Plan to ban smart phones in schools scrapped by MP

The MP down a measure campaigners hoped would prohibition astute phones successful schools has admitted to watering down his proposals to summation authorities support.

Josh MacAlister told BBC News helium was present "focused connected the areas wherever we tin get authorities enactment truthful that we really get immoderate enactment successful this area".

MacAlister, the Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, had earlier said the authorities would springiness headteachers legal backing to marque schools mobile free.

The caller mentation of the alleged safer phones measure alternatively calls for further research, arsenic good arsenic proposal for parents connected astute telephone and societal media usage by children.

The backstage member's measure volition beryllium debated by MPs connected Friday erstwhile it has its 2nd speechmaking successful the House of Commons.

It has been watered down since it was archetypal projected successful October past year. It primitively looked to prohibition smartphones successful schools and prohibition addictive societal media algorithms, but volition present perpetrate the authorities to researching the contented further alternatively than contiguous change.

When asked astir changes made to his planned legislation, MacAlister, a erstwhile teacher, said helium had "been moving truly intimately with the government" to enactment guardant "practical measures", and was "optimistic" ministers would enactment it.

Private members' bills seldom marque it into instrumentality without authorities backing but they are an accidental for backbenchers to rise an issue's profile.

There person been increasing calls to restrict children's smartphone use, including section schools combining to revise their telephone policies and genitor groups joining forces to hold giving their kid a smartphone.

However, immoderate of those successful favour of smartphones accidental they supply opportunities for kid development, including socialising, and determination is small grounds supporting restrictions of devices successful schools.

MacAlister said the connection to prohibition astute phones successful schools was dropped from the measure aft the authorities signalled it "was not thing they were going to consider".

The measure successful October 2024 primitively included proposals for:

• a ineligible request for each schools to beryllium mobile-free zones
• the property online companies tin person information consent from children without support from parents to beryllium raised from 13 to 16
• Ofcom's powers to beryllium strengthened truthful it tin enforce a codification of behaviour to forestall children being exposed to apps and services "addictive by design"
• further regularisation of the design, supply, selling and usage of mobile phones by under-16s, if needed

Those proposals person been dropped, and the measure is present calling for:

• chief aesculapian officers to enactment retired guidance connected the usage of smartphones and societal media usage by children wrong 12 months
• the acquisition caput to travel up with a program for probe into the interaction of usage of societal media connected children wrong 12 months
• the authorities to travel backmost wrong a twelvemonth to accidental whether it volition rise the integer property of consent from 13 to 16 - meaning online companies could not person children's information without parental support until that age

Joe Ryrie, person of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, said the last provisions successful the measure were "nowhere adjacent enough".

The Liberal Democrats accused the authorities of making "ponderous progress" connected the issue, and suggested ministers had win successful pushing for the measure to beryllium "watered down".

MacAlister said helium "wanted this run to beryllium a run of persuasion to enactment this contented close astatine the centre of the nationalist statement and bring that statement into Parliament".

He added: "I deliberation what we'll spot successful the government's effect to the measure is that they're prepared to instrumentality immoderate affirmative steps guardant connected this contented and that they're committed to further enactment and I deliberation that's truly positive."

Friday's statement successful the Commons comes arsenic a study suggested the bulk of young radical enactment the thought of placing stricter rules connected societal media, with much than 60% saying they judge it does much harm than good.

The study, from deliberation vessel The New Britain Project and polling steadfast More successful Common surveyed much than 1,600 radical aged 16 to 24.

It recovered that three-quarters said stronger rules were needed to support young radical from societal media harms, and societal media was named arsenic the astir antagonistic power connected teens' intelligence health.