Mobile Phones in Schools
(1 day, 7 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Josh MacAlister)
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on education technology and mobile phones in schools.
Today’s children are growing up in a world shaped by smartphones, social media and artificial intelligence. Technology can bring enormous opportunities, but schools remain—and must remain—a place where children can focus, learn and connect with one another. Technology’s role in education should be to support learning, not to get in its way.
Earlier this year, with support from across the House, the Government strengthened guidance on mobile phones in schools to back teachers and parents in making schools mobile phone-free. Since that updated ban started in September, many schools have taken great steps to tackle the disruption that mobile phones can cause, and I am grateful to school leaders and teachers who have worked hard to create calm, focused classrooms. However, many teachers and pupils tell us that phones are still being used under desks, in the toilets and in the playground. Department for Education data published today tells a similar story: only 16% of secondary pupils say that their school’s mobile phone rules are followed all of the time. That means that teachers are spending valuable time spotting phone use; that school leaders are having difficult conversations about enforcement; and, most importantly, that digital distraction continues to crowd out learning.
How schools choose to implement the existing policy really does matter. Leaders need to feel more empowered by Government to make schools genuinely mobile phone-free environments. In schools where pupils are allowed to keep their phone in their bag or blazer—those with so-called “not seen, not heard” policies—only 20% of school leaders report that the rules are followed all of the time. By contrast, in schools with mandatory collection policies, 74% of leaders report that the rules are followed.
That is why I am today announcing that we will update statutory guidance to make it clear that schools should have policies that ensure children cannot have unsecured mobile phones in their blazer or bag throughout the school day. This backs teachers and leaders by giving them the clarity they are asking for. It still gives schools the choice as to whether phones are collected at the start of the day, kept in secure lockers or stored in a lockable pouch, or any other strategy that ensures phones are not within reach of children. We—parents, teachers and Government—need to work together to change children’s expectations about what the school day looks like. It should be a time to get lost in learning and make friendships that last a lifetime, not to be stuck doomscrolling in the corner of the playground.
The revised guidance will come into effect from September 2027, although we encourage schools to move towards implementation sooner if they can. Schools will continue to be able to make reasonable adjustments and exemptions where appropriate, including for pupils with medical needs and those with special educational needs and disabilities. We will work closely with school leaders as the guidance is developed. We want to learn from schools that have already led the way on this issue, ensuring that the approach is practical, proportionate, and able to meet the needs of children and teachers in different settings.
The second plank of this change is a new approach to deploying technology in schools. Today, we are launching a public consultation on establishing independent safety certification of education technology, or edtech, in schools, colleges and early years settings in England. Well designed and purposeful use of technology can support teaching, learning and the smooth running of settings. We also have a duty to support children and young people to learn to use technology confidently and safely. However, technology should never get in the way of learning. It should enhance, rather than shortcut, cognitive development, and without question it must be safe. Children’s safety and their educational outcomes, human interaction and teacher-led direct instruction must remain at the heart of our education system.
The Department for Education already sets standards for the safe use of technology, but settings are often still left to make sense of whether technology products meet those standards. These can be complex and technical issues about data protection or content safety, for example. That is why we are launching today’s consultation, which will invite views on whether certification for specific categories of technology should be introduced. It will explore which types of technology pose the greatest risks, including through exposure to harmful content, the use of children’s personal data and the impacts on cognitive development or social and emotional wellbeing. The consultation will ask about the standards and criteria that should underpin any scheme. The aim is to reduce the risk of harm to children, remain proportionate for suppliers of all sizes, be robust over time and be useful for educational settings. Findings from the consultation will inform the design of any future certification scheme, including the appropriate timescales for its introduction.
The proposed change to mobile phone guidance and the consultation on edtech safety certification meet the Government’s wider vision for childhood and education. International evidence, including the latest results from the programme for international student assessment, shows the strength of England’s education system. We are determined to go further to improve reading, writing, oracy and numeracy; to strengthen engagement; and to make schools unmissable for children. We want to go further on the depth and rigour of reading, so that we can inspire a love of reading for all children.
PISA highlights the risks when technology begins to replace the challenge, rigour and human interaction that define great teaching and learning. Technology has a place in our classrooms, but it should always be in support of learning, not become a substitute for it. To quote directly from PISA’s recent report:
“Technology can be a powerful amplifier of learning, but only if students are equipped with the cognitive and metacognitive tools to use it wisely. That means protecting time for reading in the school day. It means designing digital learning platforms that reward reflection, not just reaction.”
This Government are determined to get ahead of these challenges by shaping the role that technology plays in children’s lives, rather than leaving children to be shaped by it. I commend this statement to the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)
I am delighted to come to the House today to welcome a proper phone ban in place for schools. The Government have finally done the right thing, but they have been on what I would euphemistically describe as a journey. We should remember that the former Prime Minister told us that a legislative phone ban was “completely unnecessary”. The previous Education Secretary, the right hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson), stood opposite me here and, in her warm and friendly manner, dismissed it as “a headline-grabbing gimmick”. When I raised this topic at Education questions, a then Education Minister told me to think of something better to go on—not condescending at all. When I asked the Government in this House to rule out a “not seen, not heard” policy, they refused. The stats that the Minister is citing today are correct, but they are essentially the same as the stats we quoted a year ago in this House, and the Government refused to act on them.
Let me remind Labour Members how many times they voted against a legislative phone ban in schools: not once, not twice, but seven times. Even the Minister, who I am sure has agreed with me all along, was forced through the voting Lobbies time and again, and the new Education Secretary, who also voted against it, has clearly had a change of heart.
The Conservatives and, to be fair, the Liberal Democrats, who also supported the ban, were told by Ministers that the majority of schools had a phone ban in place and that the existing guidance was working. It was therefore quite something this morning to have facts that I was repeatedly told in this House were incorrect being used by the Education Secretary, in the media, to justify the new guidance. We must also remember that the guidance was put on a statutory footing only a month ago. One month, and already the Government have to come back and toughen it up. We could have saved a lot of time and confusion for schools if the Government had just listened to us in the first place.
The Minister has confirmed that the guidance will only come in next September. That is a self-inflicted whole extra year of lost learning time while schools have a previous set of guidance, issued only a month ago, that the Education Secretary admitted this morning is not working—all because the Government refused to listen to the evidence. That is at best frustrating and at worst chaotic.
We have got there in the end, however, and this is a significant moment. I pay tribute to the many campaigners who have fought for this, the many parents who have spoken out and the many pupils who have bravely spoken about their own experiences. Smartphones in schools are a disaster for learning, a disaster for safeguarding and a disaster for happiness. This is an important step forward in giving children their childhood back.
I welcome the news that the Government are consulting on an independent safety certification for edtech. Will the Minister clarify whether the review will look at all edtech products currently being used in schools or just new edtech products entering the market? Will he also confirm that the review will look at education outcomes as well as safeguarding? Does he have a timeframe for the consultation? How is the review consistent with rolling out unevidenced AI tutors for the most disadvantaged? Those are the very pupils who need evidence-led, teacher-led support. Will the Government commit to not rolling out the programme until they can guarantee the safety and efficacy of AI tutors?
I welcome the Government finally getting to the right place. A full phone ban in schools is the right thing for behaviour and attainment in our classrooms. It will keep schools as places of learning and will turn the tide on the pervasive screen creep that is destroying childhood. We must never accept that just because something is new, it is progress; just because it involves technology, it is automatically better; and we must never again allow anything into our classrooms that has not been proven to be safe for children.
Josh MacAlister
In the spirit of problem solving, I welcome much of what has been shared by the right hon. Lady in response to the statement, and I too thank all the campaigners outside this House and all the Members, both Government and Opposition, who have been pushing for progress on this issue for so long.
This is an issue that we, as politicians, will have to keep coming back to in future. If we look back at what happened with legislation to respond to the rise of the use of motor vehicles, we had to pass Bill after Bill in this House to make sure that seat belts and car safety were brought up to the mark. It was genuine iteration. Government and Parliament took action and the industry responded. In truth, we will have to stick at this for years to come. Hopefully, it is a point of reassurance that this Government are committed to getting ahead of these issues and to iterating time and again to get ahead of the problem.
A lot has changed in the last year on the strengthened guidance that we introduced. The proportion of schools with full bans has doubled since September, which is extremely welcome. I also draw the House’s attention to the fact that this was an issue that the Conservatives did a lot of speaking about when they were in government. I have here a list of all the occasions on which the 10 Conservative Education Secretaries had a chance to do something about this. They were raising the point as far back as 2018. [Interruption.] The right hon. Lady says that I said they were right. I felt a lot of sympathy with those views when they were shared originally; the difference—and it is a big difference—is that we have done something about it. In a way, the best reflection of a party’s priorities is how that party chooses to use the precious time that is available to legislate, whether we choose botching Brexit, making a mess of a Budget, pushing a phoney war with trade unions—as the Conservatives were doing in their final few months in government—or prioritising children and legislating for children. We have done the latter, and I am delighted that we have done it. We were only able to do it because we had a Bill, and we prioritised it in this House.
Josh MacAlister
Well, we put it on a statutory footing because we had a piece of legislation.
The question that is worth a moment of response was about the educational outcomes being within the scope of the certification process. AI tutors are a real concern, but there is an opportunity there. The Government are funding some of the leading companies around the world to develop products. They will then go into a separate programme for which we have funding, led by the Education Endowment Foundation, to establish the impact on educational outcomes and attainment. It is entirely right to suggest that there should be no widespread deployment of this technology before we know its full effects on cognitive development. Of course, there are also safety issues.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
I call the Chair of the Education Committee.
Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for his statement, and welcome the announcement of strengthened guidance on mobile phones in schools. It constitutes agreement with the Select Committee, which called for a policy whereby children have no access to their phones during the school day rather than a “not seen or heard” policy. The Committee also said that schools should be given the resources, where needed, to implement such a policy in full. For secondary schools, the cost of buying pouches can be as much as £20,000. How will the Government ensure that schools have the resources to implement the policy effectively?
The Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry on AI and edtech. We have received a vast amount of evidence about the complexity of this landscape and the challenges that schools face in respect of procurement and the deployment of technology, and understanding the pedagogical basis that underpins it. Standards should be set, and I welcome the Government’s consultation, but they should be set in relation to a clear sense of the educational purpose of the technology, a deep understanding of pedagogy, and an understanding of the technology itself. What work has been undertaken on those aspects to underpin the Government’s thinking in this area?
Josh MacAlister
I thank the hon. Lady for her long-standing campaigning and support for these issues, including the work that she has done in her role as the Chair of the Education Committee. The source of the Government’s confidence in recommending this as the approach that all schools should take from September next year is that 39% of secondary schools are already, from within their existing budgets, able to implement a full ban, which means that young people are not taking phones around the school in the middle of the day. They have found a number of means of doing that, which include pouches. We will work closely with school leaders very closely to ensure that this is implemented effectively next September.
The hon. Lady asked about the role of the certification process, and the deployment of AI tools and the need to ensure that they are effective. I completely agree with her description of the complicated landscape that headteachers and subject leads face when deciding what to use: that is exactly why we want the certification process to go alongside the trials and the evaluation work that we want to do, specifically on the use of AI tools in the classroom. We need to do that as quickly as we can, but, as the hon. Lady will know, the quality of these trials needs to be robust enough to provide schools with really clear guidance.
Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)
I very much welcome this change of heart from the Government. There is no place for phones during the school day, and stronger guidance for schools on mobile phone use is a very welcome step, as is the edtech review. Classrooms should be places of focus and learning, free from the addictive and demanding world of social media that, sadly, so often leads to bullying, but schools need the right equipment and procedures in place.
We Liberal Democrats are very clear that it should be up to headteachers to decide how they keep phones out of reach of pupils, but I reiterate the Chair of the Education Committee’s comments that this will come at a cost and that school budgets are already stretched to breaking point. Some schools will ask parents to buy the pouches, but parents are already facing the ever-rising costs of sending children to school. Can the Minister assure me that school leaders across the country will have the necessary funding to implement the guidance effectively?
For schools that want to ban smartphones completely—some are going down that route already—one barrier is that some bus companies require bus fares to be paid on an app on a smartphone, and they are not willing to change their ways. Is the Minister looking at these sorts of barriers for schools that want to go a step further?
I welcome the clear assurance from the Minister that, for pupils with medical or special educational needs and disabilities, appropriate exemptions and adjustments will be made by schools. This must not be onerous or discriminatory towards individual children. Will he confirm that young carers will be included in such exemptions?
Finally, with an increasing number of schools giving children digital devices to do schoolwork on throughout the school day, and then homework at home, can the Minister confirm whether the edtech review will also look at the amount of screen time that children in schools are being exposed to?
Josh MacAlister
I know that the hon. Member has been a keen campaigner on these issues over a number of years. On resources for implementation, as I shared in response to the question from the Chair of the Education Committee, we know that 40% of secondary schools have already implemented, from within their existing budgets, some version of a complete ban during the school day. With the range of options that are available, we are confident that schools will be able to implement this change, but we will engage closely with school leaders over the coming months to ensure that we have a version of this that is effective and can be implemented with the resources that are available.
I turn to buses. Payments are an issue in my own constituency, where Stagecoach requires young people to have an app much of the time. It is something we need to look at, and the hon. Lady is absolutely right to highlight it. Setting out the changes now, with the lead-in that we have, means that we can get to work on tackling some of those issues. There are lots of other options for how bus companies can get young people to use their services without insisting on payment through a smartphone.
The hon. Lady’s important point on young carers is well made, and I would be very happy to look at that further.
Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)
Parents across Bracknell Forest will welcome the strengthened guidance on mobile phones in schools and the fact that the Government are having a look at edtech. I agree with the Minister that we need to make sure that the guidance is implemented in an intentional way, guided by pedagogy. May I ask him to touch on data concerns? One of my concerns about AI being utilised in the classroom without clear guidance is that we need to make sure that the data is kept safe and secure. It should not be the case that foreign tech companies are profiting from sensitive data from our young people.
Josh MacAlister
I thank my hon. Friend for flagging this issue. The edtech certification process that is out for consultation today asks questions about this, and the intention is for the design of the scheme to go beyond classroom edtech and apply to edtech that may enable the smooth running of a school. That includes complex technical questions about things such as data privacy and collection.
Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
I presume it is too much to expect a Government Minister to admit that the shadow Education Secretary was right to propose this measure previously and that the Government were wrong to vote against it, so let me ask him something easier to answer. What does he think the measures will be in the evolutionary process that he describes when schoolchildren start returning to the classroom with long essays that have clearly been the result of the application of AI? It will put teachers in an extremely difficult position, and it would be good if we could be ahead of that particular curve.
Josh MacAlister
The right hon. Member asks excellent questions in this House, and I am very happy to answer the specific one about homework and AI. He is right to highlight that this is an issue to which we will need to return in years to come. In fact, in many ways homework has already been highly disrupted by the use of generative AI tools. The issue for school leaders and teachers is ensuring there are methods of assessment and pushing learning that have grit and friction. Often that will need to be in the classroom, where we can be confident that AI tools are not being used to do the cognitive offloading, meaning children miss out on the opportunity to grow and develop, which is what our schools should be all about.
Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)
Speaking as a former teacher and, indeed, as a parent, I warmly welcome this announcement from the Minister. Our schools should be phone-free environments focused on learning. Furthermore, as a parent, when my daughter Alice leaves the front door in the morning to go to her brilliant Hartlepool school, and when she leaves the school gate at the end of the school day, I do want to be able to contact her and to know where she is. Does the Minister agree with me that schools banning pupils even being able to arrive at school with a phone are going too far, and that lots of parents would have serious concerns about that?
Josh MacAlister
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the challenges in some of these debates, but I think headteachers are in an incredibly good position to make these judgment calls for their school community. They do not do that lightly; they often do it in deep collaboration with parents and the wider school community. I have been to schools that have completely banned mobile phones, including on the way to and from the school. In some places, there will be reasons why that is not appropriate—we have heard from some Members about public transport options—but I do think it is down to headteachers to make those decisions. They of course have the best interests of children at heart, and they can see the impact some of these measures have on children in their school.
Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)
I am proud to say that we are ahead of the game in Tunbridge Wells. When the Government failed to pass the legislation originally, its secondary schools got together, agreed a shared policy and implemented it. The policy was to have no smartphones on the school grounds, which therefore means pupils will not be taking smartphones on buses either. Dumbphones can be carried for the purposes of safety if necessary, but they have to be switched off during the school day. That was rolled out this September, the feedback is good and it seems very successful. Have the Government considered this as an option?
Josh MacAlister
We are aware of that option being available to schools, and I know of some schools that have taken that approach. Part of the reason why we are making this announcement this week, with sufficient time ahead of implementation of updated guidance for September next year, is to extract the best learning from existing practice in the school system, including the school referenced by the hon. Member. We want to make sure that the way in which this is described allows for the best existing practice that has been developed, including the use of what are sometimes called dumbphones.
Dr Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for the announcement of this updated guidance. I still remember not long ago the look of embarrassment on the faces behind the shadow Secretary of State when she opposed the Government’s efforts to get to grips with Grok and nudification apps. Of course, the most harmful behaviour on phones happens outside school, so would the Minister update us on the Government’s progress in keeping children safe from the features of their phones that can cause real damage?
Josh MacAlister
Yes, there is a wider set of issues to do with children and technology. The Government have taken action on a full social media ban, which will come into effect next year. Action has been taken against AI chatbots and nudification images, and there is of course the action we are taking today, which builds on action we took earlier this year. All of that taken together is this House and the Government trying to wrestle with the best way to move on this issue and get ahead of it. As I said earlier, I believe we will have to come back to this issue time and again to be ahead of the curve.
Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
On the conversation about exclusions, may I make the case for young carers not to be excluded from the freedom to learn because of the distraction of what might be going on at home? That is why I have been calling—in conjunction with MYTIME Young Carers, a wonderful local charity—for a young carers champion in every school. I have written to the Minister to ask for a meeting to discuss that. Will he now agree to meet me to see how we can protect young carers not just in having a single point of contact, but in everything we do for them in our schools?
Josh MacAlister
I apologise for the lack of response to the hon. Lady. As I am not the Minister responsible for young carers, I would be the wrong person to speak to, but I am sure my colleague would be happy to meet her. As a former teacher, I recognise and agree wholly with what she said about the need for children to be freed up, especially if they have that burden and responsibility in their home life. Most of us in this House are, I think, of an age where we did go to school without smartphones in our pockets. There were ways of speaking to the head of year, going to the school reception and contacting home, and there is no reason why that cannot work in the future.
Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank the Minister for his statement. I stopped being a teacher in 2020. I am pretty certain that kids had smartphones in 2020, yet I heard nothing from the then Government about banning them, so it is a bit rich of the Opposition to suggest that we have done nothing about it.
On young carers, the Minister will know that I am a big advocate of supporting them and have often raised the issue of young carer leads in every school. Will he add to what he has said about ensuring that young carers are not disadvantaged, taking into account what he said to the previous speaker?
Josh MacAlister
My hon. Friend mentions young carers about as much as he mentions Harlow! [Interruption.] Yes, very disappointing!
To repeat the point, it is important that young carers at school have the freedom to get on and learn. There are ways of ensuring they have the ability to contact home. I know there are thousands of heads of year and pastoral leads in schools who have a very good understanding of the children in their school and will help to facilitate that connection so that they are not isolated or disconnected.
Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)
I welcome the steps the Minister outlined to ensure phones will no longer be a distraction in the classroom, but for many children they can be a lifeline if they have chronic conditions such as type 1 diabetes. I am pleased to see an acknowledgement about an exemption for medical or disability purposes. My concern is that if there is a supply teacher, or if children are moving year group or moving school and transitioning, how will the information be passed on to ensure we do not end up in a situation where a child needs to use a medical device or app on their phone to monitor their health condition and they end up being denied it?
Josh MacAlister
I thank the hon. Member for making that important point. Schools already have systems in place for ensuring that there are handovers between teachers. I cannot stand at the Dispatch Box and guarantee him that in every single case across the entire country, 22,000 schools will always get it exactly right, but it is important that schools have those systems in place. The Government support them to do that. He is right that having that exemption and clarity for those who need to use a device that assists them with medical needs will still be important in future.
Mary Creagh (Coventry East) (Lab)
Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating the staff, students and governors at Stoke Park secondary school, who have a “Never used, seen or heard” mobile phone policy? They were in this place yesterday at the Education Centre with a bunch of year 9 students, and we debated the ban on social media for young people. Does he agree that that is an essential next step in giving our children their childhoods back and protecting them from extreme anorexia, the manosphere, pornography and self-harming websites?
Josh MacAlister
I agree with my hon. Friend’s statement and thank the leaders at Stoke Park secondary school for being ahead of the curve and taking action on the use of smartphones in schools. This measure is part of our action to ensure that those below 16 are unable to access social media, so that they get their childhoods back. My hon. Friend will know that I have supported that from a number of different positions in Government, as well as with a private Member’s Bill that set out exactly that, along with some of the changes that we have now brought in for schools.
Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)
I have had over 500 emails from constituents calling for a smartphone-free childhood, so I welcome today’s announcement. However, while restricting access to smartphones, schools are increasingly issuing laptops and tablets that pupils can take home and use beyond the school day. As some independent schools are re-examining the role of screens in education, technology use is expanding across the state school sector. Will the Minister explain how the Government will ensure that one form of screen dependency is not simply being replaced by another? What consideration has been given to the amount of time that children spend using school-issued devices both in and outside the classroom?
Josh MacAlister
The hon. Member has hit the nail on the head: that is the issue that schools need to navigate at the moment, and we need to help them. The edtech certification, on which we are starting the consultation, is designed to tackle exactly that issue and help school leaders navigate some of those choices, as are the trials and evaluations that we will put in place on AI chatbots. That is linked to the warnings from PISA about school systems elsewhere in the world, where technology has been left to let rip in the education system and has displaced books, reading, writing and some of the more tactile things that we know children need in school to have the right cognitive development.
Cat Smith (Lancaster and Wyre) (Lab)
I welcome the Minister’s statement. On Friday, I visited Lancaster high school in my constituency; under the leadership of Colin Malone, it has seen its best-ever GCSE results. During my visit, I did not see or hear a mobile phone. It is an example of a mobile-phone ban ensuring that children’s educational outcomes are improved. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Colin Malone on his leadership? My question to the Minister is about changing technology. While we are talking about mobile phones, I am aware that technology is moving on, with AI glasses and smartwatches also in the mix. Does he have any thoughts on that?
Josh MacAlister
Yes, certainly. First, congratulations to the students and staff at Lancaster high school on their GCSE results. It is encouraging to hear that part of that success is the leadership of the school driving down the use of smartphones altogether. I share my hon. Friend’s concerns about some of the advances in technology, and I am determined and prepared to further clarify guidance, particularly in relation to smart glasses, so that it is absolutely clear—it is clear already—that they should not be anywhere near our schools.
Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for his statement and the way that he has addressed other issues around edtech, which are also very important. Could he say more about the work that will be taken forward with parents in the next few months, so that there can be further discussion about this important issue to help parents understand how the Government are taking policy forward?
Josh MacAlister
Absolutely. I have not had a chance to share with the House that we will be issuing guidance for parents of older children at the start of next year on healthy screentime use, which is linked to the action we are taking for education settings as well as the wider social media ban that will come into effect next year. It will build on guidance that is already in place for very young children, where there has been concern about excessive screen use for those in early years settings.
Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)
Will the Minister congratulate King Edward VI high school in my constituency, which has rolled out a phone-free school programme this year that the young people have welcomed? However, other headteachers across my constituency—at Sir Graham Balfour, Stafford Manor and Blessed William Howard schools—have said that the resources needed to administer a phone-free school are a challenge. Will the Minister say more about the support we can provide to schools that are putting the measures in place?
Josh MacAlister
I thank the teachers and the headteacher at King Edward VI high school. I will also share a reflection that many Members of the House will have had from school visits, which is that children who may have gone into the process thinking that they would miss accessing their smartphones in break time—or sometimes in lessons, when they should not be on them—often described the freedom that comes from focusing that big chunk of the day on in-person interaction and learning. As I have said, just under 40%—39%—of secondary schools already have a full effective ban in place in line with what we are proposing. We will, of course, engage with school leaders in the coming months to ensure that our proposal is designed in such a way that it will be implemented effectively.
Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)
It was great to see local schools like the Priory and Hitchin Boys’ and Girls’ lead the way on keeping phones out of the classroom. Having campaigned with parents and teachers to make this a norm, I am delighted that the Government are leading on this issue. As others have alluded to, the growth of generative AI is threatening to tread on children’s learning in the same way that smartphones did; just as we did with smartphones, we should not treat that as inevitable or unavoidable. How does the Minister intend to support our schools to ensure that generative AI can be used as an effective tool to support learning, but kept out of the spaces where it can be harmful to learning?
Josh MacAlister
My hon. Friend is right to highlight this matter. He has been a massive campaigner on these issues in his constituency and in this House, as have others. My hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon) has also been a big advocate for these issues. Earlier this year I was in Estonia, which has a high-performing school system and is adept at making good use of technology. While I was there, I saw the care and thought that went into the development of generative AI models that could be Socratic with pupils—they could coach and teach back and forth. Anything like that would need to go through rigorous testing to ensure that educational outcomes would be improved, but that shows the care and thought that needs to go into the deployment of such technologies.
Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)
I welcome the Minister’s statement on smart glasses, which I profoundly believe should be banned from all public buildings as a matter of urgency. In the Information Commissioner’s findings about edtech, it already has concerns about the data that those companies admit they are farming on children. My concern is about the totality of the information that can be gleaned about children from across both the technology they use at home—such as their smartphones, including their location, and from apps that they might have, such as menstrual trackers, where children might not understand the importance of the personal data that they are sharing—and edtech. I am concerned that by the time AI recruitment decisions are being made, when the current generation are 25, 30 or 40 years old, the totality of information that could be known about them online will be staggering. Will the Minister take an approach that involves high levels of scrutiny of the totality of information that could be held about children, both from the edtech sector and outside of it?
Josh MacAlister
My hon. Friend has done a very good job of describing the complicated nature of some of the risks and concerns that will affect this generation of children, the first to grow up online to this extent. It is because of the issues my hon. Friend raises that we are proposing an edtech certification scheme. As I have stressed in response to other hon. Members, it is about not just edtech in the classroom, but any use of technology in education settings, including colleges and early years settings and schools, that captures data in order to improve the running of the school or homework or other services. We want to ensure that that certification scheme covers all those services.
Tom Collins (Worcester) (Lab)
I welcome the thought that has gone into this new guidance for schools on phones, but young people have told me that their worst relationship with their devices is when they are at home, not when they are at school. I really welcome the independent safety certification approach, but we need to close the loopholes on safety for digital devices across the board so that they meet the same standards as technology everywhere. Does the Minister agree that we have more work to do to implement digital product safety so that technology is safe for everybody, everywhere, all the time?
Josh MacAlister
I wholly agree with my hon. Friend that we have much more work to do. The magic of the social media ban, which comes alongside a series of other Government actions to reclaim childhood, is that if we get it right, it will give hours of time back to children. The time that is being used for doomscrolling at the moment is taking away time for children to do real-life things that are hard and rewarding and that give them genuine joy. When I have spoken to young people and asked, “If you got an hour back from your screen, what would you do?”, there is such a variety of answers, and that gives us a real sense that those things are what children should be doing. It just goes to underscore the importance of the ban.
Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)
I have been inundated with hundreds of messages from parents and my local Smartphone Free Childhood group, who are deeply concerned about the impact of their children’s smartphone use. Many have felt that the missing piece has been a decisive intervention—the hard stop that a complete ban in schools can provide. Does the Minister agree that this clearer, stronger guidance can provide parents with the confidence that they need that a phone-free school is just that?
Josh MacAlister
Absolutely. The action that we are taking today, building on action that the Government have announced in recent months, is all about trying to make this a common effort across parents, schools, Government and society. We do want to draw a line and recognise that it has gone too far and that we did not get ahead of this issue as a society. We want to get children their childhood back. [Interruption.] Members on the Conservative Benches who are heckling me on this point will know that we are only able to do that because we have prioritised legislative time to focus on children—not something that could be said of the Conservatives in their final few years in government.
Andrew Cooper (Mid Cheshire) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for his statement, which answers the call from many school leaders in my constituency for the Government to lead on this issue and provide a consistent approach that all schools can follow. Will he join me in praising Winsford academy in my constituency, which took bold action in early 2024 to introduce phone pouches after more than 350 incidents over a five-week period. The school reported immediate improvements in concentration and social interaction, and they were sustained over time. Does he agree that this is exactly the sort of outcome we want replicated across all schools?
Josh MacAlister
Absolutely. Winsford academy, like many schools, has got ahead of this issue. I imagine that the teachers there saw the big impact on learning and teaching that uncontrolled smartphone use had in the school. It is because of the work of those schools—40% of secondary schools have gone ahead of the existing statutory guidance and are making sure that children do not have access to phones in their blazers or bags—that we are confident that we can do this for the whole of England. We are drawing the line in the sand a bit further and saying that when children are in schools, they should not have any of the distractions that come with a smartphone or any phone at all.
Pam Cox (Colchester) (Lab)
The Stanway school in Colchester gained national attention through a Channel 4 documentary called “Swiped: The School That Banned Smartphones”, in which phone-free experiments saw pupils who took part reporting lower anxiety, improved concentration and an extra hour of sleep each night. Does the Minister agree that the experience of students in Colchester demonstrates the benefits of smartphone-free schools? What support will be in place to help more schools adopt those policies?
Josh MacAlister
I went to the screening of “Swiped” when it came out and met some of the staff who were involved in the project and some of the researchers. The project showed the impact on children over a period of weeks when they had that time freed back up. If I remember rightly, part of the experiment involved children putting their phones in a perspex box on the way into school, and it was left there for a number of weeks. I do wonder what the impact on this House would be if we were to do the same as an experiment.
Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for today’s announcement. As a former teacher, he knows better than most that the best kind of learning happens away from the screen. We are joined in the Gallery by my mum, who is a wonderful grandma to my boys, baby Louis and Robin. Does the Minister agree with me and my mum that those early screen habits are very important and that the Government should set clear guidance for parents, grandparents and carers about the importance of screentime habits at home?
Josh MacAlister
Quite. What a what a lovely answer to be able to give: I agree with my hon. Friend and his mum about this issue. Of course, this is an intergenerational issue as lots of young people grow up with the care, love and support of aunts, uncles and grandparents. It will be essential to ensure that everyone is on board with these changes so that we can set that new norm.
Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for his strong and consistent leadership on this issue over the last two years. I totally agree that the expectation should be for school leaders, parents and the Government to work together. I really welcome what he said about further guidance being on the way for parents.
Some constituents have contacted me with concerns about how some schools have been proactively sending out guidance from the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign whereas others have said that that is perhaps a partisan campaign, which seems to me to be overly cautious. Will the Minister join me in paying tribute to the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign and expand on whether he thinks that some of its campaigns, such as the parent pact, are useful tools for parents?
Josh MacAlister
I thank my hon. Friend for his campaigning and leadership on this issue in his constituency. I know that he has an active Smartphone Free Childhood campaign group and that he has been a big advocate with Joe and Daisy, the leaders of the movement. Many hon. Members across the House will be familiar with the campaign; I would not describe it as partisan at all. The campaigners have built a remarkable community behind the change, and the attention that they have brought to this issue has been part of what has shifted politics on it in recent years.
Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)
I welcome these measures. Parents and teachers have called for them. This is the right thing to do.
The Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams said that Meta would target teenage girls who deleted selfies with advertising for beauty products, skincare and even cosmetic procedures, monetising their insecurity. Tech giants have repeatedly shown that they will not regulate themselves. Is the Minister having conversations with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to ensure that algorithms are regulated to protect our kids?
Josh MacAlister
I thank my hon. Friend for the question. I am familiar with Sarah Wynn-Williams’s book and the claims made in it, which are extremely serious. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is concerned about the need for the public square, which we find now to be largely online, to reflect the British values we have in everyday life. She is personally passionate about that, and that approach is shaping her attitude towards the forthcoming social media ban.
Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)
In Cheshire, we are leading the way on Esther Ghey’s phone-free education campaign, with 92% of state high schools in the county using lockable phone pouches this school year. That was made possible in no small part thanks to funding and leadership from our Labour police and crime commissioner, Dan Price. Will the Minister visit Cheshire to see the difference that that is making to safeguarding and educational outcomes in our local schools?
Josh MacAlister
I join my hon. Friend in recognising the heroic leadership and commitment of Esther Ghey following the shocking, appalling circumstances her family have faced in recent years. She has been able to turn that into such positive, hopeful campaigning, which is proving to be very effective. I saw Esther a couple of weeks ago, when she raised issues to do with this very guidance with me. It is a tribute to her.
I also recognise the leadership of Dan Price, whom I know. He has spoken to me about the work he has done with schools as police and crime commissioner for Cheshire. He caught on to the link between what children and young people are doing on smartphones and social media and incidents and concerns in the community. He has been ahead of the curve on that.
John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)
In 1943, Churchill reportedly said:
“We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.”—[Official Report, 28 October 1943; Vol. 393, c. 403.]
Later, the academic John Culkin said,
“We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”
Will the Minister assure the House that the Government will ensure that that trap is not fallen into as regards edtech and other forms of digital technology relating to our children?
Josh MacAlister
My hon. Friend has asked a really great question to finish the statement on. In line with the quotes he shared, either we as a country will have young people who are disrupted by this technology, or we will need to choose to disrupt it so that it benefits children, young people and the whole country. We do have agency and control over these issues; when we believe that we do not, we end up in a dangerous place. The action that we are taking on education follows a series of other actions that the Government are taking to get ahead of the issue.
I look forward to working with hon. Members across the House on further action in the future as the technology develops. We will need to ensure that we shape it so that it benefits our children, rather than having the disruption that it can cause impacting children’s outcomes.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
May I thank the Minister for his statement and, indeed, for his comments on mobile phone usage in the Chamber?