Dear Sir or Madam,

This request relates to the safe use of the Internet by Primary and Secondary School pupils in your region.

Resources:
1. The Byron Review, published 27 March 2008,
2. The Byron Review Action Plan, published 24th June 2008.
3. Written Answer from Scottish Parliament, Maureen Watt dated 24 January 2008. (S3W-08434)

The resources above relate to the safety and education of children using the Internet at Home and School, and the responsibility of government, local and national to ensure that children are educated and protected whilst doing so.

Maureen Watt’s written answer stated that “The Scottish Government wants children and young people to make full use of the internet and is committed to ensuring that they are able to do so in a safe and responsible manner”.

I hereby request under the Freedom of Information Act full details of the Internet Safety Actions and Initiatives currently in place throughout the region.

1. Internet Safety Education provided as part of the school curriculum.

- Within your schools has a specific program aimed at teaching children about staying safe online, including cyber bullying been integrated into the curriculum?
- If yes, who is responsible for delivery and what accreditations/training have they received? For example, teacher, CEOP trained ambassador.
- If yes, how often is internet safety training integrated into the school curriculum, i.e. weekly, monthly etc
- If no, what steps/timeframes are being taken for implementation?

2. Internet Filtering

- Do the primary and secondary schools within your authority have internet filtering in place?
- If yes, what tools do you use? For example Hardware or Software?
- If yes, what is the name of your internet filtering supplier and when was their contract last renewed/due for renewal?

3. Internet Filtering Breaches

- Have any of the Schools within the past 24 months experienced a breach of Internet Filtering where children were able to access pornography or Indecent images. Please provide details of School Type(Primary or Secondary), Date of Breach and Type of Unsuitable material accessed.
- If a breach of security occurred how was your authority notified? For example, by a parent, by the school, through an automated alert provided by hardware/software supplier.

Yours truly,
Mrs A Fitzsimons