Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the level of need for NHS health professionals to ask about children’s screen use and social media exposure during routine case histories; and whether guidance will be issued to support clinicians, including newly qualified speech and language therapists, in distinguishing between screen-related language delay and Developmental Language Disorder.

The Department recognises the issue of children’s screen use and social media exposure, and the role National Health Service professionals can play.

Screen use guidance forms a core part of the Government’s response to online harms, complementing regulatory action by providing clear, practical advice to parents on supporting safe, balanced, and developmentally appropriate use of digital technologies.

On 27 March 2026, the Government published advice for parents and carers on screen use for children aged zero to five years old on the Best Start in Life website, at the following link:

https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/screen-time-under-5s

This advice offers practical, non-judgemental support to help families balance screen use with other activities. The Children of the 2020s study found that children with the highest screen use at age two, around five hours daily, can say significantly fewer words than those with lower use, although this does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. We are taking a precautionary approach to screen use for younger children, especially where screen time may be replacing activities like moving, sleeping, and playing, which are all important for children’s health and development.

Building on the guidance for zero to five year olds, the Department of Health and Social Care is now working closely with the Department for Education to develop further parent and carer facing guidance for five to 16-year-olds to promote safe and healthy engagement with the digital world. Following the closure of our call for evidence on 29 June, we are reviewing the evidence received to inform the guidance, due to be published this autumn. This work is also being informed by an independent Expert Advisory Group, co-chaired by Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza and Professor Russell Viner.

The Department of Health and Social Care is also working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on the Government’s media literacy action plan, and we will explore how we can distribute useful information about screen use and social media to relevant clinical and public health networks.

The NHS does not currently have a specific requirement for NHS clinicians to routinely ask about children’s screen use or social media exposure. Clinicians, including speech and language therapists, take a holistic developmental history, considering a range of environmental factors where clinically relevant in order to determine a course of treatment. Clinicians are expected to draw on existing evidence, professional training, and clinical judgement in the assessment of healthcare needs.