Allegations of child sexual abuse in boarding schools: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/17/02635
Date received: 31 October 2017
Date responded: 28 November 2017

Information requested

You requested the following information relating to allegations of child sexual abuse by staff members at boarding schools that were reported to your local authority since the introduction of the Local Authority Designated Officer role in 2007.

You also stated if this request will take longer than the approved number of research hours to complete an FOI request, then please amend this request to only provide details relating to allegations that have been reported to you since Jan 1st 2012.

Response

The response to your questions is as follows:

Information for the Mainstream independent schools

1. How many school staff have been accused of the sexual abuse of a pupil from the boarding schools listed below since the establishment of Education Scotland?

Two incidents have been reported to Education Scotland.

2. This information should be broken down by case and should include:

a) The year the alleged incident was reported (calendar year)

• Case 1 - 2015
• Case 2 - 2013

b) The year the alleged incident took place (calendar year(s))

• Case 1 - 2014-2015
• Case 2 - 1990-1997

c) The job title of the accused staff member, to be limited to 'teacher' or 'non-teacher'

• Case 1 - Teacher
• Case 2 - Teacher

d) What was the judgment made during the allegation management meeting? Options include unfounded, unsubstantiated or substantiated, or add another as needed (NB: specific details of further actions followed are included in questions below)

• Case 1 - The member of staff in question had left the employment of the school before the allegations were made. The school reported the allegations to Police Scotland to investigate.

• Case 2 - Not known - no information held on this. A former pupil made a complaint directly to Police Scotland who then informed the school.

e) During the investigation into the allegation, or following its conclusion, did Education Scotland report the alleged incident to the police (answers should be 'yes' or 'no').

• Case 1 - The school had already reported the allegation directly to the police before informing Education Scotland.

• Case 2 - A former pupil made the complaint directly to Police Scotland.

f) Was the staff member suspended as a result of the incident (answers should be 'yes' 'no' or 'don't know')

• Case 1 - The staff member had left the employment of the school before the allegations were made.

• Case 2 - Yes.

g) Was the staff member disciplined or given a written warning as a result of the incident (answers should be 'no', 'disciplined', 'written warning' or 'don't know').

• Case 1 - N/A - see answer (f).

• Case 2 - The staff member died within two weeks of the allegations being made.

h) Was the staff member given further training as a result of the incident (answers should be 'yes', 'no' or don't know').

• Case 1 - N/A - see answer (f).

• Case 2 - N/A - see answer (g).

i) Was the staff member dismissed as a result of the incident (answers should be 'yes', 'no' or 'don't know').

• Case 1 - N/A - see answer (f).

• Case 2 - N/A - see answer (g).

j) Did Education Scotland send a referral to the Disclosure and barring service about this incident (answers should be 'yes', 'no' or 'don't know').

• Case 1 - No - other agencies took this forward.

• Case 2 - N/A - see answer (g).

I can advise that the Care Inspectorate regulates and inspects Boarding Schools in Scotland, if you require any further information or assistance please email them at:

enquiries@careinspectorate.com.

Please note that Education Scotland does not hold any information in relation to the Registrar of Independent Schools. The office of the Registrar can be contacted at the following email address, independentschools@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk to obtain further information.

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