Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of age restrictions on the sale of video games.

The Video Standards Council (VSC) applies the independently determined Pan-European Games Information (PEGI) classification system on behalf of industry in order to provide objectivity and consistency in video games age ratings. The VSC’s classification work is reviewed by Government as part of the assessment of their Annual Report.

We are in frequent dialogue with the VSC about their work and on how we can ensure that children are better protected from inappropriate content. This includes working with them on a call to industry to adopt PEGI ratings for every online game.

The government also continues to work with industry and the age ratings bodies to help consumers learn about parental controls available on devices, including through initiatives such as AskAboutGames and PEGI advice about safe gaming.