UK Minster Margeret Hodge has revealed that Tanya Byron’s Review into the availability of inappropriate digital material to young people cost the UK Government £275,000.

The Review, which was immediately backed by Government, recommended that BBFC ratings should appear on all games released in the UK – with anew statutory ‘12’ BBFC age rating joining up with the current ‘15’ and ’18 ratings.

It also proposed PEGI should be responsible for monitoring all ‘3+’ and ‘7+’ games.

After being published last month, Byron has recommended an 18-month consultation period, in which the industry should open dialogue with the Government on the issues.

Hodge’s written remarks said:

“The Review has just ended and while accounting procedures are still to be completed, we estimate that a total of around £275,000 has been spent on the review, not including salaries and expenses of the civil servants on the Review’s secretariat.

“This included expenditure on consultation with parents and other stakeholders, and a comprehensive literature review.”

In a recent BBC 2 programme, Tanya Byron compared the supposed addictive qualities of video games to heroin.

Link: Gamepolitics