Scotland’s Catholic bishops are calling on ministers to withdraw a new Scottish Government questionnaire that asks school pupils about their sexual activity.
They say changes should be made to the controversial Health and Wellbeing Census, which will ask youngsters as young as 14 for information about their sexual relationships and contraception, as well as their drinking, drug and smoking habits.
Eight of Scotland's 32 local authorities have refused to take part in the survey amidst calls for a boycott over its use of sexually explicit questions. They are among 22 that have failed yet to take part in the census with 13 reviewing its contents and another one distributing it with changes.
Orkney became the latest council to say it was reviewing the census contents first.
Only ten have told the Herald that they are to distribute the survey as provided by the Scottish Government as concerns continue to be raised about 'sex experience' questions.
The Scottish Government-sanctioned census asks questions only meant to be filled out by children as young as 14 about their sexual experiences.
One question - aimed at pupils in S4 and S6 - says: “People have varying degrees of sexual experience. How much, if any, sexual experience have you had?”
Multiple choice answers include “oral sex” and “vaginal or anal sex”.
The Bishops Conference of Scotland now says it wants the census withdrawn for changes which “would allow concerns raised by the Scottish Catholic Education Service regarding the terminology of the questions and the process to ensure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 We ask that this survey be withdrawn to allow for adaptations to be made.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.”
There have been further concerns that while being circulated as an anonymous survey "for research purposes only", it is not totally confidential.
If local authority analysts see any answers of concern they can take action to help kids concerned and the identity of the children will be sought.
It has raised new concerns the controversial survey is a 'named person scheme' through the back door.
The Scottish Government scrapped the plan to appoint a named person to safeguard the welfare of every child in the country in 2019 after it was accused of being a "snooper's charter".
The census is to be given to kids in P5, 6 and 7 but the younger groups' questions are targeted on matters such as physical activity, mental health, sleep patterns, social media, body image, and bullying. It also quizzes them on how easy it is to talk to family members about things that bother them and whether their parents really care about their education.
The Scottish Conservatives said the school survey must be withdrawn and are seeking to quiz the Scottish Government on its publication on Thursday.
The eight councils that have refused to participate are West Lothian Council, Falkirk, East Lothian, Midlothian, Aberdeenshire, North Lanarkshire, Aberdeen and Highland.
The 13 councils that have said they are reviewing its content are Orkney, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, West Dunbartonshire, Argyll and Bute, South Lanarkshire, East Ayrshire, Shetland, Fife, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, Scottish Borders, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
The ten local authorities that are distributing the census are Glasgow City, Perth and Kinross, Stirling, Angus, South Ayrshire, Moray, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Dumfries and Galloway and Renfrewshire.
City of Edinburgh Council is distributing it having excluded questions "that we felt would present difficulties".
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