jeremy Darroch, SKY CEO; Stuart Gulliver, HSBC CEO; Marco Gobbetti, Burberry CEO; Gavin Patterson, BT CEO; Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP CEO; Jes Staley, Barclays CEO; George Weston, ABF CEO.

The first Business Against Slavery Forum, held at Lancaster House, was chaired by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, and attended by Sarah Newton, Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, and John Studzinski CBE, non-executive Director at the Home Office and Vice Chairman at Blackstone. The forum brings CEOs together to share experiences and inspire more action to stamp out the barbaric crime at its source.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

The founding members of the Business Against Slavery Forum have shown bravery by refusing to ignore the fact forced labour can be a problem in any supply chain and by coming together to do even more to combat it.

Much progress has already been made, but by sharing their expertise and experience in identifying and tackling slavery these business leaders will help consign it to the history books.

They have refused to turn their backs on the victims of this barbaric crime. I hope other firms will do the same, so together we can force slavery out of hidden corners of the supply chains that contribute to the products and services which are part of all our daily lives.

The Business Against Slavery Forum will be a platform to help businesses identify, tackle and prevent slavery in their supply chains, to encourage them to share intelligence and best practice, and to help boost the quality of transparency reporting under the Modern Slavery Act.

During the first meeting, participants discussed the leadership role they can play in tackling modern slavery (which may involve encouraging more collaboration, piloting new approaches, generating best practice and aiming to raise standards in their sector). Business leaders will attend the Business Against Slavery forum twice a year and will send representatives to more frequent working meetings.

Following the world-leading Modern Slavery Act 2015, the forum will build on work already underway by large firms to publish annual Transparency in Supply Chain Statements to demonstrate the action they are taking to ensure slave labour plays no part in producing their goods or services.

Despite progress made by businesses in stamping out global slavery, forced labour still generates $150 billion in illicit profits every year.

Home Office non-executive director John Studzinski CBE said:

I am pleased that the Home Secretary and business leaders are coming together to discuss what more we can do to tackle the abomination of modern slavery.

We must be innovative; showing that ethical profit is possible. And I am convinced that companies will reap benefits from doing the right thing.

Other large businesses will also be able to join the group as associate members.

For science, research, and innovation to provide solutions to global health challenges, people and ideas need to be able to come together to make a difference, Dr Jeremy Farrar OBE, Director of the Wellcome Trust said at the 12th Annual Lecture organised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in London tonight, 10 October 2017.

Speaking to an audience of leaders from across the UK life science community, Dr Farrar explained how recent political events in Europe and beyond have shaken the foundations of long established international structures, collaborations and arrangements, which have long been seen as the best way to protect public health.

However, to continue to safeguard global health during this period of international uncertainty, medicines regulators, scientists, and innovators must work together to make sure there is more global cooperation, not less, to achieve solutions which are effective, sustainable and fair.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome, said:

Recent world events such as Brexit have created an uncertain future for global health. But the health challenges we face don’t respect national boundaries – they require global solutions.

As we enter complex negotiations to leave the European Union, it’s vital that we protect regulatory cooperation and create an environment in which medical innovation succeeds not despite the regulatory environment, but because of it.

This is a priority issue, an issue of health security, and all sides should push for it to be dealt with as soon as possible in the next phase of the negotiations.

The Agency’s Chief Executive, Dr Ian Hudson, said:

As regulators, we understand the importance of being forward-looking, innovative, and open when facing global health challenges. A deep and close working relationship across the EU has led to significant public health and safety improvements and helped us succeed in the face of crisis.

Playing a leading role in promoting and ensuring public health remains the key priority for our Agency and it is vital to increase international collaboration and maintain collaborative frameworks to help make sure new, innovative treatments are made available to the UK health sector at the earliest, safest opportunity.

Ends

Notes to Editor

1. The MHRA Annual Lecture is the Agency’s flagship event bringing together over 350 senior domestic and international leaders from medicine, government, industry, academia, third sector and world health institutions. This year’s event took place on Tuesday 10 October at the Francis Crick Institute.

2. Each year the lecture is delivered by internationally renowned experts to bring their perspective on topics of global importance. This year Jeremy Farrar, Director of one of the world’s largest private funders of medical research, the Wellcome Trust, delivered a lecture titled ‘Health and disease know no borders: why global health must survive political upheaval’. His lecture follows those by Dr Margaret Chan, WHO, in 2016, and Dr Dan Hartman, Gates Foundation, in 2015.

3. Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director, Wellcome Trust – Before joining Wellcome in October 2013, Jeremy was Director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam for 18 years. His research interests were infectious diseases, tropical health and emerging infections. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed scientific papers, mentored many dozens of students and fellows, and served as Chair on several advisory boards for governments and global organisations, including the World Health Organization. He was named 12th in Fortune’s list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2015. Jeremy was appointed OBE in 2005 for services to tropical medicine, was awarded the Memorial Medal and the Ho Chi Minh City Medal by the Government of Vietnam, and has been honoured by the Royal College of Physicians in the UK and the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He is a Fellow of both the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society.

4. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks. MHRA is a centre of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which also includes the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health.

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