Council rapped after school bullying ‘whitewash’ claim | UK News

A Scottish council has been censured by the UK’s information watchdog after records about a bullying incident were modified weeks after it took place.

East Dunbartonshire Council previously paid damages to a parent who claimed the narrative of his daughter’s bullying was being “whitewashed” in favour of her school.

The council told him the incident was properly logged at the time and it was not possible to modify records retrospectively, but later admitted this was not the case.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ruled the backdating of these records did not comply with data protection laws. East Dunbartonshire Council said it has taken action to address the issues raised.

The row centres on a nationwide education IT system called Seemis which is used for recording pupil data and tracking bullying complaints.

Concerns have previously been raised about how Seemis is accessed and used by staff amid fears bullying in schools is under-recorded.

A petition calling for measures to stop teachers altering Seemis records has also been lodged with the Scottish Parliament by public sector governance campaign group Accountability Scotland.

A spokesman for the group said: “It is clearly in the public interest that school records are accurate just like other public systems of records such as the NHS or police.

“This ICO decision is excellent news as there really needs to be sufficient safeguards in Seemis to stop history being re-written.

“This is a Scotland-wide issue. If teachers take advantage of deficiencies in the system it means parents are not getting the full story.”

The East Dunbartonshire case started when a parent, who has asked not to be named, raised a formal bullying complaint with his daughter’s school.

The father-of-three said his daughter later returned to this school, which is in East Dunbartonshire, but there was then another incident involving a dangerous weapon which went unnoticed in a supervised play area.

The school told the parent, who works as a data analyst, that the incident had been properly logged on Seemis, but the father later suspected this was not the case.

East Dunbartonshire Council told the parent it was not possible to edit records of the incident involving a weapon but did not release them when asked.

After a civil court challenge the council was forced to release the data, which showed changes to three records had been made after the incident, including backdating records.

The content of these changes is not recorded by the system.

In its response to the parent’s complaint about the backdating issue, the ICO said it was of the view that this practice did not comply with data protection legislation.

It added: “The practice of changing the date on a note on the Seemis system does not meet with the obligation to be transparent with regard to the processing of an individual’s personal data.

“While the notes themselves may be an accurate record of an incident or opinion, they are not necessarily accurate if the date is changed.”

The ICO told East Dunbartonshire Council it should change the functionality of Seemis so notes cannot be backdated.

Greg Bremner, chief education officer at the local authority, said: “Whilst the council does not comment on individual cases, it had already taken action to address the issue raised by the ICO.”

Earlier this year, News revealed there were more than 3,600 incidents of racism or racist bullying recorded in Scotland’s schools in 2024, compared to 2,400 the year before.

Campaigners say the true figure will be higher as councils are not complying with Scottish government guidance to log all incidents properly.

Dr Pam Gosal, Scottish Conservative MSP for West Scotland, said: “Across Scotland violence in schools is getting worse, with teachers, parents and pupils all reporting a worsening situation.

“We can only deal with escalating violence and bullying if records are kept properly protected, and everyone can have full confidence in the system.”

The part of the Seemis system for monitoring bullying incidents was rolled out in 2019, but previous research by watchdog Education Scotland suggested many schools are not using it properly.