Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the risks posed by WiFi and related electromagnetic fields to children.

Government policy is that exposures to electromagnetic fields from Wi-Fi and other radio equipment should comply with the guidelines on limiting exposures from the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

The former Health Protection Agency published a comprehensive review of the evidence prepared by its independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation in 2012. The Group’s overall conclusion was that although a substantial amount of research has been conducted in this area, there is no convincing evidence that electromagnetic field exposures below guideline levels cause health effects in either adults or children.

Exposures from Wi-Fi equipment are well within the ICNIRP levels. Public Health England (PHE) advice is that there is no consistent evidence to date that exposures adversely affect the health of the general population. PHE has committed to keeping emerging evidence under review and preparing another comprehensive review when sufficient new evidence has accumulated.