Safe use of New Technologies

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Published: 11 September 2007

Safe use of New Technologies

The government claims that parents will be able to help their kids make the most of exciting new technologies, while protecting them from harmful and inappropriate imagery, thanks to a new review announced as part of the Government's new 10 year Children's Plan.

The Review has been announced by the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools, and Families, Ed Balls, and Culture Secretary, James Purnell.

The Prime Minister and Ed Balls discussed this issue with parents, teachers and children at the launch of the Children's Plan consultation event recently at Bristol Brunel Academy. Their views will be fed through into this review.

The review will be led by clinical psychologist and mother of two Dr Tanya Byron, well known for her clinical work with children and families and also her television programmes about child behaviour (The House of Tiny Tearaways, and Little Angels, BBC TV):

· She will draw on advice from industry experts and will engage a wide range of industry & regulatory bodies.

· It will be jointly sponsored by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls said:

"Children and young people have faster, easier and more immediate access to online information than ever before. More and more children and young people have mobile phones and play video games in their spare time.

These technologies bring our children new, fantastic opportunities and lots of fun but we need to balance this with the risks and worries that parents have of their children accessing inappropriate content.

This Review is not about stopping children having fun or preventing them from taking full advantage of the educational, social and entertainment benefits that the internet and video games technologies offer.

But it is about making sure they can do so safely, as far as possible, without being exposed to harmful or inappropriate material."

Culture Secretary James Purnell said:

"I want children to enjoy new media without their childhood being harmed.

Many parents are worried about what their children may be accessing online. We want to work with them and the industry to see what more could be done to give parents the tools and advice they need."

We already have protections in place for broadcasters and video but the development of the internet has brought new challenges. It is right that we keep pace with these changes."

Dr Tanya Byron, chair of the Review said:

"The internet is a powerful and positive tool for children in terms of their learning and ongoing development.

However, we must all enable our children to use the possibility presented by the internet in a way that is both positive and safe.

Therefore it is essential that parents and anyone involved in the care and development of young people are familiar with the material they will access and view and of the potential and actual risks therein."

The objectives of the Review are:

· To undertake a review of the evidence on risks to children's safety and wellbeing of exposure to harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games

· To assess the effectiveness and adequacy of existing measures to help prevent children from being exposed to such material and help parents understand and manage the risks of access to inappropriate content

· To make recommendations for improvements or additional action

The Review will:

· conduct an initial scoping of relevant activities with a view to focusing on helping parents to protect their children from potentially harmful and inappropriate material on the internet and in video games, in order to complement other activity underway

· examine the effectiveness of existing regulatory and other mechanisms, taking account of EU and other relevant provisions, governing the availability of, and access to, illegal and inappropriate material, including user-generated content

· commission a literature review and analysis of current evidence on the effects of exposure to such material on children's wellbeing and behaviour

· review, with parents, the issues of most concern to them and their understanding of the risks posed by technologies and how to manage them

· ask children and young people about their experience of using the internet and video games technologies and find out what they see as the key benefits and what their concerns are

· explore with industry what more can be done to support parents in protecting their children

· make recommendations on further action or improvements needed in regulation, education and communications about the use of technologies, advertising or other areas

The Review is intended to complement other activity both underway & planned to tackle other aspects of internet safety such as:

· online grooming

· the creation & distribution of abusive images of children and

· cyberbullying

The responses to the Review will also feed into the cross Government action plan on the recently published Staying Safe strategy.

The Review will NOT cover television content, as there is already effective statutory regulation in this area. Neither online grooming nor the creation & distribution of abusive images of children are included as these are already covered in the safeguarding strategy consultation.

Games which feature gross violence and/or sexual material are subject to the Video Recordings Act and must be submitted to the British Board of Film Classification. They are considered against a set of guidelines and given a legally binding age-related classification.

All other games are covered the voluntary Pan-European Games Information system which aims to provide parents with information allowing them to make choices for their children.

This review will be led jointly by DCSF and DCMS (with close involvement of BERR and Home Office) and will report to the two Secretaries of State. It will require engagement with, and consultation of, a range of stakeholders, including:

· Cabinet Office

· Home Secretary's Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet

· Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)

· Ofcom

· Becta

· British Board of Film Classification

· Children's Charities Coalition for Internet Safety

· Internet Watch Foundation

· Childnet International

· Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA)

· Internet Services Providers Association (ISPA)

· Tiga (games software developer trade body)