Paedophile film fears 'protectionist'

Parents must formally agree to children being filmed

Parents in Edinburgh may be stopped from taking photos or videos of their children's nativity plays or concerts - to combat the activities of paedophiles.

The city council said parents wanting to record these events would have to get the permission of every child's family.

Education officials introduced the guidelines after claiming paedophiles across the UK had been caught in possession of photos and videos of school plays.

It follows a similar move by a school in Luton, which banned all film and digital photography at its nativity play.

What should be an innocent pleasurable experience is just being made into something criminal and I think most parents will feel really upset

Eleanor Coner
SPTC

Two years ago, Edinburgh council chiefs warned schools not to put pictures of individual children on their websites, for similar reasons.

But the move has been condemned by the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC) as an over-reaction.

Eleanor Coner, of the SPTC, said: "We're concerned that things are getting out of hand and that freedom is being taken away and we're all getting a bit over-protectionist.

"What should be an innocent pleasurable experience is just being made into something criminal and I think most parents will feel really upset."

But Councillor Ewan Aitken, who is also a minister of religion, defended the actions as a "commonsense" precaution.

He said: "What we've said is that parents have the choice as to whether their children appear on other people's videos or other people's photographs.

The ruling applies to 156 schools

"It's the school that organises the permissions, it's not the other parents.

"If everybody says it is okay, and more often than not, that's the case, then the filming or the photographs can happen."

Councillor Aitken added: "But if somebody for whatever reason, and it's not just about child protection, sometimes it's about not wanting your previous partner to know where you are or there are religious reasons, then we try to find some commonsense solution to that."

Staff at all 156 council-run schools and nurseries in Edinburgh have been told that if one parent refuses to fill in a consent form, then other parents will not be allowed to film events.

A council spokeswoman said the measure was a "precaution", and that the authorities had to recognise the risk of paedophiles.

She said the council had no information there had been an increase in paedophile activity in the city.

The city council warned about websites

But she added: "We have heard of cases in Scotland and England where paedophiles are found with video footage taken at school plays."

The spokeswoman said parents were allowed to take pictures before and after plays, when children who are not permitted to be filmed have been removed from the stage.

School staff will also be allowed to film plays and edit out youngsters not permitted to be recorded.

The spokeswoman said: "The recording of particular individuals in events such as nativity plays has various implications in terms of the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act."

The EIS teaching union said the council's decision was understandable.