The home page of Google and every other search engine used in the UK would be obliged to display links to information on how to search the internet safely under new proposals backed by the Government.

Sites such as YouTube that host videos uploaded by users will also have to screen their content more vigorously for harmful material, and every computer sold in Britain will have to have clear guidance to parents on how to set up software that can regulate how their children use the internet.

The wide-reaching new measures are among a number put forward in a report commissioned by the Prime Minister into the risks posed by the widespread use of the internet by children and the dangers associated by violent computer games.

The Government said today that it would give its full backing to the recommendations made in the report, which was written by Tanya Byron, the clinical psychologist and parenting guru, paving the way for new laws that regulate sites that host harmful and inappropriate content on the internet.

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Among the recommendations in the Byron report are:

— the creation of a UK Council on Child Internet Safety, chaired by the Home Office and the Department for Children, Skills and Families

— the establishment of voluntary codes of practice for user-generated content sites such as YouTube, including making such sites commit to take down inappropriate content within a given time

— "clarification" of the law around certain types of harmful content, including so-called 'suicide websites' which encourage young people to take their own lives

— an obligation for search engines such as Google to indicate what level of search (eg. safe or moderate) is active at any time, and to display information on safe search settings prominently on their home page

— new measures for the computer industry forcing manufacturers to sell machines with Kitemarked parental control software pre-installed

—new rules for internet service providers forcing them to give guidance to parents on how to activate such software when they are setting up their internet connection

The 200-page report also called for a "properly funded" public information and awareness campaign focusing on child internet safety, and the introduction of more comprehensive internet safety training in schools.

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