Catholic Bishops call on Scottish Government to withdraw Health & Wellbeing survey

Source: SCMO

Scotland's Catholic Bishops Have called on the Scottish Government to withdraw the Health and Wellbeing survey sent to schools to allow for adaptations to be made. This would allow concerns raised by the Scottish Catholic Education Service regarding the terminology of the questions and the process to ensure that parents are able to give informed consent to be addressed.

A spokesperson for the Bishops' Conference of Scotland said: "Scotland's Catholic Bishops share the concerns of many parents about the explicit nature of some questions which young people are being asked in this survey. Responses from the Scottish Government to the Scottish Catholic Education Service have failed to address legitimate concerns regarding the terminology of the questions and the process to ensure that parents are able to give informed consent. We ask that this survey be withdrawn to allow for adaptations to be made. Failure to respond to these concerns will demonstrate not only a disregard for the rights of parents but may risk re-traumatising some young people who might have suffered from harmful sexual encounters."