Select committee: Education Committee
Recommendation 22
Fourth Report - Screen time: impacts on education and wellbeing
Published 25 May 2024
Paragraph 106
Addressed to Department for Education
Education Committee Screen Time: Impacts on education and wellbeing All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The next Government must launch a consultation by the end of the year on whether 13 is a reasonable age of digital consent, or whether it should be raised. The next Government should recommend 16 as a more appropriate age. This approach should be cross-government and include research on the reasoning behind other countries having higher digital age of consents than our own.
From: Education Committee, Fourth Report - Screen time: impacts on education and wellbeing (HC 118), paragraph 106, 25 May 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 May 2025 (deadline 25 July 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government recognises the Committee's concerns about screen time and says it is taking action, while stating that further evidence is needed in some areas and that it has set out how all recommendations will be carefully considered.
- On a statutory mobile phone ban in schools, the government says one is "not necessary" because survey evidence suggests schools are following the existing non-statutory guidance, and it will keep surveying schools to inform whether further action is needed.
- On banning smartphones for under 16s, it says there is "a lack of robust and causal evidence" to support this, and that it is building the evidence.
- On a consultation on the digital age of consent, the government says it "will give further consideration" to the recommendation and recognises the importance of keeping the area under review.
- On the Online Safety Act, it states that the child safety duties regime "should be fully in effect by summer 2025", subject to the draft codes passing parliamentary scrutiny once laid.