Cliff Notes
-
Labour MP Josh MacAlister, a former teacher, initially proposed a private member’s bill to ban smartphones in schools across England, likening the need for such legislation to "seatbelt" laws for traffic safety.
-
Following discussions with the government, MacAlister has revised his proposals, now seeking only official research and guidance on children’s use of smartphones and social media instead of an outright ban.
-
The diluted bill has led to disappointment among some MPs, including Lib Dem technology spokesperson Victoria Collins, who argues that parents urgently seek better support to navigate their children’s online safety.
-
The updated proposal will direct UK chief medical officers to provide advice for parents regarding smartphone and social media usage, as well as address the potential raise of the digital age of consent from 13 to 16 over the next year.
- MacAlister remains optimistic about government support for the revised bill, emphasizing the need for collective action to tackle children’s mental health concerns exacerbated by addictive technologies.
Scheme to ban smartphones in schools ditched by MP
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
Get our free View from Westminster email
An MP seeking to ban smartphones in schools has watered down his proposals in a bid to receive government backing.
Shortly after entering parliament in July, Labour MP and former teacher Josh MacAlister brought a private member’s bill calling for a legal requirement that all schools in England are mobile-free zones.
Mr MacAlister had warned MPs in October that the equivalent of “seatbelt” legislation was needed to help children manage addictive content on social media, as he stressed the risk of widespread harm from children “doom scrolling” for hours a day.
While the bill is set to be debated by MPs on Friday, Mr MacAlister has now watered it down so that the call to ban smartphones in schools has now been replaced with calls for official research and guidance on children’s use of smartphones and social media.
The move has prompted disappointment from MPs, with Lib Dem technology spokesperson Victoria Collins warning that “parents and families across the country are crying out for change when it comes to support in the online world”.
Ms Collins said: “So far, the government has made ponderous progress on children’s online safety. I’m disappointed that they’ve seemingly succeeded in pushing for the safer phones bill to be watered down – a bill that had such promise when it was first proposed. There’s a mounting crisis in children’s mental health, driven in large part by addictive algorithms.”
Asked about the changes, Mr MacAlister said he had “been working really closely with the government” to put forward “practical measures”, and was “optimistic” that ministers would now support it.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I wanted to make sure that this resulted in change with what the government are doing, and that’s going to happen.”
The new version of the bill will instruct the UK chief medical officers to publish advice for parents on the use of smartphones and social media by children.
It also calls on the government to state whether they are going to raise the age at which children can consent for their data to be shared without parental permission within 12 months of passing the bill.
And Mr MacAlister said the bill commits ministers to come back within a year on the question of raising “the digital age of consent” from 13 to 16 to make smartphones less addictive.
He said: “One of the things I want to see a big shift in is the argument that this is down to parents and parental choice and responsibility.
“If you ask a parent how hard it is at the moment to set, at the device level, the app level, the app store level, the controls that are needed, that in itself, is really opaque and difficult.
“And then we have data laws that mean that children at the age of 13 in year eight at school can opt out of those controls. Then parents say, we don’t have control of this, this is really difficult, we want help.
“We can’t then turn around to them and say, this is personal responsibility. It’s a collective action problem in the same way that so many other public health issues have been.”