Scottish Government examines alternative studies after ‘school sex survey’ halted

The Scottish Government has said it continues to look into alternative ways to gather health data on pupils after a census dubbed a “school sex survey” was halted.

The Government said it will not repeat the format of the health and wellbeing census which was carried out in 2021/22 in around half of Scotland’s local authorities.

Opposition MSPs said it had involved children as young as 14 being asked “highly intrusive and inappropriate questions” about sexual experiences.

Earlier in February, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth paused the census and ordered that data should be removed from the catalogue available to researchers.

She was responding to a report on the BBC which said data from the survey was being advertised for use by external researchers.

On Friday, the Government published a background report into the survey which detailed the steps taken since it was first floated in 2015.

It said ministers consider the results to be a “valuable dataset”, but “it must give due consideration to the strong opinions that have been expressed through the media”.

A spokesman said: “The Scottish Government recognises the concerns that parents and carers have expressed about the health and wellbeing census which was run in 2021-22, and it will not be repeated in this format going forward.

“Ministers recognise the importance of gathering relevant research and data on children’s and young people’s health and wellbeing, so that local and national policies and services can be designed to improve their lives.

“We will continue to work with partners, including the NHS, to establish alternative ways of gathering this information.

“The chief statistician will consider how this is taken forward in future and we will provide an update in due course.”

Conservative spokeswoman for children and young people Roz McCall said: “Parents will be appalled that this controversial sex survey was in the works for years on the SNP’s watch.

“Ministers have serious questions to answer as to why this was repeatedly given the green light given the inappropriate nature of the content in the survey.

“Those questions were far too intrusive, and pupils should never have been put in this uncomfortable position.

“Having been dragged kicking and screaming into releasing its findings, ministers must now accept their serious errors and guarantee a similar survey will never be asked of young people again.”