Speeches by Atkinson.

“I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman, and he will not be surprised that I will come on in my speech to deal with some wider issues about the Online Safety Act, in particular the protection of children. I think that today’s debate is likely to be more nuanced than simply whether we should maintain or repeal the On…”

“My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. I think, as a society, we want forums such as the ones she reports to close down—they have been harmful. But I recognise that there were others that, maybe pre-emptively, decided to shut down. Perhaps the Minister has further information on how far the reported close-downs were…”

“I do, but I will come to some of the issues regarding social media platforms in what I am about to say. I certainly would not want to stifle the freedom of speech of Newcastle fans expressing their genuine heartfelt sorrow about yesterday’s events. I turn now to wider concerns that have been expressed about the Online …”

“I agree that there is significant work to be done to effectively implement the OSA. I will touch on that, and the Minister may wish to do so in his response. Crucially, the report by the Children’s Commissioner found that children were most likely to see pornography by accident—a key point that some of the criticism of…”

“My hon. Friend is right. The proactive duty that the Act places on providers in relation to the nature of their algorithms and their content is crucial because of the type of content to which she refers. It is right that the largest providers, and those most frequently used by kids, have to take active responsibility f…”

“I agree with the hon. Lady. In my understanding, when the legislation was drafted, it was not initially clear to those who drafted it that AI would develop at the astonishing pace that it has in recent years. I ask the Minister to reflect on that point in addressing the implementation of the Act and its potential futur…”

“My hon. Friend makes that point well, and the Minister will have heard it. As this discussion continues, I hope that we can find a way of reflecting these two areas of balance—these two features of the online world now. First, there is the absolute primacy of safeguarding children and tackling serious online harms, but…”

“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair for the conclusion of this debate, Sir John. I thank all Members for their contributions. I think that we had a really constructive and thorough debate, and I certainly learned a lot in the course of it. I only wish that I had heard some of the contributions before I wrote my op…”

“The coming weeks are always the most dangerous time of year for the NHS, and it is important to note that the patient safety risks arising from the strike will be present not just during the strike period but in the weeks following it. Some of my most daunting, and indeed scary, times in the NHS involved working alongs…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I congratulate my fellow member of the Petitions Committee, the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore), on introducing the debate. I want to address the 5,092 people from Sunderland Central who signed the petition. I hear and respect their concerns…”

“On putting up taxes, a household living in a band A property in Sunderland that is worth £50,000 currently pays more council tax than one living in a £50 million property in Westminster. Do the hon. Gentleman and his Reform UK colleagues agree that reforming the system to increase council tax for those in higher bands …”

“We have heard previously, in other decisions, about the lack of evidence base around extremism and policy approaches. What do you think the priorities should be for future research in this area, considering the current gaps that there are? What could the Home Office and Government do to support that?”

“Can I just push a little bit more on the Online Safety Act? Mr Ratledge, you were very diplomatic in terms of saying the implementation is ongoing. There are some strong views in this place that Ofcom is not perhaps going fast enough or robustly enough in implementing them. On the flip side, we have a Parliament discus…”

“Whatever you think of specificity of the Online Safety Act—you talked with my colleague about social media bans in terms of the Online Safety Act’s principle around putting proactive responsibilities on online content platforms of taking responsibility for the way that their algorithms and the impact that their content…”

“What are the barriers to carrying out that research? You mentioned the research ethics of universities. Do you think a clear steer from the Government about intent or priority for that work would be helpful?”

“The issue of the previous panel and yourself, and that we have seen from the evidence that we have had, that Prevent is very clearly being used to try to shortcut waiting times in mental health services, what would you do about that? What policy changes would you suggest ensuring that Prevent is not being used as a fas…”

“Do you get the sense that, because of the amount of referrals going in, the very fact of processing and assessing those referrals is using up valuable NHS resource, as part of multi-agency panels, for example, that would be best used providing treatment rather than sifting Prevent referrals?”

“How does the Prevent threshold levels compare with those accessing safeguarding pathways: mental health support or other safeguarding pathways?”

“You have both mentioned the link between mental health and the significant waiting times for mental health services and Prevent referrals, and this is something we are going to ask of subsequent panel, but, as you mentioned it, do you think that in some cases people are being referred to Prevent as a way of shortcuttin…”

“Thank you. I am going to come back to the 13,000 neighbourhood policing numbers, if I may, particularly in the context of figure 6 in the NAO Report around the number of police officers in support functions. As I understand it—and I would just be grateful if you could confirm—the manifesto commitment of the Government …”