Speeches by Davies-Jones.

“There are already a wide range of civil actions that can be taken against those who are perpetrating intimate image abuse, including actions for defamation and harassment. Victims and survivors are able to get that redress directly from the perpetrator.”

“That is something DSIT is looking at. We are awaiting the code of practice to be published by Ofcom next month. I appreciate that it is frustrating that we have not got them now, but we are waiting to see what is in the codes and in any implementation of the Act—that could be something that is in the Act. Organisations…”

“It means, as we have heard, that the platforms will have to actively make sure that this content is not proliferating on their platforms and take action against it to remove it. When they are made aware of it, they have to take action to remove this imagery. Otherwise, they are falling foul of the Online Safety Act and…”

“If we make a criminal offence in this country the creation of that deepfake, then yes.”

“Yes, and that’s what we are closing.”

“No, that’s not the loophole. The loophole is around the creation of the image, and that is the loophole that we are closing. Currently, sharing that image without consent is illegal.”

“That we are closing.”

“Yeah, Ofcom would be able to take action against them, and the powers that they have would be to fine them £18 million or 10% of their global revenue.”

“We are looking at that very closely. The gap related to deepfakes specifically is something we are committed to dealing with in this Session. If a non-consensual intimate image is uploaded, that is illegal; we have made that illegal now. It is priority content, and platforms will have to check and to remove it. Ofcom’s…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle) for securing a debate on this very important subject. I look forward to discussing it with her and other members of the Women and Equalities Committee later this month. This Government are absolutely committed to tackling violence against women …”

“I was about to come on to therapy, support services and other things that the Ministry of Justice funds to support victims and survivors. My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East mentioned redress, and compensation can be made available from the perpetrators directly through the civil courts. That has been pursu…”

“I am well aware of the horrific case in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I am pleased that we have been able to go further on intent versus consent with some of these crimes. The right to banter should not trump the right to feel safe; I have said that before in this place and I will say it again. Women have the right to…”

“I could not agree more. This is about all of us playing our part and saying that we will not stand for it—we will not be passive bystanders and we will challenge these views to tackle it. It will not happen overnight. It will take time, but I believe we can do it. Women deserve to feel safe, whether that is online or o…”

“The hon. Lady makes a very good point; she has pre-empted my next sentence. As I have said, this is a start. Ofcom’s codes of practice are being developed and will give it the tools to go after the platforms, but there is nothing stopping the platforms taking decisive action now. They do not need to wait for Ofcom to h…”

“The hon. Lady is right: sadly, family courts are far too often used to re-traumatise victims of domestic abuse. The Government are alive to that fact, and we are rolling out our pathfinder pilot to focus on a more child-centred approach. I am meeting Surviving Economic Abuse this afternoon—we have a great relationship …”

“We are committed to supporting victims of those abhorrent crimes and have dedicated £26 million to support services through the rape and sexual abuse support fund. We have also announced our plan to introduce free independent legal advocates for the victims and survivors of adult rape and are committed to working with …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that really important question; he raises some serious points. The Ministry of Justice funds over 60 specialist support services for victims of rape and sexual offending as well as dedicated victim support through the witness service. Court personnel provide support during and after hearings,…”

“As the hon. Lady will know, the Government took steps to exclude the most serious domestic abuse offenders from SDS40, an exemption that was not made under the previous Government’s end-of-custody supervised licence scheme. That was because we know that we need to protect women and girls, and we have a landmark mission…”

“Well, I was going to congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his new role, but he seems to have a very short memory. It is he who should be apologising to the country as a whole on behalf of his Government for their woeful abuse of our justice system and our prisons. Under the previous Government’s ECSL scheme, there …”

“We are committed to supporting victims and survivors of these abhorrent crimes, including through the £26 million rape and sexual abuse support fund and the funding of independent domestic and sexual violence advocates. Furthermore, we will increase the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner to improve accountability when…”