Internet Watch Foundation

Whilst the Internet Watch Foundation operates independently of government, we are closely supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Home Office and have good working relationship with the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).

 

The IWF has always enjoyed particularly close links with Paul Goggins MP, former Minister at the Home Office with responsibility for internet crime and Rt. Hon Alun Michael MP, former DTI Minister with responsibility for the ICT industry. Following the Government reshuffle in May 2006, new ministers have been appointed to these positions, Vernon Coaker MP and Margaret Hodge MP, respectively.

 

Vernon Coaker MP was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Policing, Security and Community Safety in May 2006.

 

Since taking up his post in May 2006, Mr Coaker has already answered two parliamentary questions relating to the Internet Watch Foundation:

• Judy Mallaber MP: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he made of the Internet Watch Foundation's annual report 2005; and if he will make a statement. Click here to see the Mr Coaker’s answer.
  
• Sian James MP: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made by his Department with internet service providers in preventing access to graphic images of child abuse via the internet. Click here to see the Mr Coaker’s answer.

Before taking up his post at the Home Office, Mr Coaker was a government whip, from June 2003. 

 

He was previously Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Tessa Jowell, Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, and was also PPS to Estelle Morris when she was Secretary of State for Education. Mr Coaker has been MP for Gedling in Nottinghamshire since 1997.  

 

He is one of UNICEF’s 'Special Friends' in Parliament, and has visited Kosovo, Macedonia and Angola to see the work being done there.

 

Before becoming an MP, Vernon Coaker was Deputy Headteacher at Bigwood School in Nottingham.  He is married to Jackie, and they have a daughter and a son.  His interests include sport, walking in the countryside and keeping up with the media.

 

 

Minister of State for Industry and the Regions Responsible for Business Group issues, specifically:

The Rt. Hon Margaret Hodge MBE was appointed DTI Minister of State for Industry and the Regions in May 2006.

 

She was elected Member of Parliament for Barking in 2004 and has carried out the following roles in Government: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment and Equal Opportunities, Department for Education and Employment (1998-2001); Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, Department for Education and Skills (2001-2003); Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, Department for Education and Skills (2003-2005).

 

Mrs Hodge entered politics in 1973 as a councillor for the London Borough of Islington where she was Chair of the Housing Committee from 1975 to 1979 and Deputy Leader from 1981 to 1982, before becoming Leader from 1982 to 1992. She spent two years as a consultant for Price Waterhouse from 1992 to 1994.

 

Prior to her appointment to the DfEE she was Joint Chairman for the House of Commons Education and Employment Select Committee.

 

She was educated at Bromley High School and Oxford High School before obtaining a BSc at the London School of Economics. Margaret Hodge is married and has four children and one grandchild.

 

The IWF is looking forward to working with these ministers in the future and to continuing positive links with their departments.