Scottish Parliament told Highland Council ‘botched’ a child protection probe as petitions committee backs call for an inquiry into how public bodies ‘mishandle’ complaints

ALLEGATIONS that Highland Council botched a child protection investigation have been aired at the Scottish Parliament amid demands for an inquiry into how public bodies handle such matters.

Last year, The Inverness Courier reported how a female secondary school pupil was found to have been subject to “inappropriate behaviour" by a teacher.

Area education and learning manager Derek Martin apologised then that the girl was “treated in such a poor manner and that suitable and robust arrangements were not effectively put in place at school”.

Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP Edward Mountain told the Scottish Parliament’s petitions committee on Wednesday that the teacher was dismissed after a flawed investigation process involving someone the teacher “had a relationship” with, and was left free to claim they had done “nothing wrong” – while the child was left without any protection after leaving school.

He spoke out during discussion about a petition calling for a public inquiry into concerns that allegations about child protection, child abuse, safeguarding, and children’s rights have been mishandled by public bodies on a national scale.

Lodged by a number of individuals including ex-teacher Lindsay McNicholas who raised safeguarding concerns about a Highland nursery, bodies cited include local authorities and the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) as petitioners also call for the establishment of an independent national whistleblowing officer for education and children’s services to handle complaints in these areas in future.

Of concern is the fact that councils have responsibilities of care to both pupils and staff, limiting their ability to be open and transparent about complaints and disciplinary processes and action.

Mr Mountain told the committee how he believed systemic problems had left the girl at the centre of the Highland allegations a victim both of the teacher and then the investigation that followed her complaint, even though that ultimately found in her favour.

He said: “This is related to a child who was approached by a teacher who was making sexual comments and sexual innuendo to that child.

“The consequence was that the child made a complaint, the child left school before they had finished their schooling, and the complaint took a very long time to go through the Highland Council.

“The teacher was found guilty (but) there were complications that some of the investigation was prolonged by the fact the teacher in question had a relationship with one of the people who were investigating it.

“And the outcome was the child failed to complete their education - and actually it was worse than that, because it was all a ‘secret story’ and resulted in the teacher being dismissed and saying ‘I have done nothing wrong’ to everyone in public.”

He said of Highland Council: “They ended up marking their own homework, keeping the results quiet and not publishing them, so the long-term consequences were purely on the child.”

The girl’s parents – we are withholding their names – told us they support the petition after their “nightmare” experience.

“Our experience in submitting a concern about a Highland Council teacher’s behaviour has been ongoing since April 2023 and has been nothing short of a nightmare,” they said.

“We have identified numerous weaknesses in the current system – the main one being the complications arising from the council’s conflicting responsibilities to the employee(s) and to the child.

“Our original complaint was upheld and the teacher is no longer working, but employment law prevents the council from revealing what disciplinary action was taken.

“Our daughter is a victim of this failing system - she was not protected at school or throughout the investigation process. She has suffered and lost out - she has been shown no respect or duty of care and has never had a public acknowledgement or personal apology for what she has been through.

“We have found Highland Council to be unsupportive, dismissive and unwilling to address the wider issue of reporting and acting on teacher misconduct. We have struggled to get any meaningful information from them throughout the complaints process and have been expected to blindly trust their judgements and decision making.

“Our request to meet with Derek Brown, chief executive, to discuss our concerns, was denied”.

A Highland Council spokesperson said: “We have transparent processes within the Highland Partnership for public protection that includes all key public sector partners, and well established child protection procedures.

“We also have our own whistleblowing policies, as required by legislation and report on them through our own audit committees.

“We do not comment on staff matters or comment on issues relating to specific children, which is standard practice for public bodies, to ensure individuals’ rights are protected.

“It is not for us to comment on anything the Scottish Government may do nationally regarding whistleblowing.”

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