The Scotsman Bulletin Monday, July 31 2023
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00:00 - Hello, welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin
00:02 for Monday, July the 31st.
00:05 My name is Dale Miller, I'm head of news at the Scotsman,
00:08 and I'm joined this morning
00:09 by our education correspondent, Callum Ross.
00:13 Callum, we'll get around to talking about all things
00:16 education in a minute,
00:17 but just to flag the front page of today's Scotsman.
00:21 And tomorrow is August the 1st,
00:25 and as soon as it kicks over to August,
00:27 it just feels like festival time in Edinburgh.
00:30 We're leading on a couple of reports from Brian Ferguson,
00:34 a lovely front page picture
00:36 referencing the festival showtime.
00:39 There is plenty happening,
00:40 and you can get all the full coverage,
00:43 including early reviews at scotsman.com,
00:46 follow our arts and culture tag.
00:49 There is plenty to get your teeth into
00:51 if you're thinking about what to go to over coming weeks.
00:53 Also, Rishi Sunak up in Scotland today,
00:56 making some announcements about carbon capture.
00:58 But Callum, I wanted to talk to you about your exclusive,
01:01 which featured on the front,
01:03 was to do with mandatory reporting.
01:04 Can you just talk us through the bones of the story?
01:07 - Yeah, Dale, I mean, mandatory reporting
01:10 is this kind of idea that people who work with children
01:14 and regulated activities would be required by law
01:17 to report child sex abuse.
01:21 It's already in place in much of Europe,
01:25 and I think much of the world,
01:26 and most jurisdictions in Australia and Canada and the US,
01:31 and in different forms.
01:33 But both the UK and Scottish government
01:35 have both been a bit kind of cautious about it.
01:37 In the past, the UK government
01:39 held a consultation on it previously,
01:41 and kind of ruled it out in 2018.
01:45 But they seem to be reconsidering it now.
01:48 I mean, one of the reasons they ruled it out,
01:50 and the Scottish government as well said
01:52 that there wasn't a compelling case for it,
01:55 is kind of concerns from professionals
01:57 about whether it might deter children
02:00 from speaking to adults,
02:02 if they can't kind of control what happens next
02:04 when it goes further to the authorities.
02:06 And also, just what the impact would be
02:08 for kind of authorities who are already pretty stretched
02:12 and deal with these kind of cases,
02:14 that I guess the police and child protection services.
02:17 - Calum, in a time where we know resources are stretched
02:21 across council budgets, et cetera,
02:23 we've got the cost of living crisis,
02:24 which has impacted really all sorts of sectors.
02:27 Why is this being looked at now?
02:29 What's the momentum on?
02:31 - What's changed has been, as far as I understand it,
02:34 has been the two child abuse inquiries
02:37 that have been running for several years.
02:40 In England and Wales, the child abuse inquiry down there
02:43 has already reported, and one of its key recommendations
02:46 was introducing mandatory reporting.
02:49 And the UK government is now consulting on that.
02:52 It's got a call for evidence.
02:54 It seems to be moving down that road.
02:58 So that leaves a kind of question for Scotland, I guess.
03:00 Will it follow suit?
03:02 Now, Alexis Jay, who chaired the inquiry
03:05 in England and Wales, presented her findings
03:07 to some pretty senior social work chiefs,
03:10 including the government minister in March.
03:12 And the minutes from that meeting show
03:14 that they were discussing mandatory reporting
03:16 and its introduction in Scotland, really.
03:19 So I asked the Scottish government about its position,
03:21 if it had changed, and it confirmed
03:24 that it would be kind of looking at the recommendations
03:26 from both the inquiry in England and Wales,
03:29 but also the one in Scotland.
03:31 So that's interesting that the inquiry in Scotland
03:33 doesn't report probably until next year at the earliest.
03:37 So I guess we may need to wait and see what emerges there.
03:40 - Callum, as well, just away from this story,
03:45 it's a big, big week coming up for thousands
03:48 of young people in basically a week's time.
03:52 It's exam results.
03:54 You've done a bit of an explainer on it for us.
03:56 Can you talk about everything that I will be waiting for
04:01 and where help is available with that?
04:03 - Yeah, that's right, Dale.
04:05 I mean, everyone kind of remembers, don't they,
04:06 that feeling of waiting for exam results,
04:09 counting down the days and hours.
04:11 I think I'm right in saying it's a week tomorrow.
04:14 The SQA results are out.
04:17 I've done a piece that's on the website
04:18 that has all kind of numbers and details
04:20 in terms of deadlines for appeals and all the rest of it.
04:25 And I think we've got a supplement coming out as well
04:29 pretty soon with various kind of articles
04:33 about where to go next after you get your exam results,
04:36 whether you're pleased or less pleased with what you get.
04:41 - Callum, I don't want to give away my age,
04:43 but when I got my results, I had to call up a phone line
04:46 where this automated robot voice told me
04:48 what my score was in response.
04:50 It was the most nerve wracking couple of minutes
04:54 of my life probably.
04:56 It feels that big at the time,
04:58 no doubt for yourself as well.
05:00 You can read that explainer under our education tab,
05:04 go to the nav bar, you'll find education.
05:06 You'll get all the latest coverage from Callum Ross there,
05:10 including the stories and the details on the exams
05:14 as we've discussed.
05:15 Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter,
05:18 and go out and buy a copy of "The Scotsman" tomorrow
05:20 and support local journalism.
05:22 You'll be able to get all the latest on Rishi Sunak's visit,
05:24 how it went down, and some analysis on just why
05:27 the Tories are pushing ahead with more oil and gas licences.
05:31 Thanks for joining us.
05:32 (audience applauding)
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