Children: Dangers of Screen Time

Lord Laming Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

There are two separate points in the noble Lord’s question. I very much agree that the safety of our youngest children in particular should be a priority and that we should continue to monitor and review early years safeguarding requirements and guidance. As I suggested earlier, we have already updated the guidance regarding online safety and appropriate device and screen usage in early years settings. That is linked to advice from the World Health Organization on appropriate usage, particularly sedentary usage, of screen time. The point about assessment is different. My understanding is that the tool the noble Lord references will be used on a short-term basis and largely by teachers, working alongside students. We do not want to be in a position of suggesting that there is no use for technology and screens as we develop our assessment, whether for young children or older children. However, his broader point is right. That is why the Government have provided advice already and are continuing the research necessary, to be clear about what is appropriate use for children.

[Lord Laming (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister may well have seen an interview with some young people at the end of last term. They are in a school where there has been agreement between the school, the parents and the young people that there will be no screen time, other than for educational purposes, in the school. The thing that was most striking about the reaction of these young people was how they had made a whole range of other friends. Previously, when they had breaks they would always go on their phones—and their thumbs would be going at 90 mph—but once that was not allowed they actually talked to their fellow pupils and developed a whole range of new friendships. It is a very important part of children’s social development.

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Lord, with his very extensive knowledge, makes two important points. First, when we are talking about the impact of screen time we need to involve young people in describing and thinking about where there should be controls and what the alternatives are. Secondly, to go back to my point about screen time displacing other activity, there are fears that screen time displaces appropriate sleep, appropriate physical activity and, sometimes, as the noble Lord has rightly said, the interesting conversations that we are able to have with our colleagues that I am so much looking forward to now that we have returned from the Summer Recess.