Speeches by Narayan.

“The talent and ability of people in Northern Ireland are very much at the forefront of our minds, and we want to ensure that everything we are doing to support the life sciences sector is taking a whole-UK approach. I am very happy to write to the hon. and learned Member on his questions about Northern Irish eligibilit…”

“I will make some progress for now. The life sciences innovative manufacturing fund directly supports two of the Government’s key missions: to kick-start economic growth and to build an NHS fit for the future. The scheme is projected to attract nearly £4 billion in private investment, creating more than 7,000 jobs and s…”

“I will make some progress. This week we announced the first two grant awards through the scheme, marking a major milestone in the fund’s roll-out. This will unlock substantial private investment, showcasing the UK’s appeal to valuable, globally mobile life sciences manufacturers. As delivery of the scheme progresses, w…”

“Not quite.”

“The right hon. Gentleman raises an incredibly important point. I am sorry and disappointed to hear of the instances he mentions. This is an incredibly important issue. We will look closely at the evidence base and if, under the codes of practice for illegal harm already published and implemented by Ofcom, there are fou…”

“I am grateful for this chance to put on the record that even when others have put their interests first, my hon. Friend has always put Southport above everything. In doing so, he has inspired many of us from across the House. Media literacy includes critically evaluating information. It is a key skill in helping people…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for an important and timely question. It is important because I have been in the room with Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, and I have seen the tireless resilience with which he and the Molly Rose Foundation have campaigned to protect children online. It is a timely question because, in …”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Through the Online Safety Act 2023, platforms now have a legal duty to protect users from illegal content and safeguard children from harmful content. Ofcom has strong powers to hold firms to account, including fines of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue. Ofcom has made it clear that it wi…”

“Our technology sector, our entrepreneurs and our creators are close to my heart, as I spent most of my professional life—prior to coming to this place—in those contexts. We have consulted, we have listened and we continue to listen as a new team. Across the board, we will look closely at the evidence and make sure that…”

“Thank you, Chair. As you know, I am the Member of Parliament for Vale of Glamorgan, and now a freshly appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. I am very keen to address what is, I think, a theme of personal experience for each of us in Parliament, but al…”

“That is an incredibly thoughtful line of inquiry, especially when it comes to legal and harmful content. The Secretary of State put out a statement on strategic priorities in May this year, and embedding safety by design was an important principle as part of that. Especially on legal but harmful content, if the trade-o…”

“I really appreciate that question, because there is a pretty central political challenge on this theme and I know concerns about it are shared across the House. There are two things that come to my mind. The first is the thing I try to do in this wider debate, which is to start and ground the conversation in very parti…”

“The realm we are talking about now is largely a realm of norms and conventions, which of course have to be grounded in our core British values. The broad position I would take is that we are now talking less about the legal and regulatory intervention context and more about what we are clearly aspiring to do as a Gover…”

“The reason I raised the question of child protection and illegality was that those are the two areas where Ofcom has started to implement the Online Safety Act. The area that one might describe as legal but harmful content is one that has not yet been implemented, so it would be premature to comment on the quality of t…”

“One of the things I find in the social media context is that there is a lot of noise in the entire debate. To cut through it, there are two very basic principles. The first is that the Online Safety Act ensures that illegal behaviour offline is also illegal behaviour online, and the platforms have a legal duty to compl…”

“On my part, I certainly take this issue very seriously and I am very keen, as I mentioned previously, on making sure that I look even more deeply at your particular complaints. Broadly speaking, the Act places a very intensive set of responsibilities on the social media platforms. When it comes to the question of illeg…”

“So, we are very happy to take a look, and I know that my hon. Friend will be assured of my motivation and commitment in doing so. When it comes to the question of parliamentary scrutiny, there are two things, one retrospective and one prospective. Retrospectively, I remember having been outlasted in my tenure in workin…”

“If there are any complaints about the Department’s scrutiny, I am very happy to take a look at them. On day two, I hope that my hon. Friend would think it premature to accuse the Secretary of State and I of having been complicit in that—”

“My overarching comment on that would be that it has always been a fundamental challenge with technology regulation as a whole. One of the reasons for the move towards the construct of the Online Safety Act being a more duty-based and risk-based approach, focused on platform duties and with investigative and enforcement…”

“First, I express my gratitude for the note of congratulation—being described as fresh young blood places a great burden on me to make sure I live up to that standard, so I will try to do that, despite my greying hair. On the particular question of VPN usage, I am happy to come back after having looked at the descriptiv…”