New review helps children
and parents get the best from new technologies, while protecting
them from harmful images
DEPARTMENT FOR
CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES News Release (2007/0158) issued by
The Government News Network on 6 September 2007
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 today as part of the
Government's new 10 year Children's Plan.
The Review was announced today 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 today 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 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.
"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."
"I want children to enjoy new media without their childhood
being harmed."
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."
"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, and to make recommendations for improvements or
additional action.
Questions on the issue will be asked at the first Citizen's
Jury on children's services and education in Bristol Brunel
Academy today. This will be attended by the Prime Minister and Ed
Balls. The views of children, parents and the professionals who
work with them on this will be taken forward in the Department for
Children, Schools and Families' 10 year Children's Plan.
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; and
- make recommendations on further action or improvements needed
in regulation, education and communications about the use of
technologies, advertising or other areas.
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. Neither online
grooming nor the creation and distribution of abusive images of
children are included as these are already covered in the
safeguarding strategy consultation.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Biography for Dr Tanya Byron
Tanya did her first degree in psychology at York, her clinical
psychology Masters training at UCL and her doctorate (on the
treatment of cocaine, amphetamine and ecstasy misusers) between
University College Hospital and Surrey. She has been working in
the NHS for 16 years working in Drug Dependency, HIV/AIDS and
sexual health, adult mental health and eating disorders services.
She was the Consultant of an in patient unit for 12 - 16 year olds
with severe mental health problems and child protection issues.
Tanya now works one clinical day a week as a Consultant in child
and adolescent mental health.
In addition Tanya writes a weekly column for the Times newspaper
and for several women's magazines.
Predominantly Tanya works at the BBC presenting programmes on
child behaviour, science and current affairs (Little Angels; Teen
Angels; House of Tiny Tearaways; Panorama; How to Improve Your
Memory - with Professor Robert Winston). Tanya is currently
filming four one hour documentaries for BBC2 looking at: Sex;
Death; Vanity and Spirituality. Next year she will be filming a
series on child behaviour in America. Also, after appearing in
last years French & Saunders Christmas Special, Tanya is now
writing a comedy series about a daytime chat show host (The Life
and Times of Vivienne Vyle) with Jennifer Saunders.
Tanya has published two books on child behaviour and is currently
writing a third published by Penguin and editing an encyclopedia
of child development and the early years with Dorling Kindersley.
Tanya jointly owns and runs a production company with her business
partner and best friend of 34 years, the producer and agent Sam
Richards - their company manages Tanya's broadcast career and
also produces a number of other programmes for the BBC and other channels.
2. In June 2006, 68% of homes had internet access, and by January
2007, 100% of schools.
3. 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 (details available at http://www.bbfc.co.uk) 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.
4. 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)
Advertising Standards Association
Advertising
Association
Retail industry representatives e.g. Virgin, HMV,
Game, Amazon
British Standards Institute
Local Authorities
Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS)
Broadband
Stakeholders Group
Get Safe Online
parents and
parents' organisations
children and young people
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