Thirteenth Report - Preparedness for online safety regulation
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 73
21 February 2024
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirteenth report from Session 2023-24 · published 3 May 2024
Recommendations & Conclusions
6 results
2
Conclusion
Rejected
Develop mechanisms to provide direct feedback to complainants on their impact on Ofcom actions.
Conclusion
The public may be disappointed with the new regime if people cannot quickly see improvements to their online experience or understand how their complaints are acted on. As the regulatory regime will not be fully implemented until 2026, there is …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that Ofcom is not empowered to adjudicate individual complaints and these should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaints for trends and its enforcement decisions will note where they were informed by user complaints.
HM Treasury
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5
Conclusion
Rejected
Undertake regular skills audits to identify and address capability gaps across all staff levels.
Conclusion
Effective regulation will require Ofcom and the Department to sustain the skills and people they need in a fast-moving and highly technical sector. To date, Ofcom has successfully recruited the skills it requires, recruiting people from industry and a wide …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that both Ofcom and the department already have effective half-yearly and yearly workforce planning processes, respectively, to ensure they have the necessary skills and capabilities. Ofcom also has a systematic horizon scanning function and the department has delegated learning budgets to assess skill needs.
HM Treasury
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9
Conclusion
Rejected
Online Safety Act mandates service providers establish procedures for handling user complaints.
Conclusion
The Act requires all regulated service providers to put procedures in place for handling complaints from users and affected people about potentially harmful content.14 Ofcom will set out, through its codes of practice, how it expects service providers to handle …
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Government Response Summary
The government disagrees, stating that the Act does not empower Ofcom to adjudicate individual complaints, which should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaint trends, and eligible entities can bring super-complaints. The Secretary of State may also impose a duty for alternative dispute resolution on Category 1 services.
HM Treasury
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10
Conclusion
Rejected
Ofcom lacks powers and resources to address individual online content complaints effectively.
Conclusion
Ofcom itself is only required to consider complaints from organisations about systemic issues arising from a service provider and impacting on online safety. It has no specific powers to take action, or compel regulated service providers to take action, on …
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Government Response Summary
The government explicitly disagrees, stating Ofcom is not empowered to adjudicate individual complaints, which are the responsibility of service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaints for trends, acknowledge them, and direct users to support, while super-complaints will be considered from eligible entities.
HM Treasury
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11
Conclusion
Rejected
Ofcom's contact centre will gather individual complaints to inform identification of emerging harms.
Conclusion
Ofcom told us that, while it is not able or resourced to act on individual complaints, its contact centre will be set up so people are able to submit complaints to Ofcom. Ofcom explained that this would provide a valuable …
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Government Response Summary
The government explicitly disagrees, stating Ofcom is not empowered to adjudicate individual complaints, which should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will use reported complaints to identify trends, acknowledge them, and direct users to support, and super-complaints from eligible entities will be considered.
HM Treasury
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12
Conclusion
Rejected
Ofcom needs to manage public expectations and develop a feedback loop for individual complaints.
Conclusion
In other areas of Ofcom’s regulation, such as broadcasting, Ofcom can take action over complaints about individual programmes. We asked Ofcom how it will manage public expectation, including the risk of disappointment that people cannot complain to Ofcom about individual …
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Government Response Summary
The government disagrees, stating that the Act does not empower Ofcom to adjudicate individual complaints, which should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaint trends, and eligible entities can bring super-complaints. The Secretary of State may also impose a duty for alternative dispute resolution on Category 1 services.
HM Treasury
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