The May 2024 Education Committee report called for stronger guidance and controls to protect children from screen time and urged the Government to consult on raising the ‘digital age of consent' from 13 and introduce statutory guidance on the use of smart phones in schools.

The Government said it would give the committee's recommendation on raising the age of consent ‘further consideration', adding it would be unnecessary to introduce statutory schools' guidance as the vast majority already had controls in place.

The Government rejected the previous committee's call for joint guidance for parents from the departments of education, health and social care, Home Office and DSIT on how to best manage and understand the impact of screen time on their children.

The committee said this guidance should discourage children's use of phones before bedtime and advise on how to use parental controls on children's devices. The response restated the view there was insufficient evidence of causality between screen time and harm.

Education Committee chair Helen Hayes said: ‘The argument that most schools already ban phones misses the point that school staff would have a backstop, an added line of defence, if the law was on their side when facing challenge from parents or students.'

Hayes said the response was also ‘particularly weak' on raising and enforcing the digital age of consent and urged the Government ‘to learn from other countries and consult on strengthening this regulation as soon as possible'.

Hayes added: ‘Like our predecessor committee, we believe the Government should act on the mass of strong correlatory evidence between screen time and harm. Further delay will be to the continued detriment of children's mental health, development and education.'