UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS)

New technologies inspire children to be creative, communicate and learn. However, while the internet is a great resource, it is important that children and young people are protected from the risks they may encounter. The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) is a group of more than 200 organisations drawn from across government, industry, law, academia and charity sectors that work in partnership to help keep children safe online. The Council was established in 2010 following a review by Professor Tanya Byron and discusses and takes action on topical issues concerning children’s use of the internet.

UKCCIS latest news:

The UKCCIS Education Group has developed guidance for school governors to help governing boards support their school leaders to keep children safe online. Governors can use it to: gain a basic understanding of the school’s current approach to keeping children safe online; learn how to improve this approach where appropriate; and find out about tools which can be used to improve the approach. The document includes examples of good and outstanding practice, as well as identifying when governors should be concerned. This guidance is non-statutory and should be read alongside the Department for Education’s Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance.

The UKCCIS Education Group has produced advice for schools and colleges on responding to incidents of ‘sexting.’ The advice aims to support them in tackling the range of issues which these incidents present including responding to disclosures, handling devices and imagery, risk assessing situations and involving other agencies. The advice also contains information about preventative education, working with parents and reporting imagery to providers. This advice is non-statutory and should be read alongside the Department for Education’s Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance and non-statutory Searching, Screening and Confiscation advice for schools.

UKCCIS achievements include:

  • implementing an unavoidable choice for home broadband customers about whether to turn on parental control filters, as well as considering potential problems around overblocking.
  • working with the RDI (UK) Holdings to design a Friendly Wifi logo, to allow parents and families to easily identify places where they can be sure that the public wifi has filtered inappropriate websites.
  • creating summaries of a large body of internet safety research

  • creating a guide for providers of social media and interactive services (PDF, 4.31MB, 60 pages) with examples of good practice from leading technology companies, and advice from NGOs and other online child safety experts. Its purpose is to encourage businesses to think about “safety by design” to help make their platforms safer for children and young people under 18. HTML version available here.

  • They have also produced a video about a new best practice guide for smaller and start-up social media companies, which aims to promote a culture of “safety by design” in the online content industry. UKCCIS ED group video
  • creating a guide for parents and carers (PDF, 105KB, 2 pages) whose children are using social media. The guide includes practical tips about the use of safety and privacy features on apps and platforms, as well as conversation prompts to help families begin talking about online safety. It also contains pointers to further advice and support.
  • creating guidance in 2010 for industry covering social networking (PDF, 232KB, 54 pages) , moderation (PDF, 210KB, 44 pages) , search (PDF, 329KB, 30 pages) , chat (PDF, 151KB, 24 pages) and advice for industry on effective internet safety messages (PDF, 242KB, 21 pages)

UKCCIS members

The Council’s work is made possible by the enthusiasm, energy and efforts of its members.

Executive Board members

The UKCCIS Executive Board brings together representatives from across the membership on a quarterly basis and is chaired jointly by Baroness Joanna Shields, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Internet Safety and Security, Sarah Newton MP, Minister for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism and Edward Timpson MP, Minister of State for Vulnerable Children and Families.

The Executive Board is responsible for identifying priority areas of work, and sets the strategic direction for UKCCIS. Read the Executive Board’s Executive Board’s terms of reference (PDF, 88.9KB, 5 pages) .

Including the three Ministerial Chairs, Board membership consists of:

  • Sam Sharps, Government Affairs, UK & Ireland, Apple
  • Rose Durban, The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS)
  • Alice Webb, Director, BBC Children’s and BBC North
  • David Austin, Chief Executive, British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)
  • Julian Ashworth, Chief Strategy Officer, BT
  • Jonny Gwynne, Director, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) Command
  • Will Gardner, CEO, Childnet International
  • John Carr, Secretary, Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS)
  • Tessy Ojo, CEO, The Diana Award
  • Rishi Saha, Head of Public Policy, UK, Facebook
  • Katie O’Donovan, Public Policy and Government Relations Manager, Google
  • Garreth Cameron, Group Manager - Business & Industry, Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - on call
  • Annie Mullins, Independent
  • Carolyn Bunting, General Manager, Internet Matters
  • Susie Hargreaves, CEO, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
  • Sonia Livingstone, Professor, London School Economics (LSE)
  • Hamish MacLeod, Director, MobileUK
  • Simon Bailey, lead for Child Protection & Abuse, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)
  • Eilis McDaniel, Northern Ireland Executive
  • Alan Wardle, Head of Corporate Affairs, NSPCC
  • Tony Close, Director Content Standards, Licensing and Enforcement, Ofcom
  • Simon Miller, Head of Public Affairs, O2/Telefonica
  • Vicki Shotbolt, CEO, ParentZone
  • TBC, Scottish Government
  • Adam Kinsley, Director of Policy, Sky
  • Iain Wood, Public Affairs Manager, TalkTalk
  • Dr Richard Graham, Consultant Psychiatrist, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
  • Nick Pickles, Senior UK Public Policy Manager, Twitter
  • Jo Twist, CEO, UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE)
  • Daniel Butler, Head of Public Affairs, Virgin Media
  • Helen Lamprell, Director of Corporate & External Affairs, Vodafone
  • Ruth Meadows, Welsh Assembly

Associate Members

UKCCIS Associate Members List (PDF, 96.9KB, 6 pages)

Appointment process

Organisations wishing to become an Associate member of the council, please contact the Secretariat at ukccis.secretariat@culture.gov.uk. Applications will be considered at the subsequent Executive Board meeting. Membership of the Executive Board is reviewed every two years.

Working groups

The Executive Board has created the following five working groups to consider topical issues:

  • Social Media chaired by Tony Close, Ofcom - Social Media - Terms of Reference (PDF, 54.5KB, 1 page)

  • Education chaired by Jonathan Baggaley, CEOP - Education - Terms of Reference (PDF, 74.1KB, 2 pages)

  • Evidence chaired by Professor Julia Davidson, Middlesex University - Evidence - Terms of Reference (PDF, 54.2KB, 1 page)

  • Technical chaired by Fred Langford, IWF - TOR to follow
  • Digital Resilience chaired by Vicki Shotbolt, Parentzone and Dr Richard Graham, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust - TOR to follow

UKCCIS Board meeting notes

UKCCIS Quarterly Newsletters

Other UKCCIS Documents

Contact details

ukccis.secretariat@culture.gov.uk