Internet Safety - Have your say ...

Appeal to Members to Contribute Responses

Tim Loughton MP, Minister for Children and Families, and Lynne Featherstone MP, Minister for Equalities and Criminal Information are joint chairs of the executive board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS). They are writing to members of UKCCIS to seek their views and advice on parental controls. The request is to members of UKCCIS and other organisations and individuals, especially parents, who might want to respond.

This consultation exercise on parental controls now includes suicide websites as one of the areas for concern. PAPYRUS will be submitting a formal response but we would also encourage PAPYRUS members to submit their own individual responses.

Did you know? Suicide and self harm sites are those most blocked by parents when invited to use TalkTalk's HomeSafe system. PAPYRUS knows of many young people whose death to suicide was probably influenced by information that they found online.

PAPYRUS recognises that 'parental controls' is probably not the best description for the safety protocols which might need to be in place to prevent access for vulnerable young adults to information which will cause them harm. Yet, this is surely a real opportunity for us all to press home the importance of ensuring that suicide and self-harm sites are within the ambit of UKCCIS and others who can influence positive change to protect them from harm.

To contribute to the consultation, you can complete the forms needed HERE.

If you have an enquiry related to the policy content of the consultation, you can contact the Department of Education by telephone on 0370 000 2288 or by email.

Thank you for working with PAPYRUS to help save young lives.