EXCLUSIVE: MSPs believe disclosure checks should be mandatory for elected representatives at Holyrood
Senior Holyrood politicians have said MSPs should have to undergo disclosure checks before they can be alone with kids.
Former SNP Minister Ash Regan issued the demand after MSP Colin Smyth was charged with the possession of indecent images of children.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton also said MSPs should not get an “opt-out” from “basic safeguards”.
MSPs do not have to go through Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) checks, which apply to anyone who has unsupervised contact with under 18s in either a voluntary or paid role.
Regan, who quit the SNP for Alba after clashing with Nicola Sturgeon’s former Government over gender legislation, has urged a rethink: “We should think about extending that to members of the Scottish Parliament.”
Regan said MSPs can have children and young people as interns and the parliament also caters for school trips.
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She said a PVG check should be a requirement for getting a Holyrood pass and accessing the building:
“The public rightly expect politicians to be held to a fairly high standard of behaviour. I think that’s right. It would make sense for us to have to pass a number of checks.
“That would basically be in order to get the pass.”
Cole-Hamilton tried to bring MSPs into the ambit of the PVG scheme in 2020, but his amendments to legislation were defeated at the time.
He told the Record: “I was shocked when the SNP, Conservatives, Labour and Greens rejected my proposals and concluded that vulnerable persons checks should apply to everyone bar themselves.
“In any other job with access to children and vulnerable people you would be expected to undergo a vulnerable persons check. The reaction of most people to such a proposal is simply shock that elected representatives get an opt-out from these basic safeguards.
“It is not good enough for MSPs to rely on self-policing or say that they have voluntarily adopted the good practice of not spending time unaccompanied with children or vulnerable adults.”
A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “MSPs are responsible for deciding whether any activity they choose to engage in requires PVG clearance.
“All school visits arranged through the Parliament’s education team that involves an MSP are attended throughout by a member of parliamentary staff who is PVG checked, or by a member of staff from the respective school.”
Smyth, who was first elected as a Labour MSP in 2016, has been charged over indecent images of children and in connection with a secret camera in a Holyrood toilet.
He was charged on August 5th and MSPs are angry with Police Scotland for not telling Holyrood on that date.
Scottish Parliament bosses said the police only confirmed the charges and Smyth’s identity around two weeks later.
Smyth was able to use his parliamentary pass at Holyrood to meet a girl guides group days after he was charged.
One MSP said the police had “very serious questions to answer” about the delay.
A second MSP said they “couldn’t understand” why Holyrood was not informed sooner.
It comes as Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone told MSPs everyone in the building felt “shocked and hurt” at the camera allegations.
She said: “These circumstances are unprecedented for this Parliament, and it has been and continues to be a highly complex situation to navigate.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On Tuesday, 5 August 2025, officers executed a warrant at a property in Dumfries and a 52-year-old man was arrested and charged as part of an ongoing investigation. He is due to appear at Dumfries Sheriff Court at a later date.”
Smyth has been suspended by Labour and is currently sitting as an independent.
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