Tim Loughton MP

Tim Loughton MP (Conservative) MP for East Worthing & Shoreham. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families. Member of the All Party Internet Group. Studied classics and Mesopotamian Archaeology at the University of Warwick and Clare College, Cambridge. After 25 July 2007 Cambridge in 1984, he worked as a fund manager in the City of London for British merchant bank Flemings, becoming a director in 1992. He was also a non-executive director of an internet start-up company Netlink from 1996 until it was successfully sold in 1999 to an American company.

Children's Digital Rights

The Conservatives' children's spokesman, Tim Loughton, challenged the value of ContactPoint in 390,000 to access child database 26 January 2009

"Which do you think is more likely to protect vulnerable children - investing in more permanent and appropriately trained social workers and reducing their caseload or instead throwing money at another expensive data disaster waiting to happen?"

The Argus reported Tim Loughton critisised fingerpring kids in [Fingerprints could pay for school lunches] 3 March 2008

"It is another step towards a surveillance society"

The Independent reported Tim Loughton criticising ContactPoint in Child database plan under attack following missing discs debacle 26 November 2007

Tim Loughton, the Conservative spokesman for children, said it should be replaced by a smaller, more tightly controlled database.

The Times report in Child database under threat after security fiasco 23 November 2007

Tim Loughton, Shadow Children’s Minister, has written to the Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes asking her to put the whole project on ice, amid fears about the security of the information.
"After the Revenue and Customs fiasco this week, there are question marks over whether the security around ContactPoint is watertight,"

Written Question Children: Databases 25 July 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people the Government estimate will have access to ContactPoint.

Written Question Children: Databases 23 July 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in what circumstances sensitive material, as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998, will appear on the ContactPoint database.

Identity cards

Signed Early Day Motion 263 Identity Cards 06 June 2005

That this House believes that a convincing case for the introduction of compulsory biometric identity cards and a national database has not been made, that the risks involved far outweigh any discernible benefit, that the introduction of identity cards will fundamentally change the relationship between the citizen and the state, diminish personal privacy and threaten civil liberties, that the present proposals do not provide properly costed, proportionate or effective solutions to the problems they are claimed to solve; and calls upon the Government to shelve plans for their introduction.

Computer Games

Signed Early Day Motion 61 Epilepsy and screen-based electronic games 6 November 2007

That this House recognises that photosensitive epileptic seizures can be triggered by screen-based electronic games; notes with concern that there is no legal duty on computer game publishers to test their products before publication to make sure they do not trigger a seizure; further notes with concern that there is no legal requirement for computer game publishers to offer warnings that their products could trigger a seizure; and calls upon the Government to consider making it a legal requirement for computer game publishers to test their products before publication and to remove scenes that could potentially trigger a photosensitive epileptic seizure.

Internet Censorship

Signed Early Day Motion 820 Real data services, Romford 04 March 2003

That this House expresses its deep concern at the availability of child pornography on the internet; congratulates the Romford-based internet service provider, Real Data Services, for blocking users from being able to access websites containing child pornography; and further calls upon other internet providers to follow suit, in order to track down the perpetrators of this obscene crime against children.


Adult content filters

  • Department for Education [1] consultation regarding a possible switch to requiring users "opt-in" to being able to access adult content.

Links

News

2008-12-29 - Daily Mail - Big Brother CCTV to spy on pupils aged four - complete with CPS evidence kit
Author: Jason Lewis
Summary: Schools have installed CCTV cameras and microphones in classrooms to watch and listen to pupils as young as four. The Big Brother-style surveillance is being marketed as a way to identify pupils disrupting lessons when teachers' backs are turned. ... Classwatch is set to face further scrutiny over the role of Shadow Children's Minister Tim Loughton, the firm's £30,000-a-year chairman. ... Last night, Tory frontbencher Mr Loughton insisted there was no conflict between his political role and part-time job. He said: "I am not the Shadow Minister for Schools, I am the Shadow Minister for Children. I don't speak on school security." He declares his involvement with the firm on the MPs' register of interests and added: "I have never sought to advocate this. I went through this very carefully before I got involved in it and it doesn’t conflict with anything I do."
2007-11-26 - The Independent - Child database plan under attack following missing discs debacle
Author: Colin Brown
Summary: A review of security has been ordered over Government plans to put the personal details of 11 million schoolchildren on to a database. The move comes in the wake of the HM Revenue and Customs missing discs debacle. ... the Tories are calling for the scheme to be ditched. Tim Loughton, the Conservative spokesman for children, said it should be replaced by a smaller, more tightly controlled database.
2007-11-24 - The Times - Child database under threat after security fiasco
Summary: Tim Loughton, Shadow Children’s Minister, has written to the Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes asking her to put the whole project on ice, amid fears about the security of the information. "After the Revenue and Customs fiasco this week, there are question marks over whether the security around ContactPoint is watertight,"
2004-10-28 - Community Care - Database clause on Children Bill fails
Summary: Opposition MPs failed last week to have more details included in the Children Bill about the workings of the proposed information databases on all children. ... Conservative MP Tim Loughton added: "We are being asked to sign a blank cheque without even seeing the consultation details, let alone the proposal that the government intends to put forward as a result of that consultation."
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