Child Safety: Video Games

Debate between Lord Eden of Winton and Baroness Garden of Frognal

Monday 8th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

There are also a great many initiatives from internet service providers, which are collaborating very constructively with the Government. There is the Internet Watch Foundation, for instance; we are also working with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, CEOP, to try to make sure that there are mechanisms within the games, which can be controls. If there are ways in which children can be identified from playing the games, they will be prevented from doing that. It is ongoing work, and we are working very constructively with all those concerned to make sure that the information gets out correctly.

[Lord Eden of Winton]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Eden of Winton]

I am grateful, my Lords. Very quickly, while welcoming very much the answers that my noble friend has given, I wonder whether she is aware that, whether or not these games are good in intent for children, they are very attractive to them. Placing the onus on the parents is therefore rather a heavy duty, and we should not leave them alone. Will she give consideration to tackling this problem at source, with the producers and purveyors of these products being taxed or their products made less attractive to them financially in some way?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

As I made reference to before, we are working very constructively with the internet service providers’ industry, which is as concerned to make sure that inappropriate materials are not accessed by young people online. The providers are very well aware of the damage that it can do to young children to find themselves, perhaps inadvertently, drawn into a game which shows extreme violence or engenders extreme fear. It is a matter for all parties to work together on this one.

Education: Languages

Debate between Lord Eden of Winton and Baroness Garden of Frognal

Tuesday 12th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, we are reversing the trend that came from the previous Government of languages ceasing to be strategically important in schools. We are already seeing an increase in the take-up of languages. By making them statutory at key stages 2 and 3, but with a statutory entitlement at key stage 4, we hope to put pressure on schools to make sure that the language provision is there. We have funded a £5 million British Academy programme, which of course led to this report. There is therefore funding behind these various initiatives, but we share with the noble Baroness a belief in the importance of language learning.

[Lord Eden of Winton]

My Lords, will my noble friend refute the widely held view that very young children cannot cope with learning a second language? Will she ensure that the very best quality of language teaching takes place at a child’s first school?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

Indeed, and I repeat what I said before: the new national curriculum at key stage 2 will mean that for the first time primary schools will have to teach French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin, Latin or ancient Greek.