West Lothian Council Social Policy Service
West Lothian Civic Centre,
Howden Road South,
Livingston,
West Lothian
EH54 6FF
29 January 2020
Email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear enquirer,
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
FOI Request ID: 101006619007
I refer to your request for information received on the 17th January 2020:
1. Please advise your policy, procedures and training programme for Social Work staff dealing
with and identifying ‘Coached or psychologically coerced children’
2. Please provide your policy and procedures which explains types and examples of diagnostic
criteria and/or indicators & signs of a child being coached and/or psychologically coerced.
3. Please advise your policy and procedures that explains appropriate methods of working with
including but not limited to and consideration and intervention of a child presents as being
subject to having been coached by psychological coercive control that is given when working
with coached and/psychologically coerced children"
WEST LOTHIAN COUNCIL RESPONSE
1. Please advise your policy, procedures and training programme for Social Work staff dealing
with and identifying ‘Coached or psychologically coerced children’
There is no formal procedure or training covering this specific area. All social work
qualified staff have undertaken a professional qualification and access training on a
range of topics throughout their career. Social work staff reflect on their practice and
professional development within regular supervision with their line manager
2. Please provide your policy and procedures which explains types and examples of diagnostic
criteria and/or indicators & signs of a child being coached and/or psychologically coerced.
There is no formal procedure which explains this. The social work qualification and
ongoing post qualifying training includes undertaking assessments.
West Lothian Civic Centre
Howden South Road
Livingston, West Lothian
Director: Allister Short
EH54 6FF
3. Please advise your policy and procedures that explains appropriate methods of working with
including but not limited to and consideration and intervention of a child presents as being
subject to having been coached by psychological coercive control that is given when working
with coached and/psychologically coerced children"
There is no formal procedure that explains methods of working in this area.
Interventions are determined following the social work assessment that is undertaken.
You are free to use the information supplied in this response for your own non-commercial research
or private study purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a
limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting. Any such use must be in context
and must not be misleading. Any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the information in
analogue or digital form, including on the internet or commercial use, will require the permission of the
intellectual property owner and copyright owner.
Further details as to how to apply to re-use information supplied by us can be found on our website at
www.westlothian.gov.uk/freedom-of-information
If you have any complaint about the Council's handling of your request for information, you may
require the Council to review its actions and decisions in relation to this response. Please write, within
40 working days from the receipt of this information, to Carol Johnston, Chief Solicitor, West Lothian
Council, West Lothian Civic Centre, Howden South Road, Livingston EH54 6FF (Telephone: 01506
281605, email: xxxxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx). The request should be in writing, email or other
permanent format and should state your name, address and specify the original request for
information and the reason for your dissatisfaction.
You may, within a further six months, if you are dissatisfied with the outcome or with the Council's
failure to review its actions and decisions in relation to this response, apply in writing to the Scottish
Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS (01334
464610; email xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx) requesting his decision in this matter. The
application must be in the format and contain the information referred to in the paragraph above. The
application should also state the reason for dissatisfaction with the Internal Review.
Yours Sincerely
West Lothian Council
DATA LABEL: Official (Sensitive)
In accordance with our Corporate Policy you may be contacted shortly to obtain your views on how
we handled your request.
West Lothian Civic Centre
Howden South Road
Livingston, West Lothian
Director: Allister Short
EH54 6FF