Safeguarding of children and young people
The Scottish Parliament is committed to safeguarding the wellbeing of the children and young people we engage with and we have principles and procedures in place to support this.
This means:
- we will work collaboratively with trusted intermediaries and/or within a trusted space
- we ensure children taking part in our services are always accompanied by a parent, guardian or responsible adult
- we complete safeguarding risk-assessments for relevant activities as and when required.
Participants are empowered and in control of what is shared by and about them
- we ensure children and young people are empowered and in control of what is shared by and about them, with appropriate additional consent from responsible adults where required
- we will hold any personal data securely, and only use it for the purposes it was collected for, in line with our data protection policy.
Participation should not pose a risk to the mental or physical health of the participants, staff or Members
- staff are trained and supported to adopt best practice where relevant, and we have named Child Protection Officers. Our Education Services team are
- we ensure all contact between our staff and children and young people, both face to face and digitally, minimises risk of harm.
We will take action if we believe a child or young person (under 18) is at risk of harm or significant harm
- In line with the principles underlying the , our staff may report a concern to the relevant authorities if they come across an issue during their work which causes them to think that a child may be at risk of abuse or harm.
We review our procedures and practice regularly, in accordance with any changes in legislation and/or following any feedback, issues or concerns raised about the protection of children within the Parliament.