Pupils snub controversial Scot Govt ‘sex survey’

Tens of thousands of pupils in Scotland refused to complete a nationwide survey on their sex lives, it has been revealed.

According to official data, more than half of older teens, and over a third of all pupils who received the Government’s ‘Health and Wellbeing Census’ failed to respond.

And only 16 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities participated in the Government initiative, many considering the questionnaire unsuitable for distribution.

Response rates

The survey, conducted in schools between October 2021 and June 2022, asked teens in years S4 to S6 shocking sexual questions, and quizzed primary school children about their home lives.

Following its release, The Christian Institute urged parents to write to their local councillors to express their opposition to the use of the survey in their own area.

Researchers reported that the overall response rate for the 16 councils that collected data was 58.3 per cent, representing 134,044 pupils. But more than half of the teenagers in S4 – aged 14-15 at the start of the school year – ignored the survey.

Students in their final year of secondary education were even less inclined to answer the Government’s questions, with more than two-thirds of teens in S6 refusing to take part.

Intrusive and harmful

The Scottish Conservatives’ deputy leader, Meghan Gallacher MSP, argued that the lack of engagement showed pupils were “uncomfortable” answering such intrusive questions.

And Chris McGovern, Chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, accused the Scottish Government of wasting children’s time and taxpayers’ money “on surveys which actually tell us very little and are likely to damage mental health”.