Mr. Ian Elliott:

Terminology is very important. The way we would describe the process is that we make ourselves available to children and young people to listen to them, to record accurately what they say and, if appropriate, to pass it on to the necessary statutory agencies. We do this almost exclusively in the presence of their parents or their carers. Where they are not available, for example if somebody has an issue at a jamboree, it would be in the presence of a scout leader who is in loco parentisto the young person. We do not interrogate and we do not interview them in the sense it has been described and how I have heard it described in the media. We listen to them. We have to make ourselves available to listen to them because we have no other way of gathering the information. The vast majority of the contacts that take place do so at the request of the young person. They ask to speak to us. We make ourselves available and we listen to them. We always do so and pass on the information to the appropriate parties.