Chamber and committees

That was really disappointing, but I am still positive. There is more than enough time in hand for the national convener and Children’s Hearings Scotland to act to improve the recruitment and retention picture both in the short term and over the next important period of change. A substantial number of people still came forward although, admittedly, it did not meet the target. I will be working with Children’s Hearings Scotland to see what actions it will be taking and what it will be following that up with to ensure that any solutions are progressed in good time with regard to the bill’s progression.

Do you mean the costings for salaried chairs?

We do not have a cost for those just now because, as I said, all the recommendations are being considered and the Government will respond before the end of the year. It is not likely that any actions that are taken based on the recommendations will be implemented straight away. Some of them would require legislation. It is likely that a Promise bill will come to Parliament, and it is very likely that some of the recommendations will need to be encapsulated in that in order to be taken through.

Yes. Although I obviously cannot foresee what will happen with this bill, if it goes through stages 2 and 3, it is likely that the provisions will be commenced before the recommendations can be implemented. They will need to be actioned at a later date.

As I said to Mr Kerr, I am still positive about the children’s hearings system. I think that there is more than enough time in hand, and it has always risen to challenges before. I do not believe that the positive material that I have gone through and that Children’s Hearings Scotland gave the committee at and after stage 1 is redundant just because of a single disappointing panel recruitment campaign or the evidence that the committee heard last week. I believe that the system can come back and bolster recruitment.

Short-term actions are already under way. Children’s Hearings Scotland is working with the SCRA and partners to minimise the number of abortive or deferred rota hearings, and officials have asked it, in the light of that, to develop a range of interventions to improve matters over the coming months. I hope that those will deliver either a boost to panel intake numbers or better retention rates. I will be keeping a very close eye on that, because I appreciate how important it is to the passage of the bill. I have met Children’s Hearings Scotland in the past and I will meet it in the future to discuss the matter. As I said, I will continue to monitor it closely.

A range of training practices are already under way. I am not sure whether that came up at last week’s committee meeting. The SCRA confirmed that all children’s reporters receive mandatory training on domestic abuse from Scottish Women’s Aid. There is also trauma-informed training for children’s panel members of Children’s Hearings Scotland. That training is one of three mandatory training practices that include training on coercive control and domestic abuse. A training programme is being developed for the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice, and it will become mandatory after the bill receives royal assent. That programme is being worked on and developed directly in relation to the bill. I am trying to cover the bases—I have touched on Children’s Hearings Scotland and the SCRA. In addition, there is training in place for social workers who are engaging with the organisations that I have just mentioned.

I am not entirely sure of the details around that. I have been looking more at the overall picture for victims and witnesses. I will pass the question about the specific organisation to Brendan Rooney.

The child’s rights should be the same regardless. Obviously, every case is different and the process would depend on whether a case was handled by the criminal courts or dealt with in another way.

I will bring in Shona Spence to follow up on your exact point.

On the issue that information would not always shared, I emphasise that that is not something that would be laid out in statute; it would be addressed on a case-by-case basis. I imagine that information would not be shared if that would impact on the victim.

I certainly would not say that anything has been ruled out. I am aware of that proposal from Victim Support Scotland, which has been raised and discussed in the meetings and the engagement over the past couple of months. What I am saying is that I want to ensure that any decisions are taken with regard to what is right for the victim. There is very much the possibility of retraumatisation around certain experiences that people have had. Everybody is different and every situation is different. I emphasise that I want to ensure that the system works for the victims regardless of what their requirements are.

Nothing has been ruled out yet. We are looking at a range of measures and different issues for stage 2, but that is something that I would have to go into at stage 2.