Question reference: S6W-25769
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 26 February 2024
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Current status: Answered by Natalie Don on 13 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that disclosure processes are accessible and understandable for children and young people, including those (a) from diverse backgrounds and (b) with additional support needs.
Answer
I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:
Disclosure Scotland’s current forms of guidance are primarily available online as either informative webpages or downloadable documents. Where possible, we draft our guidance for a reading age of 9-11. Before these are published, we review both their form and content to ensure they are suitable for users of differing needs, this includes:
- compatibility with screen reading software,
- use of accessible colour schemes and text fonts for ease of reading,
- use of clear demonstrative graphics to illustrate key points and making using of Alt Text function to ensure these images can be understood by screen reading software.
We have also begun publishing short infographic guidance videos which summarise key points on safeguarding and the disclosure process for all stakeholders, ensuring that they follow the same accessibility principles laid out previously. These guidance videos include narrations and full captions.
We are reviewing the guidance and support we provide as part of the implementation work for the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020. Last year we collaborated with 102 organisations, including organisations who work with and advocate for children and young people, to review proposed new guidance, collect feedback on what improvements we can make and on what new forms of guidance would be effective in communicating any changes to safeguarding processes. This feedback from our stakeholders is informing the design of guidance and support that will be published for the implementation of the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 for both organisations and individuals.
When making changes to our digital service delivery, we consider all aspects of the Digital Scotland Service Standard to ensure our digital system is built around different users and their needs and that they are accessible and inclusive for everyone. We are subject to independent assurance from the Digital Assurance Office with our public facing services to ensure we align to these standards. Although ‘digital first’ is our strategy for service delivery, not everyone can use digital Government services. We will deliver improvements to our assisted digital journey as part of the Disclosure Act implementation.