Member

I shall finish by proposing that one of the actions to guarantee greater participation by children in sport and physical activity would be the banning of smartphones in schools. The noble Baroness, Lady Blake, said just 30 minutes ago from that very Dispatch Box that the content of WhatsApp groups is greatly concerning. The Children’s Commissioner has said that many children are accessing harmful content through social media and chatrooms. A ground-breaking, large-scale randomised controlled study—the gold standard in social science—from the University of Pennsylvania now offers clear evidence that banning smartphones improves classroom results and, as a knock-on effect, improves extracurricular activity. The Government can no longer say they are waiting for the evidence. The evidence is there, and the Government should be acting right now for the benefit of all schoolchildren on this and on physical activity.