Written Question
Monday 3rd February 2025
Asked by:
Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 18 December 2024 (HL3350), what is the status of each of the recommendations made by the Chief Medical Officers in their commentary on Screen-based activities and children and young people’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing: a systematic map of reviews, published on 7 February 2019.
Answered by Baroness Merron
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is an independent advisor to the Government, and any CMO reports are produced independently. The recommendations are advisory, to inform policy development.
In June 2019, at the request of the then United Kingdom’s CMOs, the then Chief Scientific Advisor convened a workshop to bring together a range of academic experts and funding bodies to discuss future research possibilities around screen-based activities and children and young people’s mental health. The workshop aimed to identify avenues for undertaking future research and funding in this area, and recommended that a methodology panel was convened to improve research methods, and that children and young people’s user needs were scoped out, to determine research priorities.
These recommendations align with the UK Mental Health Research Goals for 2020 - 2030, which includes developing research to halve the number of children and young people experiencing persistent mental health problems. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) continues to commission research in this area to support and improve evidence-based practice. As part of this, the NIHR is currently funding research to explore the impact that school policies which restrict daytime use of smartphones and social media have on adolescent mental wellbeing.
The Department for Education is currently reviewing the statutory guidance on teaching relationships, health, and sex education, and as part of this, will consider whether additional or revised content should be included in the guidance, including content regarding online safety and harm.
Since 2022, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has provided £3 million in funding for media literacy projects that empower users to navigate the online world safely. In 2024, this included £500,000 to scale up two programmes to provide media literacy support to teachers, children aged 11 to 16 years old, and other professionals working with families, parents, and carers.
The Online Safety Act updated Ofcom’s statutory duty to promote media literacy and to raise the public’s awareness of the nature and impact of harmful content and online behaviour. Ofcom has published a three-year media literacy strategy which includes investigating specific impacts of platform design on user safety, such as the impact of persuasive design on children. The Government looks forward to working with them as they implement these strategies.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 09 Jun 2022
Health and Social Care Leadership Review
"My Lords, I encourage the noble Lord to reach his question...."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Social Care Leadership Review
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 09 Jun 2022
Health and Social Care Leadership Review
"My Lords, attendance in the Chamber does not change the guidance in the Companion about questions on a Statement being brief and direct...."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Social Care Leadership Review
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 23 Mar 2022
Health and Care Bill
"I think that noble Lords may want to make a few remarks before we reach the Question...."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 23 Mar 2022
Health and Care Bill
"Yes...."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 16 Mar 2022
Health and Care Bill
"My Lords, it may be convenient for the House if I clarify the Government’s position on the amendment at this stage. I am grateful to the noble Baroness for bringing her amendment before the House today on the important matter of mandatory training on learning disability and autism for the …..."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 07 Mar 2022
Health and Care Bill
"My Lords, I too thank noble Lords for their helpful engagement on this matter over the last few weeks and for bringing forward the debate on this issue today. It is important that the results of those discussions are on the record, so I hope that noble Lords will forgive …..."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 07 Mar 2022
Health and Care Bill
"My Lords, while I have a lot of sympathy with my noble friend Lord Young wanting to contribute to the debate, in order to do so, he needs to be in it...."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 07 Mar 2022
Health and Care Bill
"My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, for initiating this debate, and for the work he has done on this issue.
A common theme runs through the comments of noble Lords. The noble Lord, Lord Winston, at the end, talked about evidence and evaluation informing government policy. I …..."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 04 Mar 2022
Elderly Social Care (Insurance) Bill [HL]
"My Lords, noble Lords may wish to have a short debate before we pass the Bill...."Baroness Penn - View Speech
View all Baroness Penn (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Elderly Social Care (Insurance) Bill [HL]