APPENDIX 84
Memorandum submitted by the Independent
Schools Council
I am writing following the announcement that
the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is examining the
role of the Press Complaints Commission in dealing with matters
of privacy.
I am the General Secretary of the Independent
Schools Council, the national organisation representing some 1,280
independent schools in the United Kingdom (including all the famous
ones!) which educate over 500,000 children. The reason that I
am writing to you is that over the years some of our members have
contacted us for information about how to deal with the press
over the delicate matters that inevitably arise in schools from
time to time, and which some newspapers like to investigate.
On such occasions we have referred them to the
PCC, or sought advice directly from the Commission to pass to
the school concerned. We have found that the Commission has armed
the school with sufficient information about its Code of Practice
to enable it to deal with enquiries confidently and, consequently,
to provide a basis for the protection of the privacy of the pupils
affected by a particular story. In our experience the Code is
an extremely useful framework setting out the rights of pupils—in
particular in Clause 6 which relates specifically to children—and
a powerful tool to deploy when encouraging journalists to desist
from pursuing potentially intrusive lines of enquiry. The Code
of course also sets out useful benchmarks regarding what schools
as institutions can expect in terms of accurate reporting and
opportunity to reply.
As far as I am concerned the PCC is accessible
and gives quick and reliable advice, which in turn has prevented
the Code from being breached on a number of occasions. I hope
this submission is useful to your inquiry.
16 January 2003
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