§ Ms Beverley HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 16 March 1998,Official Report, column 516, who will undertake the review of the Internet Watch Foundation; what arrangements are being made to allow interested parties to submit their views to the review team; and if the report will be published. [37142]
§ Mr. Michael[holding answer 6 April 1998]The review will be undertaken by outside consultants. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has the lead in taking forward the review in view of that Department's responsibility for regulation of the industry, and has the full support of the Home Office. DTI officials will be meeting representatives from the Home Office, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and National Children's Homes (Action for Children) after Easter to discuss the finer details of the review. However, it is envisaged that the review will focus on
Progress on the removal of illegal material, including the number of reports received, time taken to turn them around, compliance of Internet Service Providers with IWF advice and the possibility of establishing a system to provide more reliable feedback on results;Structure of the IWF and representation of interested parties.Next priorities for IWF—a broader focus than child pornography. New priorities might include adult pornography, racism, breaches of copyright and protection from legal but potentially harmful material;176WAwareness of the Internet industry and consumers of the IWF and or rating and filtering tools for self protection and how far this awareness translates into usage.Once the full specification of the review has been agreed, applications will be invited from interested parties who may wish to carry out the review. It will be open to anyone who wishes to do so to submit views to the team which is appointed. The report of the review is likely to be published in the Autumn.
§ Ms Beverley HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 16 March 1998,Official Report, column 516, if he will extend the review of the operations of the Internet Watch Foundation to include an assessment of the effectiveness of the current procedures of (a) the Metropolitan Police, (b) other police forces and (c) the National Criminal Intelligence Service, in responding to reports on potentially illegal child pornography from the IWF. [37141]
§ Mr. Michael[holding answer 6 April 1998]The focus of the review announced by the Government on 3 March will be the work of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), its structure and composition, the effectiveness of its arrangements for dealing with reports of potentially illegal material, extension of its priorities for action and promoting awareness of its work.
The review will look at the effectiveness of the administrative procedures for passing on information about potentially illegal material to individual police forces and for collating information about the use to which the information has been put, including resulting prosecutions. Any procedural difficulties will be highlighted in the report. The operational effectiveness of the Metropolitan Police, other police forces and the National Criminal Intelligence Service in responding to reports which they receive from the IWF on potentially illegal child pornography is beyond the scope of the current proposals.
The efficiency of the police response to the information received from IWF is a matter for the force concerned.