Child TV performance laws to be reviewed

The government is planning to review the UK's child performance laws to protect young people from being exploited on reality television programmes, it has emerged.

Tim Loughton, the children's minister, official announced the move on Wednesday at the International Association for the Study of Attachment (IASA) conference in Cambridge.

Speaking to an audience of psychologists, he said: "There is a growing need to look again at our child performance laws, which date back to the 1960s.

"That is something that I will be undertaking in the autumn, together with the rather antiquated legislation on child employment."

Loughton also made a direct reference to Channel's 4's Boys And Girls Alone series, which he said "sparked fierce debate about a kind of engineered Lord Of The Flies type of scenario", reports The Guardian.

Ofcom received around 180 complaints about the programme, including objections from the NSPCC and Cornwall County Council, with the majority questioning the measures taken by Channel 4 to safeguard the welfare of the children involved.

The media regulator cleared Channel 4 of causing any harm to the children, but criticised the broadcaster for failing to inform viewers about the safeguards put in place to ensure their protection.

In his speech, Loughton said that there was a necessity to heed "basic child psychology principles" when involving young people in TV programmes, especially as some reality TV shows are viewed as a continuation of the Victorian freak show.

He further said that there is concern about young people being conditioned to want reality television shows and "that sort of thing".

"That has raised profound questions over how young people involve themselves in the media and their experiences within it," Loughton added.

"Shows like Boys And Girls Alone, which was aired by Channel 4 last year, sparked fierce debate about a kind of engineered Lord Of The Flies type of scenario, with the removal and separation of children from their families serving as a useful reminder... of [the importance of] heeding basic child psychology... when involving young people in a television programme."