Child Abuse (Hansard, 16 March 2004)

§ Mr. Charles Clarke

I have been asked to reply.

The evaluation report, "Emerging Trends Amongst Primary School Children's Use of The Internet" was published by the Cyberspace Research Unit (CRU) of the University of Central Lancashire, under contract to the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta). The evaluation was commissioned to evaluate the Internet Proficiency Scheme which was designed to help Key Stage 2 pupils learn how to use the internet and other technologies safely and responsibly.

The CRU evaluation found that the number of children aged 8 to 11 years using chatrooms was decreasing. When questioned by researchers in 2002, two in 10 children of a group of 1,331 admitted to using chatrooms on more than one occasion. In 2003, the figure dropped to one in ten, when 330 children were asked the same question. Also in 2002, two out of a group of 100 children admitted to attending face-to-face meetings with people that they had met online. This number increased to three out of a group of 100 children in the same age range in 2003.

The evaluation suggests that over 90 per cent. of primary schools did not let their students use internet chat facilities on their premises and that all schools had taken some action to keep children using the internet safe. This included using technology, such as content filtering software, and creating clear written policies that outline how children should use the internet at school.

There was also evidence from the evaluation that schools were the most commonly reported sources of internet safety advice and that there had been an increase in the proportion of children that were aware of general internet safety guidelines.