Today in Parliament the ‘e-petition 700086’ will be discussed ‘relating to a minimum age for social media’ arranged by Tony Vaughan, the Labour MP for Folkestone and Hythe. It is described as ‘Introduce 16 as the minimum age for children to have social media’ set up by Kim Campbell with about 128,000 signatures. In Sussex the two largest signatures are Mid Sussex, Hove and Portslade. Kim Campbell refers

“We believe social media companies should be banned from letting children under 16 create social media accounts.” And then “We think this would help: 1. Stop online bullying, 2. Stop children being influenced by false posts, 3. Stop children seeing content that encourages violence/could be harmful for their future. We believe social media is having more of a negative impact to children than a positive one. We think people should be of an age where they can make decisions about their life before accessing social media applications. We believe that we really need to introduce a minimum age of 16 to access social media for the sake of our children’s future along with their mental and physical health.”

On Tuesday Jessica Brown-Fuller, Chichester Liberal Democrat is chairing ‘Maternity services’ and on Thursday Helena Dollimore, Hastings and Rye Labour is chairing ‘Women’s Health’ and some people on ‘General Committees’ this week. On Tuesday & Wednesday the ‘Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’ includes Helena with ‘Reforming the water sector’ on Tuesday. On Tuesday ‘Backbench Business Committee: Proposals for backbench debates’ for Jessica and ‘Business and Trade Committee: Export led growth’ involves Alison Griffith, Conservative for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.

Previously, on the 11^th February, in ‘about debates’ ‘Youth Provision: Universal and Targeted Support’ which involved Sian Berry, Green for Brighton Pavilion. A Labour Harpreet Uppal, Huddersfield responded to many MPs after each comment in this session.

Sian said: “Does the hon. Lady agree that the Minister should answer two questions? The first is about the funding and jobs that will flow from the national youth strategy, and the second is about integration. We need a youth chapter in the housing strategy, as Centrepoint has asked for, and to bring its co-production values into the “Get Britain Working” strategy, aspects of which are quite worrying.”

Harpreet responded: “I am sure the Minister has heard what the hon. Lady has said. I am proud that the Government are developing a national youth strategy, which has not happened before. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the closure of youth clubs led to a 4% drop in GCSE performance at age 16, with even greater effects on pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Worse still, the loss of youth services has been linked to a 14% increase in youth crime within six years of youth services closures.”

At the end of the Parliament holiday, a ‘Backbench Business: HIV Testing Week’, involving Sian and Alison Bennett, Liberal Democrat for Mid Sussex. They spoke describing the benefits of local support,

Sian: “As an MP for Brighton, I am proud of the work of the Terrence Higgins Trust—which is partly based in my constituency, not far from my office—for making this a bigger event every year, and more and more inclusive. I recently visited THT to see first-hand the incredible work it is doing to end new transmissions of HIV, supporting people to live well with HIV, and challenging the stigma and all the things that go around that. Its work with partners in my city, like the pioneering Lawson unit at the Royal Sussex County hospital and the local HIV charity, the Sussex Beacon, is all so exciting. Opt-out testing was mentioned. The emergency department at the Royal Sussex has been doing that testing since March 2022. It has since been rolled out nationally in areas of very high HIV prevalence. In Brighton, the team at the Lawson clinic has identified 16 new HIV diagnoses in recent years…. Brighton also has some groundbreaking digital pathway work happening. The locally co-designed HIV app EmERGE has been a big success. It is a European project centred in Brighton, and I am told that people absolutely love it. There are about 720 people using it for PrEP access, appointments and support…. The work in Brighton that I have just described proves that. I truly believe that Brighton could be the first place in the UK to achieve that target, given the comprehensive work going on.”

Alison: “The good news is that there is much we can do, but we have to get on with it. At home, dying from AIDS is no longer an inevitable outcome—indeed, organisations that Siân Berry mentioned, such as the Sussex Beacon, which serves both her constituents and mine in Mid Sussex, are now looking to reconfigure services to adapt to changing patient needs—but the alarming rise in HIV diagnoses demands stronger action to expand access to testing, treatment and education for those most at risk. My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have long called for equitable access to PrEP for all those who can benefit from it, but the Conservative Government’s cuts to the public health grant undermined the delivery of vital sexual health services. The Liberal Democrats are committed to reversing those cuts and investing £1 billion annually to strengthen public health programmes. Among other things, that would help to ensure that we can eliminate HIV transmissions in England by 2030.”