Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to use revenue from the new digital services tax to fund independent research into the effect of social media on children and young people’s mental health.

The Government has committed to introducing the Digital Services Tax from April 2020. This is expected to raise around £1.5bn over four years. These funds will not be directly hypothecated to any particular spending area.

However, the Government recognises the impact that harmful online content and activity can have on users, and that there are growing concerns about the potential impact on users’ mental health and wellbeing. The Online Harms White Paper, published in April 2019, set out plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.