Child Development

Baroness Howe of Idlicote Excerpts

Thursday 11th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

My Lords, I, too, warmly congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester on securing this very important debate. I start by emphasising the vital importance of the Government providing sufficient resources for all those early intervention strategies which have been mentioned, such as those of Graham Allen, Frank Field and many others, for which there is a growing pressure and total cross-party support. These are particularly relevant for those children who are trapped in what, many years ago, Keith Joseph called the cycle of deprivation. Therefore, I hope that the noble Baroness will reassure us on that issue.

I wish to focus the rest of my comments specifically on the subject of child safety online. In doing so, I should declare an interest in that I am the sponsor of the Online Safety Bill, which had its First Reading in your Lordships’ House on 11 May. A great deal has happened in this subject area during the past two years with the publication of the Bailey review and the report of Claire Perry MP on online safety and the safety-net petition, which received well over 100,000 signatures from concerned parents. In this context I was delighted when, at the end of June, the Department for Education sought to engage directly with the issue, launching its parental control mechanism consultation, which closed on 6 September.

The consultation considered three possible parental control mechanisms: active choice, active choice plus and the opt-in system, which is proposed in my Bill. While I very much hope that the Government will adopt the opt-in system, it is not my intention to get into detailed discussion about the pros and cons of the three options today. What I want, however, is to express my concern that the consultation did not mention age verification in relation to any of the options. Without age verification, the effectiveness of any parental control model will be very limited. If the Government are to advance serious proposals, they must engage with age verification.

I am, of course, aware that some might try to suggest that age verification is not possible and that it does not work. This, however, is flatly contradicted by the evidence. Tanya Byron in her review states,

“One of the most effective methods of age verification is requiring the user to register using a credit card. Even if registration is free, a process can be put in place so that a debit and re-credit is shown on the cardholder’s bill, so that parents know when a child has borrowed their card for this purpose”.

This system does not tell you the exact age of the person but confirms that they should be 18 or over. Moreover, I should point out that the law already requires age verification with respect to the online sale of alcohol and online gambling, where the provisions have proven to be successful.

I am aware that the Department for Education and the other departments with an interest in the consultation, such as DCMS, will be examining the responses to the controls consultation and considering the best way forward. If the Government are to take seriously the need to care for our children and provide the best public policy framework to support optimal child development, far from avoiding mentioning age verification, they should put it at the front and centre of their proposals. The technology is certainly there. The question is: is the political will there? I very much hope that the Minister is able to reassure me on that point. I also ask her to provide us with an update on the Government’s projected timetable in terms of the publication of the analysis of the consultation responses and their aspirations in terms of next steps.

In closing, like the right reverend Prelate and other speakers, I think it is very appropriate that we should be discussing these matters on the first ever International Day of the Girl Child, mindful of the fact that the objectification of girls through pornography is one of the main online safety challenges we face. I hope that we can develop a public policy framework that increasingly celebrates girls as people, not as objects.