Children and Families Bill

Debate between Baroness Howe of Idlicote and Viscount Colville of Culross

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

My Lords, I am a firm supporter of child protection, as well as someone with a long-standing interest and involvement in broadcasting issues. The amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, aims to improve the legislative framework to the benefit of both those areas, ultimately providing children with more opportunities to participate in performances of all kinds under a clear and robust framework of protection. I therefore very much welcome and support Amendment 268.

Most of your Lordships will be familiar with the appearance of children on our television screens, whether it is in documentaries, dedicated children’s shows, dramas or entertainment programmes. Children benefit from these appearances by gaining confidence and new skills, and it is important for society as a whole that children are both seen and heard in the media. Equally, we can all agree that children should have the right to participate in such programmes and that the process for ensuring that they are appropriately protected should be clear and consistent. As we have heard, unfortunately at present this is not the case.

In particular, I welcome the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, around improving equality of opportunity. I have been a long-standing campaigner for equal opportunities for adults, and they are of equal importance for children. The noble Baroness talked about how some local authorities deny children in their regions the opportunities to participate, while others try to navigate the legislation. It cannot be an acceptable state of affairs for some children to be given the opportunity to participate in a programme while others are denied it purely because of the lottery, as the noble Baroness said, of where they happen to live. That must be changed so that all children of all ages can participate in a full range of programmes.

Protection of the child is at the heart of our discussions throughout the Bill and must be at the heart of any considerations here. I am assured that the broadcasting industry is not looking to get out of its responsibilities. As the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, said, this is about better regulation, which is the goal of all who sit in this House. The amendment would introduce a comprehensive, standardised risk assessment, covering all possible health and welfare issues, and make it more efficient and consistent. It would be underpinned by the existing regulatory framework that would continue to be in place.

Broadcasters are obliged under the Ofcom Broadcasting Code to have a duty of care to the,

“physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of people under eighteen”,

participating in programmes. That applies to all television programmes at all times. I know that a great deal of guidance is issued and that efforts are made by all in the industry to meet these responsibilities.

The amendment is aimed at providing much-needed reform to the current system and replacing it with a more consistent, clearer and, above all, fairer framework that puts risk at its heart. That means that rather than spending their time trying to navigate the complex laws and arbitrary definitions, the production companies, local authorities and broadcasters can better spend their time analysing the real risks and putting child protection more at the heart of their work. These changes will provide clarity and consistency to ensure that every child in performance is properly protected and that all children are licensed. I therefore urge your Lordships, particularly the Minister, to support this amendment.

[Viscount Colville of Culross (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a television producer for the BBC. I support the amendment. It will both encourage children to extend their skills and protect them from the possible threats posed by the proliferation of new media platforms. It responds to the explosion in the range of media in which children can now appear. It takes into account the ever-changing programming available today, as factual and entertainment programmes are commissioned to entertain an audience with an increasingly short attention span and greater demands to be surprised and shocked.

The amendment would introduce a consistent local authority licensing system for under-16s who perform in the visual media, as we have already heard. As a television producer, it might seem odd that I should want to make my life and that of my colleagues more difficult by extending the regulatory regime, so that we would have to do more work when preparing for a production that involves young people. But it is because I am a television producer that I am well aware of how the present regulatory system is failing children. It often frustrates the hopes of children while failing to protect them from the dangers that may await them.

The noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, explained the chaotic postcode lottery of different local authorities and their responses, which is very difficult for producers in the media who want to work with children. There is a case of children in a school that served two neighbouring local education authorities. The school was asked to take part in a concert to be broadcast on television. But when it came to transmission, only half the choir had permission to perform. One authority had given a licence to perform and the neighbouring authority had refused. How on earth can that be fair on the children involved?

Subsection (6) of the proposed new clause is in line with paragraph 104 of Sarah Thane’s review, which calls for a proper definition of what constitutes “performance”. The subsection is very important. It spells out which filmed activities involving children do not require a licence, although they will still of course require permission from parents and head teachers. It makes clear that everything else would be covered by the licensing system. The result would be that many new genres, which at present are not covered, would be included.

For instance, there is a new type of programming called structured reality TV, which masquerades as observational documentary while in fact the participants are open to direction. The genre covers shows such as “The Only Way is Essex” and “Made in Chelsea”, with which I am sure your Lordships will be familiar, which are massively popular with a young audience. At the beginning of the show “TOWIE”, viewers are mischievously warned, “Some of the tans you see might be fake, but these are real people, although some of what they do has had a little nip and tuck purely for your entertainment”. The warning should give the Committee a clue that the characters are subject to a narrative created by producers in which they are directed in a situation to ensure maximum drama, violence and even sex.

The Committee will be pleased to hear that at the moment most of the participants in these shows are aged over 18, but there are attempts to commission versions with much younger characters. The executive producer of “The Only Way is Essex” has said that when the producers are casting characters for these reality shows, they have to read them what is called “the talk of doom”, in which they warn them that people chosen to appear in the show will be recognised and abused in the street, their private lives will be watched and criticised by millions and their lives will be completely changed, not always for the better.

Apparently, the candidates, all from the social media generation, look at the executive producer with blank incomprehension. They cannot understand why they are even being warned about this. These young people’s private lives are already open books, thanks to social media. I fear that there is a generation who do not understand how psychologically damaging it can be have your privacy destroyed. We as lawmakers need to protect them and ensure that in an ever-changing media environment they are not exploited by the ruthless demands of the media.

Subsections (7), (8) and (9) of the proposed new clause are in line with the recommendations in paragraph 92 of Sarah Thane’s review, which suggests that, when it comes to licensing, the focus should be on the child—on what they are being asked to do and on the level of risk involved. This would ensure, as has already been said by noble Lords, that the consideration by local authorities of the risk to children is uniform and thorough. At the moment, decisions made by LEAs can be irrational. There was recently a case of a six year-old boy who was mentored and trained by the Olympic diver, Tom Daley, and who wanted to appear with him on the ITV show, “Splash”. All he wanted to do was dive with his hero on television, but at the last minute his local LEA in Cornwall refused him a licence to appear on the grounds that he was too young. You can imagine his disappointment.

If this amendment is adopted, a licensing code of practice will be rolled out uniformly to all local authorities across the country. Its risk assessment will cover the mental and physical health of the young people taking part in performances. Obviously, the risk assessments should be adhered to, but in the present climate of pressures on budgets and the intense competition to surprise and shock audiences across the media, enforcement will be crucial. The new system must include a tough regime of inspection of productions that involve children.

We are in a new world. The internet and digital television offer us a jungle of diversity and shock. We need to update, streamline and extend our present licensing system. Only then will our children’s performances on the media be directed with their best mental and physical welfare being at the heart of the production. I urge noble Lords to support this amendment.