Scotland’s children’s commissioner wants sex survey paused

As reported by BBC News, Scotland’s children’s commissioner has called for a controversial sex survey of schoolchildren to be paused

Bruce Adamson expressed concern over the Health and Wellbeing Census, which asks pupils about their experience of drug use, alcohol consumption and sex. Adamson said the survey must protect children’s right to privacy and give informed consent. He expressed concern that the anonymous survey could actually allow children to be identified.

The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland said: “We are concerned that the survey collects the pupil’s Scottish Candidate Number and young people need to be made aware that this may allow them to be identified.

“Young people should have their rights clearly communicated to them in advance, including the key information that their participation is not compulsory. Young people and their families need to be involved in the design and delivery of such information gathering.”

He added: “It is important that teachers know how to manage any issues that may arise as a result of wellbeing questions being asked in school.

“A number of local authorities have also raised concerns which call into question the effectiveness of this method of processing the survey. The Scottish government should pause the rolling out of this survey until it can address the concerns raised and ensure a rights-compliant process.”

The Health and Wellbeing Census is for all pupils in primary and secondary education. Different questions and subjects, like eating and drinking behaviours and attitudes to school, are provided for different age groups. Some of the questions, which have not been published on the government website, require specific answers while others have multiple choice options.

The government says the confidential survey will help local authorities “improve services for children and families”. However, the section for pupils in S4 to S6 has hit the headlines for asking pupils as young as 14 about their sexual relationships and contraception.

One question asks: “People have varying degrees of sexual experience. How much, if any, sexual experience have you had?”

The multiple choice answers include “oral sex” and “vaginal or anal sex”.

Older pupils will also be encouraged to give details about their use of alcohol and tobacco (S2 onwards), gambling experience (S3 onwards) and use of drugs (S4 onwards).

The Scottish government insisted the census was confidential and voluntary. It said it wanted “all children and young people to be confident individuals, successful learners, effective contributors and responsible citizens”. It hopes the census will give a better understanding on some of the factors which influence pupil attainment and achievement.

At first minister’s questions on Thursday, Scottish Conservative MSP Megan Gallagher asks whether the Scottish government would withdraw the survey. Nicola Sturgeon said that 24 out of 32 local authorities would be taking part in the census but she stressed it was not mandatory.

She said parents could ask that the survey was not given to their children and young people can opt out of answering some, or all, of the questions. Sturgeon said it was important to collect the information so the government could provide the services that young people need.

She said: “Either we can bury our heads in the sand and pretend that young people are not exposed to the issues or the pressures that we know they are exposed to.

“Or we can seek to properly understand the reality that young people face and provide them with the guidance, the advice and the services they need to make safe, healthy and positive decisions.

“I choose the latter.”