I want to write to Baroness Benjamin
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) educational, (2) well-being, and (3) cultural, impact of allowing museums, galleries and heritage buildings to re-open.
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, I will refer to Amendments 20, 22, 24 and 29. I understand that the Minister has committed to consulting on community-based domestic abuse services as part of the victim’s law consultation this summer; that is extremely welcome. I thank the Government for this, and thank the noble Lord, Lord Polak, for his commitment to this issue. I also thank the Minister, who rightly responded...
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to include protections for children from accessing commercial pornographic websites which do not allow user generated content or facilitate online user interaction in any forthcoming online harms legislation; and if they have any such plans, how.
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the impact on children and young people of not introducing age verification for accessing commercial pornographic websites before they made the announcement that they would not be introducing such verification requirements.
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the impact on children and young people of not introducing age verification for accessing commercial pornographic websites before they made the announcement that they would not be introducing such verification requirements.
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what evidence they have, if any, that non-user generated pornography is not used to depict (1) rough sex practices, and (2) sexual violence.
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what evidence they have, if any, that non-user generated pornography is not used to depict (1) rough sex practices, and (2) sexual violence.
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total value of applications to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme received before that scheme was closed to new applications on 11 January.
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications were received from schools for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme; and what was the value of any such applications.
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide funding to organisations which were unsuccessful in their application to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, I am very grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate for their powerful speeches. I listened very carefully to the Minister, but I have to say that I have a very heavy heart tonight. I am so disappointed by her response. I do not accept for one moment the argument that we should simply wait for the online harms Bill: that is too long. The Government must...
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 177A in my name and those of the noble Lords, Lord Alton and Lord McColl, and the noble Baroness, Lady Healy. This amendment would require the Secretary of State to commission a person to investigate the impact of access to online pornography by children on domestic abuse. It further requires that the appointed person must publish a report on the...
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 176 and 177 in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Polak, Lord Russell of Liverpool and Lord Rosser, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Derby, to give my support. I declare an interest as a vice-president of the children’s charity Barnardo’s. Barnardo’s and many other charities supporting child and adult victims of domestic abuse support the...
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, Stronger with Music is a campaign to end domestic violence and empower women and children victims. It needs all our support because domestic abuse is a horrific crime that affects millions of people across the country. Domestic abuse is experienced by one in five children at some point in their childhood. A report by Barnardo’s, of which I am a vice-president, detailed the...
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, today I was contacted by a very concerned mother, who asked me two questions which I would like to put to the Minister. First, why have the Government decided to seek to protect children only from user-generated pornography when, back in 2015, they committed to stop children’s exposure to harmful sexual content online by requiring age verification to access all sites containing...
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, America is a major producer of CO2 emissions through the burning of fossil fuels. It also has vast deposits of thorium, a safer, cleaner and plentiful alternative to conventional nuclear fuel. So, did the Prime Minister and President-elect Biden discuss during their call the America’s thorium deposits and how thorium reactors can be deployed? If not, will it be the topic of their...
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, it is well established that loot boxes are a form of gambling disguised within innocent online games played by children. This is a huge concern to parents and child protection organisations, including the Children’s Commissioner, who want loot boxes to be defined by gambling legislation as a form of gambling. What plans do the Government have to regulate loot boxes within any new...
Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to protect children online who have been groomed into filming their own abuse.
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare an interest as a champion of the Internet Watch Foundation and a vice-president of Barnardo’s.
Baroness Benjamin: My Lords, professionals working in child protection, such as those at Barnardo’s and the NSPCC, have been raising concerns about the impact of the lockdown on children, which has created a perfect storm that has led to an increase in online child abuse. The Internet Watch Foundation has warned of a rise in self-generated illegal images of young children which it has had to take down, up...