Speeches by Whittingdale.

“Finally, the treaty requires Spanish-UK administrative arrangements to be in place. We have not examined those in detail as a Committee, but do you see any of those potentially causing any difficulties?”

“Are you confident about the attitude taken by the European Parliament?”

“So there are no circumstances under which Spanish officials will actually be on Gibraltar soil, other than this slight shuffle at the airport.”

“Can I ask about the next steps? When do the Government intend to begin the formal CRaG process for the ratification of the treaty, and how long is that going to take?”

“T7. My constituents in Maldon have, for more than 30 years, been promised a new health hub in the town to replace St Peter’s hospital, a building that is over 150 years old. In the first round of new neighbourhood health centres, the integrated care board put forward the case for Maldon, but it was unsuccessful. May I …”

“That is a step forward, but I am not entirely clear what is going to happen by the summer. Are you going to produce the result of the response to the consultation document, or simply launch the consultation, or—”

“Perhaps what you could tell us is, obviously the content that you flag to platforms is such that DSIT believes it to be harmful and disinformation; are you satisfied with the response that you get from the platforms? Have you found that generally they are willing to engage with you and remove if they share or accept yo…”

“But it would help public confidence if we knew a little more about the material that falls within the limited scope you describe because that is likely to be the most damaging and where there is clear public safety risk, for instance. When I was involved in the Department with this unit’s predecessor, we were very focu…”

“Minister, you have referred several times to the Government’s examination of the introduction of personality rights. I very much welcomed the section in the AI and copyright document recently published, but while the document sets out in some detail the deficiencies in the existing law and raises the possibility of exp…”

“Minister, can I ask you about a part of your Department for which you clearly are responsible? I should put on record that I was previously a joint Minister for DSIT and DCMS. Previously, as a Minister in DCMS, I had some involvement with what was then called the Countering Disinformation Unit. I understand that has no…”

“Would your ambition be to include this within a future AI-built one? When is that likely?”

“Obviously, the Committee would not wish you to provide information that is of use to hostile actors. On the other hand, we would wish you to provide information both to illustrate the kind of threat we face and reassure people that the Government are doing something about it. Perhaps you would consider a report to Parl…”

“Could you tell us how many times content has been flagged on platforms in the course of the last year? What proportion have the platforms then removed?”

“How does the Minister expect local authorities in Essex to be ready for elections for unitaries in a year’s time, while at the same time undertaking local government reorganisation, creating a new Greater Essex integrated care board for the NHS, dealing with unprecedented demand for social care, and implementing the Ch…”

“I very much welcome the Foreign Secretary’s decision that the UK will once again co-chair the global Media Freedom Coalition, but will she match that with financial support for independent media organisations and journalists in the growing number of countries where media freedom is under attack and US support has large…”

“To repeat the question I put to Mr Law, is X committed to working with Government counter-disinformation bodies, and will you respond as quickly as you can when disinformation is brought to your attention?”

“Not specifically about her, but what is X doing to prevent individuals from having their persona used without their consent, potentially on a massive scale? Dr Fernández: First, we have a clear policy on authenticity. Deceptive identities and trying to create deceptive personas is against our rules. Similar to the othe…”

“Dr Fernández, as I understand it, X is looking at a very substantial fine from the European Commission as a result of breach of the DSA requirements. Are you working as closely as you could be with law enforcement and regulatory bodies?”

“Dr Fernández? Dr Fernández: I would certainly welcome more details if you are—”

“Counter-disinformation centres have been established in a number of countries. Obviously, I do not expect you to instantly accept whatever they tell you to take down, but can you assure me that co-operation is close and that when they bring disinformation to your attention, you look at it and rapidly remove it where it…”