HC Deb 10 July 1997 vol 297 cc523-4W
Rev. Martin Smyth

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to continue the work of the interdepartmental working group on obscenity. [5654]

Mr. Michael

[holding answer 7 July 1997]: The Government attaches great importance to the work of the Interdepartmental Group on Obscenity which was established in 1995 and consists of officials from various Government Departments, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service with the task of monitoring developments in the area of obscenity, with particular reference to emerging trends in child and computer pornography; to identify any difficulties in enforcement or weaknesses in the relevant law; and to consider ways of overcoming them.

Up to now, the main subjects the Group has discussed have been the availability of pornographic material on the Internet and self-regulation by Internet service providers; police enforcement of the law on obscenity and child pornography; the display of indecent publications in newsagents; guidance on the sexual content of teenage magazines; international treaties on obscenity; the workings of the Obscene Publications Act 1959; unlicensed sex establishments; satellite pornography; the Home Office research study "Testing obscenity; an international comparison of laws and controls relating to obscene material"; and Lord Halsbury's Bill on obscenity.