Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allocating funding for research into the impact of social media on mental health.

The Department has funded a systematic review through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to explore the relationship between social media and other online content and body image and disordered eating in children and young people. The review is being led by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centres. The NIHR also funds the Mental Health Policy Research Unit, which in collaboration with McPin Foundation and the Centre for Mental Health, conducted research into screen use and adolescent mental health from the perspective of young people, their parents and educators.