Children and young people in Shetland are invited to have their say that will influence how local services for children and families should be delivered in the future.
Shetland is participating alongside authorities from across Scotland who are asking their schools to make a Health and Wellbeing Census available to Primary 5 to Secondary 6 pupils from March 2022.
This census will help Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) to make better joint decisions about how to improve services for children, young people and their families.
A child or young person’s confidentiality is paramount, and the census has been designed to ensure this is preserved. Under normal circumstances, a child or young person’s identity will never be disclosed, and any results produced will never allow an individual child or young person to be identified.
Information that would directly enable a child to be identified is held separately from a child’s responses in the Census. The census does not ask for the child to provide their name. Only if a significant child wellbeing concern is identified during the analysis of the children’s responses would a child’s actual identity be sought, as this would be necessary in the best interest of the child or young person. The local authority would follow a set of standard procedures if this were to happen.
The Health and Wellbeing Census asks children and young people about a wide range of themes and topics including school, physical activity, eating and drinking, social media, emotional and mental wellbeing, friendships and other health behaviours.
We hope that all children and young people offered the survey will take part so that we have a full picture of how local services for children can be strengthened.
Letters and leaflets are being sent to parents and carers. These will include details of how they can opt-out before the survey begins. A child or young person can also opt-out before the survey starts, can skip any questions that they don’t want to answer, or stop taking part at any time.
Further information is available on: https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-and-wellbeing-census-2/