The Scottish Youth Football Association announced an overhaul of its vetting process for coaches and officials earlier in this committee.

The SYFA says prospective coaches and officials will now require to commence the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) membership scheme, managed and delivered by Disclosure Scotland, before being granted provisional membership.

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Previously, provisional memberships were granted at the start of the application process, allowing applicants to undertake coaching activities under the direct supervision of a PVG-approved coach for up to three months before they required to commence the PVG application process.

The move follows a BBC Scotland investigation which showed dozens of youth football coaches and officials who were flagged as a potential danger to children appeared to have slipped through the net.

The Scottish Youth Football Association (SYFA) was warned 116 of its members were under investigation by Disclosure Scotland.

In June the SYFA said it was only aware of 69 cases and had taken action to suspend them - meaning 47 were not dealt with.

Disclosure Scotland director of protection services Gerard Hart said the magnitude of the backlog was shocking to Disclosure Scotland.

The Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) membership scheme is managed and delivered by Disclosure Scotland. It helps makes sure people whose behaviour makes them unsuitable to work with children and/or protected adults, can't do 'regulated work, external' with these vulnerable groups.

How the scheme works

When someone applies to join the PVG Scheme, external Disclosure Scotland carries out criminal record checks and shares the results with individuals and organisations.

The application process involves gathering criminal record and other relevant information. This can be shared with the employer who is providing regulated work, unless the person applies to have a conviction removed, external from their PVG Scheme record.

If the information shows the applicant might be unsuitable for regulated work, they'll be referred for further investigation as part of the 'consideration process, external'.

Find out more about when an employer should make a referral to Disclosure Scotland, external.

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Disclosure Scotland director of protection services Gerard Hart says in the PGV review there is laser focussing on the branding of the scheme.

Mr Hart says they want to get the message out that the PGV scheme has a much more significant role.

Disclosure Scotland chief executive Lorna Gibbs says the issues highlighted by the BBC in June looks like having been an administrative problem and the SYFA have been taking action.

Image source, Disclosure Scotland

It means that the vetting body Disclosure Scotland has obtained information or intelligence that a person either working with or applying to work within a vulnerable group, in this case children, may not be suitable for that work.

Disclosure Scotland then puts them on the "consideration" list and places them under investigation until they are either cleared or completely barred from working with children.

Once notified a member has been 'considered for listing', SYFA policy is to immediately suspend them as a precaution until the end of the Disclosure Scotland investigation when they will either be allowed back to work or banned.

What does 'listed' mean?

After an investigation, if Disclosure Scotland is still concerned about a person's suitability or safety to work with vulnerable people, the person is put on a list which means they are completely barred from working with that group.

Listing happens in the most serious cases and it is a criminal offence to ignore this.

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M Findlay asks if it is credible for the SYFA to run such a weighty system with volunteers and good will.

He says the panel can give its opinion.

Disclosure Scotland chief executive Lorna Gibbs jokes: "I'm a civil servant I'm not sure I'm comfortable giving my opinion."

Ms Gibss says there needs to be a balance of volunteers and those who have more training.

Mr Hart says statutory systems must be able to step in and there must be safeguards in place.

Disclosure Scotland director of protection services Gerard Hart says the PGV scheme is far more than just a check but the monitoring of a person.

Mr Hart says he hopes this realisation will emerge with the PGV review.

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Labour MSP Colin Smyth asks about the discrepancy highlighted by the BBC investigation in June.

Disclosure Scotland chief executive Lorna Gibss says she is confident the figure of 116 is correct.

Ms Gibbs says the SYFA is on a journey with its IT system and the organisation has invited Disclosure Scotland colleagues to view the improvements.

"At the moment they are on a journey to a better place."

• Disclosure Scotland chief executive Lorna Gibbs
• Disclosure Scotland director of protection services Gerard Hart

Read the submissions to the committee here.

Mr Findlay thanks the witnesses for their evidence and suspends briefly.

Committee convener Neil Findlay says there has been anecdotal evidence from those in youth football who have raised concerns about child protection, who have then been disciplined.

Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan says he is aware of two individuals who have come to the SFA who have raised concerns about the SYFA.

Mr Regan says he has met the individuals and the youth FA and he says the SFA have put in constructive steps to address the concerns.

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Labour MSP Neil Findlay says many children cast aside by clubs are heart broken.

Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan says clubs put in place a pathway to develop elite players.

Mr Regan says if a player is not playing regular football he can leave in 28 days or leave to another academy if he wants.

He says providing a free coach for many years is an investment for many years that would not be given in the youth sector.

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Tory MSP Brian Whittle says contracts create a much bigger imbalance between the clubs and children.

Stewart Regan accepts there is a relationship where the club has the ability to make decisions for the good of a club.

Mr Regan says the details are outlined at the beginning of the process and if a player is not given a contract he is released.

The SFA chief executive says: "It is a very transparent process."

Mr Whittle says at no point in his answer did Mr Regan mention the welfare or benefit of the child.

Mr Regan says the ultimate benefit is a job as a professional footballer.

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Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan says he refutes the suggestion by the children's commissioner that any power imbalance could lead to sexual abuse.

Mr Regan says he felt that was "significantly overstated" and he says he does not believe such a power imbalance would lead to abuse.

SNP MSP Clare Haughey says the question about the power imbalance between the club and the child did not relate to this but to the rights of youth footballers.

Ms Haughey says Mr Regan is talking about children as a commodity.

He disagrees and says there is a process in place to develop youth players.

SNP MSP Clare Haughey asks if the SYFA representatives have undergone the child protection training.

Mr McCrimmond says he has not done the current training but has done previous courses.

He says he intends to undergo the current training.

SYFA director of finance Duncan Mayze says he has done none but also intends to do so.

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Labour MSP Neil Findlay says the BBC asked the SYFA repeatedly if it was sure about its numbers and were told they were.

Mr McCrimmond accepts that the figures were not correct and again cites the IT system.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs asks if the system is completely watertight now.

Mr McCrimmond says: "When we get there."

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan says action was taken with individuals as soon as they were identified, the issue was with the IT system and access to the data.

He says the system is now "robust rather than bureaucratic".

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Scottish Youth Football Association chairman John McCrimmond says the problems highlighted in the BBC investigation were due to the IT systems.

Mr McCrimmond says the SYFA is now working with Disclosure Scotland and the necessary information can now be extracted.

He says the 116 people identified by the BBC as under investigation by Disclosure Scotland have now been double checked.

Mr McCrimmond says there were three individuals who had been working with children who were eventually listed by and were removed by the association at the point they were informed by Disclosure Scotland.

Labour MSP Colin Smyth brings up the recent BBC investigation.

Dozens of youth football coaches and officials who were flagged as a potential danger to children appear to have slipped through the net.

BBC Scotland has learned the Scottish Youth Football Association (SYFA) was warned 116 of its members were under investigation by Disclosure Scotland.

The SYFA said it was only aware of 69 cases and had taken action to suspend them - meaning 47 were not dealt with.

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It said it was urgently trying to clarify the discrepancy.

Scotland's Children's Commissioner said the matter needed "urgent consideration".

BBC Scotland can also reveal Scottish football's governing body, the SFA, has stripped the SYFA of its strategic child safety responsibilities.

The SYFA had been dogged with criticism since December when it emerged it had 2,500 coaches working with children without any background checks.

The criticism included a stinging rebuke by the Holyrood Health and Sport Committee which also took aim at the SFA for being "asleep at the wheel".

Under Freedom of Information legislation, Disclosure Scotland told BBC Scotland's investigations team that over a three-year period - 2014 to 2016 - the vetting body had notified the SYFA 116 times that one of their members was being "considered for listing".

Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan says there are new guidelines and policies that must be adhered to by trigger dates by all members.

Scottish Youth Football Association chairman John McCrimmond says all SYFA members will have to do online child protection training.

Mr McCrimmond says from the 1st of April in 2018 the provisional PGV will be removed completely.

Neil Findlay asks if the SYFA child protection officer is a new post.

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Mr McCrimmond says the post has always been there.

The committee convener asks why the committee has never heard about this post which he says is "pretty fundamental" to the inquiry.

Mr McCrimmond says he can only apologise.