In accordance with our responsibilities under Section 99 of Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021 (The Act) please find below the report of the Royal Blind Asylum and School Trading as Sight Scotland up to 7 December 2022 covering the first 9 months of the scheme.
We have not been contacted by any survivors or their representatives in connection with the Redress scheme although we will support any survivor of child abuse that was in our care and will do our utmost to provide records from our archives in support of any requests for information. If we become aware of any specific cases we will work with the survivor to provide funding for emotional, psychological or practical support (as per s.99(2)(a)(i)), advice and assistance on tracing and reuniting families (as per s.99(2)(a)(iii)), take action relating to the provision of an apology to such individuals (as per s.99(2)(a)(iv) or or any other support the survivor needs from us’ (as per s.99(2)(b))
We have in place a safeguarding manager and have a policy whereby all staff, whether engaged in child care or not, undertake safeguarding training. Care, Education and Nursing staff and volunteers working directly with service users (this definition includes children as well as vulnerable adults) will be expected to undertake Safeguarding training both at basic and advanced levels. This will be a combination of e-learning and face to face training. Staff are expected to successfully complete the advanced training module every year.
We published our statement on Redress on our website on 31 May 2022 Sight Scotland - Redress Statement
We are fully supportive of the work being carried out by the Redress, Relations and Response Division of the Scottish Government and will continue to engage with them when called upon to do so.