Julia Fraser (return to blog) Blog

The UK’s first child internet safety strategy, ‘Click Clever Click Safe’, was launched in December at the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) Summit.

The strategy outlines how government, industry and charities will work together to keep children and young people safe online and implement the recommendations from Professor Tanya Byron’s review ‘Safer Children in a Digital World’.

Key points include:

• internet companies, charities and the Government will be independently reviewed against new UKCCIS standards to keep children and young people safe online;
• young people and parents will be targeted by a new Digital Code ‘Zip it, Block it, Flag it’ - the ‘Green Cross Code’ for internet safety. This will be adopted by retailers, social networking sites, schools and charities and displayed where appropriate;
• parents will be able to access a one-stop shop website for internet safety advice hosted by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP);
• from September 2011 online safety will be a compulsory part of the National Curriculum from age 5; and
• Professor Tanya Byron will review the Council’s progress, beginning in January 2010.

The strategy builds on progress already made by the Government to implement the Byron review, to provide parents and young people with the information, advice and guidance they need to ensure they can enjoy the internet safely.

The Government also announced that:

• all 270,000 computers to be provided under the Government’s Home Access scheme will incorporate the CEOP Advice, Help, Report button, to help children and their families quickly report inappropriate content or internet approaches from strangers as well as get help and advice on issues such as cyberbullying, viruses and hacking.
  
• Government will lead the way globally, by exploring how child internet safety can be improved through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

For more information, visit the UKCCIS website.