Parliament

A full record of Baroness Kidron’s contributions to parliament, including transcripts, can be found on Hansard.

Crime and Policing Bill – Second reading

October 2025

Baroness Kidron urged government to take stronger action to combat online child sexual abuse, violent pornography and AI misuse, and called for better support for bereaved families and vulnerable young people affected by digital harms.

Data (Use and Access) Bill – ping pong part 5

June 2025

Baroness Kidron condemned the government for siding with big tech over the UK’s creative industries, accusing ministers of betraying millions of workers and allowing global tech to profit from British creators’ work without permission or payment.

Data (Use and Access) Bill – ping pong part 4

June 2025

Baroness Kidron urged Lords to back another amendment protecting creators’ intellectual property and livelihoods, stressing respect for parliamentary process while condemning the government’s refusal to safeguard the UK’s creative industries.

Data (Use and Access) Bill – ping pong part 3

June 2025

Baroness Kidron urged the Lords to defend the rights and livelihoods of UK creators by supporting an amendment that would protect their intellectual property from exploitation by tech companies, warning that failure to act now will leave the creative industries unprotected and undervalued.

Data (Use and Access) Bill – ping pong part 2

May 2025

Baroness Kidron continued to fight for creative copyright holders by defending an amendment requiring the government to implement transparency rules and warning that inaction will irreparably damage the nation’s creative industries, economy, and cultural identity.

Data (Use and Access) Bill – ping pong part 1

May 2025

As the Data returned to the Lords, Baroness Kidron defended an amendment requiring transparency over AI companies' use of copyrighted material, warning that government inaction is enabling tech forms to steal UK intellectual property, threatening the nation’s creative economy.

Smartphones in Schools – Take note debate

November 2024

In a debate she brought forward as a Motion to Take Note, Baroness Kidron argued that smartphones and poorly regulated education technology are harming children’s learning, wellbeing, and development, calling for statutory restrictions on phone use in schools and stronger EdTech standards.

‘Who watches the watchdogs?’ – Take note debate

September 2024

In a debate on the Lords Industry and Regulators Committee report about regulation, Baroness Kidron highlighted the importance of technology regulation across domains. She warned of a shortage of AI expertise across goverment and regulators, and called for a parliamentary committee to oversee digital regulation.

US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy and Baroness Kidron on youth mental health | Lord Speaker Lecture

June 2024

US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy and Baroness Kidron discuss the need to address the growing youth mental health crisis, the risk that social media use poses, and how social connection can improve our overall well-being.

The Lord Speaker’s Lecture series invites members of the House of Lords and external experts to deliver lectures and answer questions on their specialist subjects or topics of interest.

The lectures enables members of both Houses and staff to hear expert opinion, fostering discussion and the exchange of information.

Media Bill – Second reading

February 2024

Welcoming the Media Bill to the Lords, Baroness Kidron warned that narrowing public service broadcaster genre requirements risked undermining art, religious, and scientific content, urged inclusion of on-demand and app-store services, and argued the Bill lacked the vision to tackle misinformation or capitalise on trust in the BBC.

Screen Time – Education Committee inquiry

January 2024

Giving evidence to the Commons Education Committee's inquiry, Baroness Kidron told MPs that in the current situation in which the government does not issue mandatory standards for digital technology and much of it is developed for profit, its impact on children is usually negative.

Early years education – Take note debate

November 2023

In a Motion to Take Note, Baroness Kidron argued that weak oversight of EdTech exposes children to poor learning tools, commercial exploitation, and privacy risks. She called on government to ensure technology supports children's education and wellbeing with EdTech certification and stronger data protection.

King’s Speech

November 2023

Baroness Kidron argued that AI's dangers, including misinformaiton, copyright abuse, and harms to children, are not future risks but present realities. She criticised government complacency and called for immediate action to enforce existing laws and prioritise children's rights and AI safety.

Online Safety BIll – Report stage part 3

July 2023

After the Government brought forward amendments to the Online Safety Bill empowering coroners to access data when investigating a child's death, Baroness Kidron paid tribute to bereaved families' campaigning for the amendments. However, she said that what bereaved families really want is online services to be safe by design.

Online Safety Bill – Report stage part 2

July 2023

Baroness Kidron tabled amendments aimed at strengthening coroners' powers to investigate child deaths. She suggested that Ofcom provide formal guidance and training for coroners, redefining online users as consumers with consumer rights, and closer collaboration between regulators.

Online Safety Bill – Report stage part 1

July 2023

Baroness Kidron welcomed stronger age assurance laws requiring highly effective systems to block children's access to pornography and align with the AADC. She insisted these must be rapidly implemented, clearly enforced, and privacy preserving.

Online Safety Bill – Committee stage

May 2023

Baroness Kidron introduced amendments, with cross-party consensus, which would establish strong, privacy-preserving age assurance standards and protect children from online harm. She stressed that these provisions must be clearly and robustly enforced.

Public Service Broadcasting – Take note debate

May 2021

Debating a Communications and Digital Committee report on public service broadcasting, Baroness Kidron argued that, in an increasingly fragmented media landscape dominated by global services, the UK urgently needs a fairly and well-funded, national public broadcaster to provide shared cultural space, collective identity, and trusted information.

Regulating in a Digital World – Take not debate

June 2019

Discussing the Communications and Digital Committee report that she helped to write, Baroness Kidron argued that powerful tech companies talk about supporting regulation, but then routinely block it, meaning that government must back strong, enforceable rules to protect users, especially children.