Written questions by Osamor.

Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to take steps to accelerate the process for implementing the new duties on fraudulent advertising contained in the Online Safety Act.

Under the Online Safety Act, services designated as Category 1 and 2A (large user-to-user and large search services respectively) will have additional duties to tackle paid-for fraudulent advertising.Categorisation of online services is a statutory duty for Ofcom and one that is important to get right. Ofcom’s assessment process is still ongoing, and the regulator aims to publish its register and consult on the additional duties – including on fraudulent advertising – in summer 2026. The Secretary of State wrote to Ofcom in October and November last year urging the independent regulator to look at where its categorisation process could be expedited.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has had recent discussions with animal protection groups on phasing out animal experiments.

The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year. The Government will also be hosting a roundtable shortly with representatives from animal welfare organisations to discuss the strategy.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help ensure that social media companies provide adequate support to customers who are the subject of hacking and fraud.

As fraud offences are ‘priority offences’ under the Online Safety Act (OSA), all user-to-user services in scope must prevent illegal fraudulent content from appearing on their platforms and swiftly remove if it does. They must also effectively mitigate the risk of their service being used to facilitate fraud.The OSA also requires in-scope platforms to provide accessible complaints and appeals procedures for their users. Additionally, those services over the designated threshold (Category 1 services) must uphold their terms of service.