Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the long-term health effects of excessive use of video games and the internet by primary school children; and what steps he is taking to address that matter.

The Department has made no such assessment.

Children who spend more time on computers, watching TV and playing video games tend to experience higher levels of emotional distress, anxiety and depression. This relationship is particularly negative among those who engage in high levels of screen use (more than four hours a day).

Following an in-depth look at mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the Government has set out a blueprint for improving care over the next five years. The Government report of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce’s findings, Future in mind, published on 17 March 2015, sets out a clear national ambition in the form of key aspirations that the Government would wish to see by 2020. We are already taking forward work on a number of the proposals in Future in mind including:

- development of local transformation plans by local areas;

- the extension and expansion of the Children and Young People’s Access to Psychological Therapies Programme;

- the commissioning of a new prevalence survey; and

- joint training and pilots in schools.