Question follow-through · 119827
Internet: Crime
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has held discussions with the Home Office on the increased use of Virtual Private Networks by criminals following the introduction of the Online Safety Act 2023.
About this written question
A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.
- Answering body
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Tabled
- 11 Mar 2026
- Target answer date
- 16 Mar 2026
- Answer
- 20 Mar 2026 · 9 calendar days after tabling
Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.
Recorded timeline
11 Mar 2026
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has held discussions with the Home Office on the increased use of Virtual Private Networks by criminals following the introduction of the Online Safety Act 2023.
16 Mar 2026
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
20 Mar 2026
Answer published
Making the UK a safer place to be online is a priority for the Government, and the Online Safety Act is central to this. Officials from DSIT and the Home Office meet regularly to discuss the implementation of the Act and wider online safety issues.While t...
Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.
Later records
Possible follow-up questions
Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Redundancy Pay
18 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much her Department has spent on special severance payments in each of the last three years.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Artificial Intelligence
10 Apr 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if her department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Training
22 Apr 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will list the training programmes used by civil servants in her Department since 2023.
Animal Experiments
13 May 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent steps she has taken to end the use of animals in scientific research for human medicine and products.
Internet: Children
21 May 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the safety of children online in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Artificial Intelligence
1 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her departments permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude (d) Deepseek or (e) Grok as part of their offici
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Streaming
3 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Remote Working
8 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.
Broadband: Lincolnshire
9 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to improve mobile connectivity in hard-to-reach rural communities in Lincolnshire.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Public Relations
19 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has hired external public relations consultants since July 2024.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Public Appointments
29 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many political appointees have been made by her department since July 2024.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Recruitment
1 Jul 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her department uses numerical reasoning tests as part of the recruitment process for its graduate recruitment scheme.