Recommendation 11

HM Government · verbatim extract Acknowledged

The Better Health Start for Life website provides trusted NHS advice to parents and carers of babies and children up to the age of five. The website was updated in January 2024 with new ideas, tips and activities that parents can do together to support their children’s early learning and development. It was further updated in March 2024 with new advice about building a close relationship with babies and toddlers. The government notes the findings of this report and will consider whether advice to parents needs to be updated as a result. The World Health Organisation guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age state that: • Screentime is not recommended for infants less than a year old • for 1 year olds, sedentary screen time is not recommended • for those aged 2–4 years, sedentary screen time should be no more than one hour (less is better) As mentioned previously, there is still uncertainty about the relationship between screentime, social media use and child development. DSIT’s feasibility study on method and data to understand the impact of smartphones and social media on children will conclude in May 2025. Studies reported that children and young people are aware and worried about their parents’ screen use and want them to engage with them, and so adults can lead by example through not using screens excessively in front of children and behaving online as they would in person. The Online Safety Act will require in-scope user-to-user and search services likely to be accessed by children to risk assess their service and provide safety measures for child users of all age groups, including early years. In its draft child safety risk assessment guidance, Ofcom has identified age as a risk factor, listing 0–5 years, amongst other age brackets, as a group for which it expects services to consider the age-related risks based on the developmental stage of the children.