Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee criticises Ofcom's protection of children codes

Our evidence to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee on Ofcom’s protection of children’s code of practice was recently published (see also PDF below), along with the response from Ofcom and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The House of Lords Committee, which scrutinises all regulations and statutory instruments (SIs) laid in Parliament, drew on our analysis for much of its report.

The Committee flagged its concerns “about potential regulatory gaps and question[ed] to what extent the iterative approach described by Ofcom in relation to the Codes was envisaged when Parliament passed the OSA” and recommended that “seeking feedback from civil society organisations with relevant expertise will be central to evaluating the impact of the Codes and to identifying both gaps and possible solutions. It is therefore a matter of concern that organisations that contacted us feel that they were not listened to during earlier consultations.”

The Committee's findings were subsequently debated in the Lords on 2 June, when Baroness Ritchie (a member of the Committee) drew on the findings in her question to DSIT Minister Baroness Jones, with supplementary questions from Viscount Colville, Lord Clement-Jones and Baroness Berger also picking up the Committee's concerns. A full debate on the Committee's report should be scheduled in due course, along with House of Commons scrutiny via its Delegated Legislation Committee.