PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(13 January 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools on gambling-like features in video games, including loot boxes and in-game spending, as part of online safety education.

Asked by:
Dr Beccy Cooper (Labour)

Statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) supports children and young people to manage risk and make informed decisions in relation to their mental wellbeing and online behaviour.

The updated RSHE statutory guidance is clear that children and young people should be taught the risks relating to online gaming, video game monetisation, scams, fraud and other financial harms, and that gaming can become addictive.

Curriculum content also includes the risks related to online gambling and gambling-like content within gaming, including the accumulation of debt.

The departments online safety guidance covers how to teach about all aspects of internet safety and includes content on gaming and gambling, and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.

As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.

Answered by:
()