15th August 2022
Connect has been raising concerns over the last year about the so-called Health and Wellbeing Census (devised by Scottish Government, but rolled out to young people by many local authorities which are then the owners of the data, although it will be used by Scottish Government, researchers, academics and more). These concerns were shared by some Parent Councils and by the Scottish Children and Young People's Commissioner. Read our initial letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and her response here.
Our primary concerns - raised repeatedly with Scottish Government (officers as well as the Cabinet Secretary) - were around informed consent (by parents and young people), data collection and data storage/access and ownership. In particular, the lack of clarity about who, when and how the data could be accessed and used was a major concern.
A letter to the Scottish Government from the Office for Statistics Regulation now confirms that this 'fudge' about who is responsible for, and who can access, the data is not in keeping with good practice (that's putting it nicely!)
Read the letter here.