Children: Internet
James Brokenshire MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department has published for parents on protecting children from harm arising from use of the internet. [263940]
Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families: In partnership with Childnet International, the department has published a range of guidance and resources for parents under the “Know It All” brand to promote safe and positive use of the internet. This award-winning family of products has so far been distributed to over one million parents in England.
In addition we have published comprehensive online guidance on both departmental websites and those of our partners. We are currently updating guidance on social networking websites and have established a public awareness working group as part of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety to further promote the importance of internet safety to families.
James Brokenshire MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made on implementation of the recommendations of the Byron review, Safer children in a digital world. [263941]
Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families: Safety (UKCCIS) as part of its commitment to implement the recommendations of the Byron review. The Council consists of over 100 organisations from across industry, government, law enforcement and the third sector. An Executive Board to the Council has been appointed which has agreed the immediate priority activities and established a number of working groups to draw together expertise and assist in the implementation of the report.
The Council will publish the first ever Child Internet Safety Strategy later this year to provide an overview of how the Byron recommendations will be met. Significant progress has already been made on a number of specific recommendations including the publication of new advice to parents and teachers, commissioning research to develop the evidence base for policy making and providing support for initiatives to reduce cyber-bullying and promote European Safer Internet Day.
James Brokenshire MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made on the development of the child internet safety strategy. [263942]
Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families: The Government published their Byron Review Action Plan in June 2008 which outlined how we will implement all the recommendations contained in Dr. Byron's Report. At the first meeting of the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) in December 2008, the board agreed the immediate priorities for UKCCIS activity.
At its most recent meeting on 10 March, the board agreed that the Child Internet Safety strategy should be published in the autumn and following extensive consultation with stakeholders.
This will be taken forward through a number of recently set up UKCCIS working groups.
James Brokenshire MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many occasions the UK Council on Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has met; how much his Department has spent on UKCCIS; and how much is planned to be spent on UKCCIS in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11. [263943]
Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners: The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) was launched in September 2008. Since then the Executive Board to the Council has met twice—in December 2008 and March 2009. Four working groups have been established and will meet shortly. These meetings will be supported by online discussions and other smaller gatherings of council members to look at specific issues. The council as a whole will meet on an annual basis at its summit to review progress and agree forward work.
The Government allocated £300,000 to support the activity of UKCCIS for 2008-09, and £450,000 for 2009-10. This does not include the cost of officials working within the UKCCIS secretariat or the delivery of Dr. Byron’s recommendations which will rely on building digital safety into planned activities and services that are already funded, such as £9 million on a safety awareness campaign for children that will include internet safety.
The budget for 2010-11 is yet to be decided.
James Brokenshire MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on what date the Child Internet Safety Summit will be held. [263944]
Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families: On March 10, the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, made up of representation from across Government, industry, law enforcement and the third sector, agreed that the Child Internet Safety Summit should take place in the autumn.
The Government expect to announce the exact date shortly.
James Brokenshire MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many occasions the Executive Board of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety has met; and if he will place a copy of the minutes of each meeting in the Library. [263945]
Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families: The Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety has met twice. The first meeting was on 9 December 2008 and the most recent was 10 March 2009. The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for 9 June.
Meeting notes from all Board meetings are published online on the UKCCIS website:
Source: Hansard 24 March 2009 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090324/text/90324w0039.htm#0903254000003
