Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
UK Online Safety Act establishes comprehensive global standard, necessitating international regulatory engagement.
Conclusion
The government considers that, with the Online Safety Act, the UK will be the first country to regulate such a comprehensive range of online harms, and the Department told us that a lot of what it described as ‘nascent legislation in this space’, particularly around Europe and elsewhere, looked a lot like the Act.63 In developing the legislation and regulatory regime established by the Act, both the Department and Ofcom have engaged with overseas regulators as they recognise that online safety is a global problem and that hardly any of the companies subject to regulation are based in the UK. Ofcom has also liaised with other UK regulators.64
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observations and states the recommendation is already implemented, citing ongoing international collaboration through various forums, a recent MoU with Australia, and a statutory instrument enhancing Ofcom's ability to share information with overseas regulators.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 The department and Ofcom recognise the value of evaluation and international collaboration, and have comprehensive and timely plans for this, and continually look for opportunities to gain further insight. 6.3 Identifying specific and realistic objectives and tracking progress against them will be a key focus in the early years of the regime for both Ofcom and the department. Both parties will share information where possible and will formalise engagement by establishing an Evaluation Steering Group. 6.4 The department has a plan to monitor and evaluate the Act’s implementation through capturing baseline and ongoing evidence. This was informed by extensive planning in 2023 including developing a specific evaluation framework. 6.5 Ofcom is designing a full suite of metrics to track whether safety outcomes are changing as intended. Ofcom is engaging with regulated services, third-party organisations, users, and academics to collate metrics where available before Codes of Practice come into force, and to enable better measurement as the regime evolves. 6.6 The department routinely engages with international partners to discuss and promote online safety and recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Australia to deepen cooperation on online safety and security. 6.7 Ofcom recognises the importance of engaging with other regulators, having jointly established the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum in the UK and the Global Online Safety Regulators Network. Ofcom is planning an extensive work programme with other regulators in 2024-25. To promote increased regulatory collaboration, the department recently delivered a statutory instrument enhancing Ofcom’s ability to share online safety information with specified overseas regulators.