Making Parents' Voices Heard
Figure 12: Reasons parents did not complain
Why have you not complained when you have seen things you felt were inappropriate for children because of sexual content?
Source:TNS Omnibus Survey, 2011
Weighted base: 1199 parents of children aged 5-16 in UK
4.
Parents in our qualitative research and in the Call for Evidence also said that they thought the process would be difficult and time-consuming, or that complaining about these issues may make them look prudish, unreasonable or 'just making a fuss'. All of these factors contribute to a reduction in parents’ confidence in the willingness of organisations to listen to them.
5.
We found that there is definitely scope on the part of regulators and businesses to ensure that their own complaints mechanisms are easy to find and use, with information about what action is being taken as a result communicated in a timely fashion.
6.
The general difficulty in registering complaints seems all the more contradictory in the face of the consistent view among business contributors to this Review that they take customer feedback and complaints seriously and act swiftly, particularly when children's interests are involved. It appears, however, that this message is not being communicated persuasively to parents.
7.
Aside from actual complaints, there should be ways for parents' voices to be heard more generally on these issues and there is scope for businesses to capitalise on the power of instant feedback from their online activities. It is in all our interests, especially for businesses and regulators, to improve the ongoing dialogue with parents, to respond as meaningfully as possible to their views and to offer timely and transparent feedback, as a way of reassuring parents that it is legitimate to have concerns about such issues.
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