FOIA request about the DSIT/Ofcom Online Safety Monitoring & Evaluation Steering Group
This blog publishes the documents requested under FOIA as part of phase 2 of my research project on the Impact of regulation on children’s digital lives (the main report was published May 2026). The final response to my FOIA request came after the report was published.
The DSIT/Ofcom Online Safety Monitoring & Evaluation Steering Group was referenced by the Government in their response to the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Committee when it was considering the Children’s Codes submitted to Parliament under the Online Safety Act in 2025. So I made a FOIA request seeking information about its aims and how it operated.
The documents released reveal some elements of measurement under consideration, and some data are withheld under the government policy exemption.
Most interestingly, in response to the portion of the FOIA request seeking meeting minutes related to the OSMESG, DSIT indicated that it did not hold this information. I requested an internal review and was informed that “In response to part one of your internal review, we can confirm that we do not hold any minutes in scope of your request. The Online Safety Monitoring & Evaluation Steering Group was a short-lived group, and we do not hold the information requested. The response also indicated “We can advise that the department plans to publish our approach to monitoring and evaluation online in the future.”
While acknowledging that Ofcom has an extensive research program related to the OSA (as covered in the annex to my report on regulatory developments), it is concerning that the Group does not appear to have been fully operational, particularly given its formal reference in a Parliamentary Committee. This is also concerning given the recent Growing up in the online world consultation was in part predicated on the notion that regulation was not working effectively to protect children online. This, in turn, led to the announcement of the “Australia +” model of social media access restrictions for children. The initial consultation response published makes no reference to any formal evaluation of the OSA, despite such evaluations being an important part of UK Government practice as part of a ‘theory of change model’.
So it is currently unclear what role evaluation of the OSA played in the Government’s decision-making following the consultation. A further response to the consultation is planned for July (before recess), and it will again be important to scrutinise the evidence presented on the OSA’s impact, or whether this is again delayed.
