Chapter 5: Joint Committees
Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill
142.The Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill was appointed on 22 July 2021 to conduct pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Online Safety Bill.267 The Committee received over 200 pieces of written evidence and heard oral evidence from over 50 witnesses, including the Facebook (Meta) whistle-blower Ms Frances Haugen.268 The Committee also held three roundtable seminars and travelled to Brussels in November 2021 to meet with representatives of the European Commission and European Parliament to discuss related matters in the EU’s Digital Services Act.269
143.The Committee published its report on 14 December 2021.270 It made a number of recommendations, including that the Bill should mandate a safety-by-design approach to platforms, overseen and regulated by Ofcom, to stop the publication and spread of illegal and potentially harmful material. The report received a positive response from a number of stakeholder groups. For example, Carnegie UK Trust welcomed the “detailed, measured report”, and noted that it was “no small task to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of such a complex draft Bill.”271
144.The Government introduced the Online Safety Bill in March 2022 and it received its second reading on 19 April 2022.272 66 of the Committee’s 129 recommendations were adopted. The more significant of those included putting priority illegal content on the face of the Bill, including paid-for fraudulent advertising and commercial pornography within the scope of the Bill and using a number of the Law Commission’s recommended new communications offences.273
Joint Committee on Human Rights
145.The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) continued to scrutinise the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It published a report on restrictions on visits to care homes as a result of lockdown on 5 May 2021.274 It went on to launch a wider inquiry on protecting human rights in care homes on 20 September 2021.275
146.The Committee also launched an inquiry into the adoption of the children of unmarried mothers 1949–76 in September 2021276 and published reports on the Government’s plan to review its Human Rights Act.277 Bill reports were published on the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill278, the Nationality and Borders Bill279, the Elections Bill280 and the Judicial Review and Courts Bill281. A number of amendments consistent with those proposed by the Committee were made to two of those Bills.282
Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy
147.The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) published its report The UK’s national security machinery in September 2021.283 Witnesses to the inquiry included former Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May, as well as current and former National Security Advisers.
148.Noting the situation in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, the Joint Committee concluded that the National Security Council (NSC) and the cross-government machinery that supports its work were inadequate and reiterated concerns around the Government’s approach to risk management, which had been set out in the Joint Committee’s 2020 report on Biosecurity.284
149.In November 2021, the Joint Committee held a one-off evidence session with Simon Clarke MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Catherine Little, Director General Public Spending, HM Treasury, about the role of HM Treasury in national security spending.285 A one-off evidence session concerning the role of the National Security Adviser was held in October 2021 with Sir Stephen Lovegrove, the National Security Adviser.286
150.The Joint Committee launched an inquiry into critical national infrastructure (CNI) and climate adaptation in November 2021.287 As part of this inquiry a survey of infrastructure operators was launched in February 2022, which asked respondents, such as energy, water and telecoms companies, about their experience of and preparation for extreme weather events and climate change, as well as their views on Government support for CNI resilience.288
267 Joint Committee on the Draft Online safety Bill, Draft Online Safety Bill (Report of Session 2021–22, HC 609, HL Paper 129)
268 Oral evidence taken before the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill, 25 October 2021 (Session 2021–22) Q 154–192 (Frances Haugen)
269 European Commission, The Digital Services Act Package (April 2022): https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-services-act-package [accessed 29 April 2022]
270 Joint Committee on the Draft Online safety Bill, Draft Online Safety Bill (Report of Session 2021–22, HC 609, HL Paper 129)
271 Carnegie UK, Carnegie UK responds to the report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill (December 2021): https://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/blog-posts/carnegie-uk-responds-to-the-report-of-the-joint-committee-on-the-draft-online-safety-bill/ [accessed 29 April 2022]
272 Online Safety Bill, [Bill 285 (2021–22)]
273 Law Commission, Reform of the Communications Offences (July 2021): https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/reform-of-the-communications-offences/ [accessed 29 April 2022]
274 Joint Committee on Human Rights, Care homes: Visiting restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic (Fifteenth Report, Session 2019–21, HC 1375, HL Paper 278)
275 Joint Committee on Human Rights, ‘New inquiry: Protecting Human Rights in Care Settings’ (21 September 2021): https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/human-rights-joint-committee/news/157644/new-inquiry-protecting-human-rights-in-care-settings/
276 Joint Committee on Human Rights, ‘The right to family life: adoption of children of unmarried women 1949–1976’: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1522/the-right-to-family-life-adoption-of-children-of-unmarried-women-19491976/
277 Joint Committee on Human Rights, The Government’s Independent Review of the Human Rights Act (Third Report, Session 2021–22, HC 89, HL Paper 31); Human Rights Act Reform (Thirteenth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 1033, HL Paper 191)
278 Joint Committee on Human Rights, Children of mothers in prison and the right to family life: The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (First Report, Session 2021–22, HC 90, HL Paper 5); Legislative Scrutiny: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, Part 3 (Public Order) (Second Report, Session 2021–22 HC 331, HL Paper 23); Legislative Scrutiny: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Part 4): The criminalisation of unauthorised encampments (Fourth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 478, HL Paper 37); Legislative Scrutiny: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Parts 7 and 8): Sentencing and Remand of Children and Young People (Sixth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 451, HL Paper 73)
279 Joint Committee on Human Rights, Legislative Scrutiny: Nationality and Borders Bill (Part 1) - Nationality (Seventh th Report, Session 2021–22, HC 764, HL Paper 90); Legislative Scrutiny: Nationality and Borders Bill (Part 3)—Immigration offences and enforcement (Ninthth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 885, HL Paper 112); Legislative Scrutiny: Nationality and Borders Bill (Part 5)— Modern slavery (Eleventhth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 964, HL Paper 135);Legislative Scrutiny: Nationality and Borders Bill (Parts 1, 2 and 4)—Asylum, Home Office Decision-Making, Age Assessments, and Deprivation of Citizenship Orders (Twelfth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 1007, HL Paper 143)
280 Joint Committee on Human Rights, Legislative Scrutiny: Elections Bill (Fifth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 233, HL Paper 58)
281 Joint Committee on Human Rights, Legislative Scrutiny: Judicial Review and Courts Bill (Tenth Report, Session 2021–22, HC 884, HL Paper 120)
282 For example, the PCSC Bill was amended to remove a provision relating to restrictions on individuals protesting and the Judicial Review and Courts Bill was amended to remove a presumption in favour of prospective-only quashing orders by the courts.
283 Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, The UK’s national security machinery (First Report, Session 2021–22, HC 231, HL Paper 68)
284 Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, The UK’s national security machinery (First Report, Session 2021–22, HC 231, HL Paper 68) and Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, Biosecurity and national security (First Report, Session 2019–21, HC 611, HL Paper 195)
285 Oral evidence taken before the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, 29 November 2021 (Session 2021–22), OQ 1–19 (Rt Hon. Simon Clarke MP, Catherine Little)
286 Oral evidence taken before the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, 20 October 2021 (Session 2021–22), OQ 1–18 (Sir Stephen Lovegrove, David Quarrey)
287 Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, ‘Critical national infrastructure and climate adaptation’: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1659/critical-national-infrastructure-and-climate-adaptation/
288 Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, ‘Committee launches survey of infrastructure operators’ (9 February 2022): https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1659/critical-national-infrastructure-and-climate-adaptation/news/160931/committee-launches-survey-of-infrastructure-operators/