Parents will now be able to help their kids make the most of exciting new technologies, while protecting them from harmful and inappropriate imagery, thanks to the Government’s new 10 year Children’s Plan.

A new review 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. She will draw on advice from industry experts and will engage a wide range of industry and 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.”
Culture Secretary James Purnell said:

“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.”
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, and to make recommendations for improvements or additional action.

The Review will complement other activity both underway and planned to tackle other aspects of internet safety such as online grooming, the creation and 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.

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