Radical measures suggested to reduce children's screen time
The report says that playground closures, busier roads, and shorter school breaks have limited children's play opportunities, leading to sedentary lifestyles and deteriorating well-being.
The commission calls for a National Play Strategy for England, backed by a £125 million annual investment and led by a 'minister for play', to promote outdoor activities and regulate digital device usage.
The inquiry recommends raising the digital age of consent to 16, banning smartphones in schools, and a national ban on "No Ball Games" signs.
A poll commissioned by the inquiry reveals that 55 per cent of parents believe their children play outside less than they did, and 76 per cent feel society is less accepting of children playing outdoors.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
8 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Labour house 50 migrants a week in asylum hotels despite crackdown
The number of asylum seekers in hotels has risen by 2,500 since Labour took office, equivalent to 50 a week, official figures show. Asylum applications by migrants also hit a record high of more than 111,000 during Sir Keir Starmer's first year in office, after a record surge in small-boat crossings. And just four per cent of small-boat migrants have been returned since 2018, with removals falling in the past year, Home Office figures show. The data will pile pressure on the Prime Minister after a week in which the Government's asylum policy was plunged into chaos with a High Court ruling forcing the closure of a migrant hotel in Epping, Essex, at the centre of anti-immigration protests. The court's judgment has led to ministers bracing for further legal challenges from councils across the country and pressure on the Government as to where else they can house asylum seekers. The latest Home Office data, published on Thursday as part of the quarterly immigration statistics, cover Labour's first year in office. They show there were 32,059 asylum seekers in more than 200 hotels by the end of June. This was eight per cent up from 29,585 at the same point a year earlier, when the Conservatives were still in power, but down slightly on the 32,345 figure at the end of March. At this rate of decline of 286 in three months, it would take 113 years to clear all asylum seekers out of hotels. Labour has pledged to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers by the close of the Parliament in 2029. The latest number is still below the peak of 56,042 asylum seekers in some 400 hotels at the end of September 2023 under the Tories. A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001. The number is up 14 per cent from 97,107 in the year to June 2024 and nearly double the number in 2021. The previous record for a 12-month period was 109,343 in the year to March 2025. Migrants who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats accounted for 39 per cent of the total number of people claiming asylum in the year to June. However, a further 37 per cent of claimants had previously arrived in the UK on a visa to work, study or visit. The number of people coming to the UK on small boats or other 'irregular' routes, such as lorries, rose by 27 per cent to 49,000 in the year to June 2025. The most common nationalities of those coming to the UK on small boats were Afghans, Eritreans, Iranians and Syrians. More people are coming to the UK per small boat – there were 65 migrants per boat in June 2025, the highest monthly average on record. A total of 6,313 people who arrived on a small boat between 2018 and the year ending June 2025 have been returned from the UK, representing just four per cent of the total of nearly 180,000. There were 2,330 returns of small-boat migrants in the year to June 2025, seven per cent fewer than the previous year. Of the 159,180 small-boat arrivals who have claimed asylum since 2018, just over one third (35 per cent) were refused or their application was withdrawn. Home Office spending on asylum in the UK stood at £4.76bn in 2024/25, down 12 per cent from a record £5.38bn in 2023/24, the figures show. The total covers all Home Office costs related to asylum, including direct cash support and accommodation, plus wider staffing and other migration and borders activity. It does not include costs relating to the interception of migrants who travel to the UK across the English Channel in small boats. The figure for 2024/25, £4.76bn, is more than three times the equivalent amount in 2020/21 (£1.34bn) and is more than 10 times the total a decade ago in 2014/15 (£0.47bn). 'New, stronger approach' Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said:'We inherited a broken immigration and asylum system that the previous government left in chaos. Since coming to office we have strengthened Britain's visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs and sharply increased enforcement and returns, as today's figures show. 'The action we have taken in the last 12 months – increasing returns of failed asylum seekers by over 30 per cent, cutting asylum costs by 11 per cent, reducing the backlog by 18 per cent and our forthcoming plans to overhaul the failing asylum appeal system – are crucial steps to restoring order, and putting an end to the chaotic use of asylum hotels that we inherited from the previous government. 'At the same time, we are bringing legal migration back under control, with a 48 per cent reduction in work visas this year – and further stronger visa controls and higher skill requirements introduced through our white paper expected to bring those overall numbers down further. 'As we roll out further reforms, including the new pilot with France, new counter-terror powers to strengthen border security, and new asylum reforms later this year (including reforms to speed up the persistent delays in the appeals system), we will continue to take the serious steps required to restore order, control and fairness to the system and to continue building the foundations of a new and stronger approach.' Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'This weak Labour Government has allowed in record numbers of illegal immigrants over the Channel, there are more immigrants in hotels than at the time of the election and fewer people are being removed. 'They are failing and need to urgently back the Conservative's Bill that will ensure illegal immigrants and foreign criminals are all removed. This is a migration crisis – the Labour Government has lost control of our borders.' Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said: 'Under Labour we now have record numbers claiming asylum. The vast majority should never qualify and most will cost the taxpayer a huge sum of money. 'Our streets are becoming more dangerous yet this disaster gets worse. The public are right to be very angry with both Labour and the Tories for what they have done to us.' Lisa Smart, the Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman, said: 'The asylum backlog has been far too large for far too long. The Conservatives trashed our immigration system and let numbers spiral. Now this Labour Government is failing to get a grip on the crisis. 'The Government urgently needs to stop dangerous Channel crossings and speed up asylum processing to bring down the backlog and end hotel use once and for all.'
BBC News
8 minutes ago
- BBC News
Cov Baths demolition won't be blocked by Historic England
Historic England will not stand in the way of Coventry's Grade II listed Olympic-sized swimming pool building being the organisation, responsible for deciding which buildings should be protected with listed status, said whatever replaced it should "preserve or enhance the setting of Coventry Cathedral".The BBC revealed on Tuesday that Coventry City Council plans to bring forward demolition plans before the end of the year for the city centre swimming pool section of the former Coventry Sports and Leisure Centre site, known locally as "Cov Baths", amid spiralling costs. A Historic England spokesperson said: "Historic England is not minded to object to the demolition of the Central Baths, given its condition, the nature and cost of remedial works and the absence of viable proposals to secure its future."The organisation said there appeared to be "no realistic prospect of viable reuse for the building due to the substantial ongoing costs of security and maintenance". They added whatever replaced the 1966 building "should strive to equal the civic ambition displayed in the Central Baths when they first opened." The demolition plans will not affect the adjoining leisure centre section of the building, known locally as the "The Elephant".The council is still optimistic of finding a new occupier for that site, which was recently the subject of a petition to bring it back into council owns the building and granted an exclusivity agreement to Rainier Developments to attract a developer after the leisure centre's 2020 closure. But five years of marketing efforts have failed to attract a buyer. Councillor Jim O'Boyle, Labour cabinet member for regeneration at Coventry City Council, told the BBC he would be sad to see the building go, but he felt it was time with £400,000 a year being spent on mothballing and security costs for the said: "Nobody wanted this to happen, it's with a heavy heart. I'm a Coventrian, I've used the building many, many times, I've got great memories of it and I feel very sad that we've come to this decision."But we have to come to tis decision in the best interests of the city and the best interests of the taxpayers." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Reuters
8 minutes ago
- Reuters
UK houses 32,000 asylum seekers in hotels, data shows, as critics decry policy
LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - More than 32,000 asylum seekers were housed in hotels in Britain at the end of June 2025 with asylum claims hitting a record, official data showed on Thursday, as the housing issue becomes a major headache for Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer's government is facing increasing pressure over housing asylum seekers in hotels after a council won a temporary court injunction earlier this week meaning all the migrants living in one hotel had to be removed. Figures released by the government showed there had been an 8% increase in the number of migrants being housed in hotels in the year ending June 30. However, the total figure of just over 32,000 was 43% lower than the peak of 56,042 recorded in September 2023, and slightly down compared to the previous quarterly figures in March. Starmer has vowed to end the use of hotels to house thousands of asylum seekers before the next election in 2029. A regular tracker of voters' concerns showed immigration has overtaken the economy as the biggest issue. Thursday's data also showed 111,000 people claimed asylum in the year to June 2025, up 14% from the previous year and surpassing the previous peak of 103,000 recorded in 2002. Starmer has pledged to stop thousands of migrants arriving in Britain via small boats. More than 27,000 have arrived by that means so far this year.
