Homophobic bullying in schools falling amid fears over recording

Homophobic bullying in Scotland’s schools has fallen in recent years, it has emerged.

But there are concerns that almost half of councils across the country do not record such incidents, prompting campaign groups and opposition parties to warn the full extent of the problem may be hidden.

Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats found that 14 of the councils responding do not record information on homophobic, transphobic or bi-phobic incidents or were unable to provide data on request.

But the figures available did 0 Tavish Scott said a clearer picture of figures was needed show that the overall number of incidents in Scotland has fallen steadily from 144 in 201112 to just 58 last year. The numbers have been steadily falling apart from a slight increase in 2014-15.

Inverclyde had the most incidents in 2015-16 with 20 incidents in secondaries and six in primaries. Edinburgh was the worst offender the year before with 20 incidents in the capital’s secondaries and a worrying 27 in primary schools.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman Tavish Scott said: “We need to ensure that Scotland’s schools are inclusive and provide a safe environment for LGBTI youth.

“To get there we need to have a clear picture of the scale of homophobic bullying in schools and in many areas we are not getting this at present.”