Letting Children be Children
Mothers' Unions response to the Bailey Review

Mothers’ Union welcomes the fourteen recommendations of the Bailey Review, which was officially launched this morning.

The fourteen recommendations made in the Review cover four main themes: the wallpaper of children’s lives; clothing products and services for children; children as consumers; and making parents’ voices heard.

These fourteen recommendations need to be looked at “in the round”, said Reg Bailey at the launch briefing this morning. “The overall focus has been to make these recommendations based on the opinions of both parents and children.  Whilst you may watch something on TV as a young couple and find something completely acceptable, we tend to find that once people are parents, they have a different perspective. We want to slightly up the weight of consultation by regulatory bodies such as Ofcom, to consult more widely with parents.”

The focus on responding to parental concerns was welcomed as a positive step forward by Mothers’ Union Worldwide President, Rosemary Kempsell. “These measures will go a long way to empowering parents to make informed decisions about what their children access online, and how.”

However, Mothers’ Union would have welcomed a stronger call for compliance from industry and regulators at this stage.  Rosemary said “We cannot agree with the Review that a purely consensual approach will be the most effective, and that further regulation or legislation would necessarily disempower parents. As the Review points out several times, parents want help and support to address the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood; and Government intervention is one way of achieving this. We should not be afraid to challenge industry when the welfare of our children, and their future, is at stake.

In response to the news that the Review’s recommendations will be revisited in 18 months time, Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said that no action is “off the table” and that should compliance not be possible through industry goodwill, the Government will be prepared to take legislative steps at that stage. 

Mothers’ Union will continue to hold to account those to whom the recommendations are addressed through its Bye Buy Childhood campaign.

To read the latest press release and full response statement.