Whyte Review Interim Report
A small number of submissions from Scotland have been made to the Whyte Review and Scottish Gymnastics fully supports their inclusion within the review.
Sport England and UK Sport commissioned the independent review into the issues that were raised in July 2020 when a significant number of gymnasts and parents of gymnasts made allegations about mistreatment in gymnastics. They appointed Anne Whyte QC to lead the review.
When they commissioned the review, they did not anticipate that complaints handled by Scottish Gymnastics would fall within it as there had been no criticism of Scottish Gymnastics’ complaint handling, and that Scottish Gymnastics is responsible for any complaints and safeguarding concerns in Scotland.
The interim report proposes to include submissions relating to Scotland to ensure a consistent approach, noting that one of them is likely to be included within a separate independent review commissioned by Scottish Gymnastics. The commissioning organisations agree that submissions not covered by the separate Scottish independent review should be considered by the review. They acknowledge that “Scottish Gymnastics is supportive of this, recognises the benefits that it may accrue, and we are pleased that it has already pledged to implement any relevant findings and recommendations of the review”.
Scottish Gymnastics wrote to the Whyte Review at the start underlining its support for continued progress in this area and our intention to look closely at any recommendations which may come from the review. We commissioned an independent review into safeguarding in Scottish performance programmes when a concern was raised by a gymnast after we encouraged members to ‘speak up’ and report any concerns in June 2020.
> Commissioning organisations' joint reply to the interim report
> The Whyte Review interim report
Scottish Gymnastics CEO Doc McKelvey said: “Scottish Gymnastics welcomes the news that submissions from Scotland are to be included in the Whyte Review along with those from the other UK nations.
“We are fully committed to developing the culture and safeguarding standards required to protect and support gymnasts, coaches, parents and all involved in Scottish Gymnastics. This gives us an opportunity to consider further what improvements we can make so everyone can enjoy gymnastics in a safe, fun and positive environment.”
Safeguarding and child protection in Scottish Gymnastics
• Every Scottish Gymnastics club has a trained safeguarding officer
• Please make sure you know who this person is and how to contact them
• If you do not know, please ask a coach or official at your club
• If you have a concern, or see something that concerns you, you can speak to your club safeguarding officer
• You can contact the Scottish Gymnastics safeguarding team on safegym@scottishgymnastics.org