Peers have voted for a third time to bind the Government to curbing children’s social media use. As part of a proposal by Lord Nash, under-16s face being blocked from social media tools or websites thought to cause “obsessive, addictive or other unhealthy behaviours”.

Ministers have vowed to decide which action to take following a consultation closing next month. However, by backing Lord Nash’s proposal, peers have agreed that ministers “must, rather than just ‘may’, raise the age of access for those harmful social media sites to 16 within 12 months”.

As well as setting the Government a 12-month deadline within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, peers have demanded that ministers protect children under 16 from features “likely to cause, encourage or facilitate compulsive, obsessive, addictive or other unhealthy behaviours among children”.