The Scottish Government

Page 3 - timetable for roll-out / commencement

This has now been clarified and agreed at recent meetings and in consultation with OSSE. Awaiting clearance from JD Civil Procedure Department

SE to send copy to SCS

Page 2, section 5 - research material on child witnesses

SE have been unable to identify this material.

Members are invited to let SE know if they have any information which may help to track it down.

Page 3 - training pack for child protection legislation

The Victims and Witnesses Unit have been unable to identify this. The Executive's Child Protection Division did not recognise the material mentioned.

Members invited to provide more information to the Victims and Witnesses Unit

Section

Comments/issues

Action

First Draft - Use of a Supporter

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Taking Evidence on Commission

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Project Steering Group

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Special Measure of taking Evidence on Commission

Members were referred to the first drafts of these two papers, which had been circulated earlier for comments. A number of sub-group members expressed serious concerns about the content of the paper on use of a supporter. There was general agreement that this paper was ill-informed on many procedural matters, seemed to demonstrate a lack of understanding of the legislation and existing practice issues, and was too technical for the intended target audience. Members also felt that the paper failed to take account of existing support services and protocols and seemed to mis-understand the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved in the Scottish setting.

Concern was also expressed that the paper on Taking Evidence on Commission was overly technical and seemed to be directed toward the Judiciary rather than being a practical document directed toward non-legal practitioners in children's services. Voluntary Sector are particularly keen to see good practice guidance.

It was noted that the specification set out the intended purpose and target audience and these issues were further referred to at the meeting of the Project Steering Group at which Professor Bull was present.

The Project Steering Group meets again on 14th January and it was agreed to use this meeting with the Professors to address the concerns¢ expressed here. Members are willing to make contributions to the guidance papers and agreed that bilateral meetings would be the best way to achieve this.

The above led to further discussion on the practice issues relating to Taking Evidence on Commission. Justice for Children raised the issue of the number of adults liable to be present in the room with the child when using this special measure. It is understood that all key personnel normally present in the courtroom would be liable to be present at any location used for the commission and it was agreed that this could seriously limit the benefits to the child and therefore its use as a measure of choice.

The benefits of this special measure were noted. It may be used to avoid further delays for an already traumatised child caused by adjournments to the commencement of trials. It also ensures that a child's evidence is 'captured' if there are any concerns that the evidence may be lost by the passing of time. However it was accepted that these benefits may not outweigh the obvious potential trauma of a child having to face such a number of strangers at one time and that this provision may therefore be very rarely used.

Members were invited to send their general comments to the unit in order that the Professors may be given some early notice of the issues.

SE undertook to alert the Professors to general concerns and to pull together any comments made and send this on to the Professors in preparation for the meeting on 14th.

SE will also alert the Professors to members wish to contribute by holding bilateral meetings.

There was discussion as to whether or not the legislation allowed for a combination of special measures to be used and whether it may be possible to combine the use of a remote TV link with taking evidence on commission. The need to be able to record the proceedings for future use may make this technically difficult, but it was agreed that it was worth investigating further as it could make the provision much more attractive and of real benefit to some children.

SCRA and SLAB referred to existing practice in both civil proceedings and in international proceedings. Children's hearings can be conducted without the need for all parties to be present in the room at one time, or by a commissioner alone.

SE agreed to explore the legal aspect of the legislation with OSSE and ask SCS to explore the technical possibilities.

Section

Comments/issues

Action

Training Materials

As agreed at the last meeting, 3 videos were made available by VIA for viewing. Members showed interest in the video material but suggested that we needed a Scottish version to avoid the need to make procedural corrections and explain the differences to any viewer.

A number of existing 'Scottish' videos were referred to:

• The Judicial Studies Committee produced a mock trial training video earlier this year;
• VSS referred to a useful video put together by SCS for school children and used regularly in WS training;
• the Law Society hoped to produce something for their own training.
• Justice for Children advised the group of a video being produced by a voluntary organisation working with children in Dundee.

The group agreed that two 'types' of video were required: one for the training of practitioners, the other for providing information to children, families and children's organisations.

SCS to provide a copy of their video to the SE.

SE to check with Victims Steering Group as to any existing information on available material.

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National Training Strategy

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Timescales for training and Promotional material

SLAB wondered if the Victims Steering Group had a sub-group on 'Information for Children' and whether this would be a useful source of known material.

It was accepted that the group would benefit from identifying what material is already in use or being produced and considering what was particularly useful or could be modified to develop a simple visual guidance pack for child witnesses.

The group discussed what training was already in place and whether it would be possible to feed into existing training programmes or to amend existing material to incorporate some of the new legislation and guidance.

There was also a need to ensure that any multi-agency training or SE events dovetailed with any training being planned by individual organisations. A Training Strategy could take into account the most effective training methods and materials and could provide a blueprint for any training plans.

Members advised the group of some existing training programmes:

• VSS/WS rolling programme for volunteers
• Joint Police / SW programmes in East and West Scotland
• Police Tulliallan training programme
• CPC's training strategies
• Local Authority Children's Services Plans
• Social Work Training and Post Qualifying Training

Many of these programmes were multi-agency or had contributions from different agencies such as SCRA and COPFS.

The SE welcomed this information, and identified Skills for Justice as a possible appropriate agency to help take this further. In addition Members were urged to contact the Victims and Witnesses Unit to arrange bilateral discussions about what a national training strategy might look like.

Concern was expressed that children's services and support services would be looking for guidance as to how the Act will affect their practice and that such detailed guidance would not be quickly available. The SE advised that all guidance would have to be put out to wider consultation as agreed by the Implementation Steering Group and an audit of timescales suggested that it would be May or June before anything could be published in final form and distributed for use.

There was agreement that there was a need for some general awareness training, which could be achieved at a much earlier stage. The SE expects to produce a 'flier' which aims to explain the basic terms of the Act and it's implications for practitioners. Members suggested that it should attempt to direct children's services to the key changes in relation to special measures and help them identify at what stage they should be seeking more information or guidance. It may remain difficult to answer more detailed practice questions, although some of this could be addressed in the guidance being produced by the group's sub-set. (see agenda item below)

Members were invited to let Victims and Witnesses Unit know of any other material known to them.

Meanwhile the Victims and Witnesses Unit would consider how best to uncover as much material in use as possible, particularly from smaller organisations.

National organisations have rolling training programmes and were invited to contact Paul Smart to request SE input if this would be of assistance.

Section

Comments/issues

Action

Paper VWTC/14/04

Anne Keenan took the group through the sub set's paper and explained its layout and intended use. The flow charts will be used as a computerised programme so that at each procedural stage the practitioner would 'click' on the section and refer to the notes provided.

There are 3 intended charts which will be specific to the Crown, Defence, and Civil practitioners.

Identifying Vulnerability

Members agreed that the paper provides a very useful working guide to legal practitioners. There is now a need to condense the content and translate it into lay terms for use by wider children's and support services.

Justice for Children and VSS will join the sub-set to work on this next stage.

The sub-set's remit includes drafting guidance to assist practitioners identify the different levels of vulnerability and match these to the different special measures. It was suggested that this should include guidance on the advantages and disadvantages of each measure.

Members were invited to send any comments on the paper to Anne Keenan by 5 January.

The sub-set is requested to provide an update for the next Steering Group meeting on 19th January.

Section

Comments/issues

Action

Project steering group

Next meeting of this group with Professors Bull and Davies is on 14th January. All Members of the Training and Communication Sub-Group are assumed also to be members of the Project Steering Group and are invited to attend.

Members to let Clare know who will be able to attend.

VSS/WS conveyed their apologies.