Question reference: S6W-25771
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 26 February 2024
-
Current status: Answered by Natalie Don on 13 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives are in place to raise awareness among children and young people about their rights and responsibilities regarding disclosure and safeguarding.
Answer
I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:
Disclosure Scotland leads the Scotland Works for You group. The group includes organisations from the public, private and third sector to improve access to employment for people with convictions.
Scotland Works for You offers advice for people with convictions, help with disclosure applications required for employment, education or volunteering, and training for employers to help them assess people's convictions. This guidance sets out that most disclosure periods and, in relation to standard, enhanced and PVG scheme record disclosures, the additional period a spent conviction can be disclosed is halved where a person was convicted aged under 18. Separate guidance is not provided specific to children.
As part of our responsibilities as a Corporate Parent, Disclosure Scotland has worked with Who Cares? Scotland and have produced some short videos providing information on key areas that have caused concern such as application completion and what the consideration for listing (barring) process is. This information is available on the "disclosure scotland" - Who Cares? Scotland (whocaresscotland.org) .