Chamber and committees

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table details average number of days to process disclosure applications, by application type, from 2016 to 2023:

The Scottish Government aims to engage with children and young people wherever appropriate during the development and review of child protection policies and services.

Throughout the recently updated , national-guidance-child-protection-scotland-2021-updated-2023.pdf (www.gov.scot) it is continuously emphasised that at a local level, staff working in child protection should engage positively with children and families during delivery of services. A resource is also currently being developed by Scottish Government in collaboration with the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS) which will provide an accessible source of information on the guidance specifically for children, young people and families. This resource is being co-designed with children and young people.

The Bairns’ Hoose Bairns' Hoose - Children and Young People Participation and Engagement Plan (www.gov.scot) describes how children and young people will be involved in the development and implementation of the Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland.

More broadly, the Children and Young People’s Participation Framework offers an approach that ensures a range of children and young people are involved in the wider work of the Scottish Government. This includes a particular focus on those identified as being seldom heard, furthest from their rights, or vulnerable because of factors related to their personal development, features of their family life, or because of wider influences that impact on them within their community. Any engagement with children and young people around child protection policies and services will follow the principles of the CYP Participation Framework.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland run regular training courses aimed at organisations who work with children and young people and cover a range of topics regarding safeguarding and working with children and young people.

We also target newly registered organisations and signatories to ensure that they have a fuller understanding of safeguarding processes when they start to use disclosure products including the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme.

Since 2019, Disclosure Scotland have held 198 events to support organisations in understanding their legal duties in relation to PVG referrals about people who have displayed harmful behaviour towards children and young people. These have been attended by 1978 delegates from 979 different organisations.

We have also run 129 events entitled “Helping Employers Recruit Fairly” which aims to broaden the understanding of information disclosed by Disclosure Scotland, how to implement better risk assessment processes and make informed recruitment decisions. These have been attended by 1402 delegates from 390 different organisations.

All of Disclosure Scotland’s training products provide delegates with a range of materials to support their role in working with children and young people including links to downloadable guidance that is regularly reviewed and updated to ensure organisations have access to the most up to date information.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland is focused on providing reliable safeguarding outcomes for the public. It plans and regularly reviews service delivery performance to meet the Service Level Agreement. The process includes a range of system and human validation checks to ensure the accuracy of the information disclosed along with a comprehensive programme of training and performance management.

Parents/guardians who make the choice to home educate take on full responsibility for providing a suitable and efficient education for their child(ren) in place of the local education authority.

Scottish Ministers encourage local authorities and parents to work together to develop a positive relationship that functions in the best educational interests of the child. As set out in the Scottish Government home education guidance , local authorities are encouraged to take a reasonable approach and make available any resources or support that they can offer. Responsibility for the provision of home education rests with the parent/guardian of the child, however a local authority may be able to provide support at their discretion.

The Scottish Government encourages parents/guardians to refer to the Scottish Government home education guidance and liaise with their local authority to find out what support may be available to them.

Local authorities hold responsibility for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children being home educated, and that the education they are receiving is suitable for their age and ability. In line with the Scottish Government's home education guidance, it is recommended that local authorities should make contact on an annual basis with those families who are known to be home educating within that local authority area.

If, from whatever source, an authority becomes aware of concerns about the home education of any child, outwith the normal contact time, they will need to gather the necessary information in order to form a view on whether those concerns are justified or whether the parents are providing an efficient education suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of the child. Local authorities have their own individual and established processes to obtain this information.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25783 on 11 March 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

In line with the Scottish Government home education guidance , choosing to home educate in itself should not be seen as a child protection concern, and local authorities should not treat it as such. The guidance encourages an annual meeting between home educating families and the local authority to discuss the ongoing education provision for the child, and recommends that the child should be given the opportunity to attend that meeting to express their views, but this is not compulsory.

If, from whatever source, an authority becomes aware of concerns about the home education of any child, outwith the normal contact time, they will need to gather the necessary information in order to form a view on whether those concerns are justified or whether the parents are providing an efficient education suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of the child.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of children and young people who are home educating in Scotland.

An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland which will provide valuable insights for the delivery of CLD in a reformed education system.