Current status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 8 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the establishment of an independent national whistleblowing office for education and children’s services.
Protecting children from harm is a key priority for the Scottish Government.
There are already relevant systems in place in Scotland to deal with complaints and whistleblowing. We have a framework in place which includes regulatory bodies which provide ongoing inspection, as well as complaint routes to look into specific cases. Adding another body or process into a system with a range of existing processes and functions risks increasing complexity and undermining understanding and clarity of roles.
We acknowledge however that concerns that have been raised in relation to complaints and whistleblowing processes and we are actively considering this issue. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills raised the concerns at the Education and Childcare Assurance Board in September 2025 and underlined the assurances she required about the robustness of these important processes. This issue has also been discussed by the National Public Protection Leadership Group who acknowledged the challenges with current whistleblowing procedures, especially in terms of clarity and confidence among staff to raise concerns and agreed to support further discovery work on this issue. The National Public Protection Leadership Group will be having a further detailed discussion on the issue at their next meeting on 27 January.