A review, led by clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron and published last week, calls for a national strategy for child internet safety, with better self-regulation and more information to be made available for children and families.
The UK Council on Child Internet Safety will be set up to lead the strategy and report to the Prime Minister. It is to be chaired by the DCSF and the Home Office and have a cross-Government secretariat.
Dr Byron said there should be a more child-centred approach to the debate around the potential dangers posed by the internet and video games.
She said, 'Having considered the evidence, I believe we need to move from a discussion about the media "causing" harm, to one which focuses on children and young people, what they bring to technology and how we can use our understanding of how they develop, to empower them to manage risks and make the digital world safer.'
She also called for changes to the age-based classification of computer games to make it less confusing for parents.
Dr Byron wants the current two systems - the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the alternative Pan-European Game Information rating - replaced with a single statutory classification system.
The review also looked at different stages of child development in the context of how children experience video games and the internet.
Considering pre-school children, the report said, 'Given the lack of critical evaluation, self-regulation and impulse control in children of this age, it is imperative that their access to the online world and video games is robustly monitored and supervised. Their "technological diet" needs to be restricted in terms of what they should access, watch, play, when, and for how long.'
Further information:
'Safer Children in a Digital World: the report of the Byron review' is at www.dcsf.gov.uk/byronreview.