Pupils: ICT

(asked on 22nd July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the optimum amount of learning time that pupils should spend on (a) the Internet and (b) screen-based devices daily according to age.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 7th September 2020

Whilst the Department is continuing to assess the impact of school closure on all children and young people, we have not undertaken any formal assessment of the optimum amount of educational time that pupils should spend on the internet and screen-based devices daily according to age.

We recognise that the issue raised is an important one. The Department has referred schools to the Chief Medical Officers’ commentary on screen-based activity for children and young people’s mental health and psychological wellbeing, published February 2019: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-cmo-commentary-on-screen-time-and-social-media-map-of-reviews.

The Department published guidance on 2 July that sets out what is expected from schools if they are required to provide remote education: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#section-3-curriculum-behaviour-and-pastoral-support.

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