Listen
Reform of Children's Hearing System
01/05/2009
A locally delivered, nationally supported Children's Hearings system that provides improved support for vulnerable young people was announced by Ministers today.
Following responses to a national consultation on the future of the system - which showed desire for Scotland-wide changes to improve consistency and practice - Children's Minister Adam Ingram has now outlined proposals which will form the basis of a Bill to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament later this year.
Mr Ingram said the plans - which would see a new national body set up to bring together the delivery and administration of hearings - will lead to a strengthened and streamlined system.
The new Scottish Children's Hearings Tribunal (SCHT) will also be responsible for recruitment, support and training for local panel members, leading to more consistent high standards.
Mr Ingram said:
"Early intervention is the hallmark of the Scottish Government's approach to improving people's life chances and our unique, welfare-based Children's Hearings system - which is rightly renowned across the world - is central to that drive.
"By offering support to young people going through difficult times, behaviour or circumstances at the first opportunity we can help them get their lives back on track and enable them to fulfil their potential.
"I'm clear that Scotland's Children's Hearing's system - in which local volunteers make decisions to improve the lives of local young people - remains the best way of offering support, but children and families today are facing significantly different challenges and circumstances from when it was created.
"That's why we have listened to views in the consultation and responded positively and constructively to meet the issues raised. We are bringing forward plans to modernise and reinforce the system to ensure more consistent decision-making across Scotland and to improve support for the professionals and volunteers who deliver it.
"Young people referred to a panel deserve to be heard by those trained and supported to the very highest standard.
"Maintaining panels made up of local people, drawn from the community and best placed to make decisions and appreciate circumstances, is at the centre of these reforms but we are also reducing bureaucracy and improving delivery to help vulnerable young people."
Following a national consultation on the Children's Hearings system last year - which outlined support for reform - the Scottish Government plans to introduce a Bill to the Scottish Parliament in the autumn.
The SCHT will bring together Scotland's 32 Children's Panels and Children's Panel Advisory Committees in order to support local panels.
Under the plans, The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) will continue to provide the Children's Reporter Service for Scotland in order to make decisions on whether a child should be referred to a hearing, and on what grounds.
Netta Maciver, Chief Executive of the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA), said:
"SCRA welcomes the publication today of the Scottish Government's plans to reform and strengthen the Children's Hearings System.
"SCRA is committed to working with our partners as we move through the transition process to the new arrangements for the Hearings System. SCRA's primary focus through the transition and beyond, is to ensure that children and young people are provided with the best possible interventions to improve their life chances."
Responses to a consultation on the reform of the Children's Hearings system, Strengthening for the Future - which ran from July until October last year - were published today.
A draft of The Children's Hearings (Scotland) Bill will be introduced to Parliament in the autumn.
The Children's Hearings system is Scotland's unique approach to dealing with children and young people in trouble or at risk. The system was created in the 1960s after it was recognised that young people appearing before the juvenile courts, whether they had committed offences or were in need of care and protection, had common needs. The system is founded on the principle of local people from the children's own communities making decisions about how best to address children's needs.
There are over 2,500 volunteer panel members who are recruited through an annual national campaign supported by local campaigns. Panel members are carefully selected and undergo continuous training.
The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) was created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994 to support the work of the Principal Reporter. SCRA currently has a statutory role of facilitating the work of the Principal Reporter and providing accommodation for children's hearings. The work of SCRA is overseen by a board.
In 2007-08, SCRA received more than 90,000 referrals involving 50,000 children. The majority of referrals related to care grounds (e.g. parental neglect).