THOUSANDS of children are at risk of being exposed to adult material on the internet unless controls surrounding age verification are made more secure, former children's TV presenter Floella Benjamin has suggested.

Baroness Benjamin sought to make the case for improving the security of online filters as the House of Lords debated the Online Safety Bill.

"Most people would find it very odd that the Government should have encouraged the industry to provide adult content filters but in a way that makes it perfectly possible for children, as well as adults, to lift them," she said.

Lady Benjamin told peers she was aware that internet service providers had agreed that should filter settings be changed the account holder should be emailed to alert them. But she labelled such a measure "completely unsustainable", pointing out that age verification should be about preventing access in the first place.

"Even if someone reads their emails very quickly it will probably take several hours before they can do anything," she said. "During that time their children could freely be accessing adult material."

She sought to highlight the issue by tabling a probing amendment to the Bill which was moved by Baroness Howe of Idlicote.

The proposed legislation seeks to bring in restrictions on what children can watch online into line with those in place regarding offline material like DVDs. This includes ensuring internet filters cannot be lifted without age verification and to educate parents about online safety.

Internet Safety and Security Minister Baroness Shields said more will be achieved by working with internet service providers (ISPs) and using a voluntary system rather than introducing legislation.

Lady Shields told peers: "The real issue is that by the time legislation is out there and in the public domain the world has moved on.

"So what we're trying to say here is that we are starting a consultation very shortly on age verification. It's part of our manifesto commitment.

"We've been seeking advice of experts for the last couple of months, we're now going to be opening that up to the public."

Lady Shields said measures will be taken to ensure UK law complies with European Union regulations by December 2016.

She added: "If there's something wrong with the way that ISPs are doing this, if you have things you want to raise, raise them - the ISPs will change their procedures and they'll modify accordingly.

"We're committed to this. We just have to continue to work with them through the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, through the voluntary mechanisms we have established and we will accomplish more."

Lady Benjamin, who was a presenter on children's programme Play School, recalled how sex offenders told her they had been "traumatised" and "damaged" by viewing adult content when they were younger.

She said: "I recently visited Rye Hill prison in Rugby where there are more than 680 sex offenders. I spoke to some of these prisoners and they all said to me: 'Baroness Benjamin, if only I was protected from seeing adult content material when I was a child, I wouldn't have been so traumatised and damaged the way I am today'.

"There are many, many other children who are being traumatised this way by being able to see adult content material so I'm so pleased to hear your commitment and what the Government is going to do."

Retired teacher Anne Richardson, from Keighley, has seen firsthand the effects on children of being exposed to adult material online.

"It never ceased to shock me how freely children appear to have access to the internet," she said. "I taught 11 and 12-year-olds who would talk openly about watching films with adult content. It struck me that their parents either had no idea what their children were watching in their bedrooms, or they were actually allowing them to watch such material.

"There were two boys in particular who were regularly exposed to violent computer games and films, and their behaviour in the classroom was often aggressive and erratic. I was left in no doubt of a link between their online viewing and their behaviour.

"Baroness Benjamin is right; if the Government wants the industry to provide adult content filters it has to be done in a way that children can't lift them. It's all very well informing people of age verification but people often don't get round to reading their emails for hours, even days or weeks. In the meantime their children can still have access to inappropriate adult material."