Young people in the Hearing System –
towards change, relevance and improvement
Neil Hunter
Principal Reporter/Chief Executive
Scottish Children's Reporter Administration
www.scra.gov.uk
www.scra.gov.uk
Getting it Right in the Hearing System
 Clarity on a national referral criteria to the Reporter
for compulsory measures
 Taking advantage of the statutory plan and CSO’s
 Refreshing the Reporters relationship to EEI – more
consistency in working arrangements
 Collectively working on inter-agency approaches
www.scra.gov.uk
Whole Systems Approach – the 3 big
issues for SCRA
 Early and Effective interventions for low level offences,
offering support and advice to young people in order to
address need and change behaviour.
 Retaining more young people on compulsory
supervision orders through the children’s hearing
system, where there is a need to do so.
 Encouraging more cases to be dealt with through the
children’s hearings system rather than adult court.
www.scra.gov.uk
Criteria for Referral to Reporter – a reminder
 Where local authority, constable, other person considers
(a) that the child is in need of protection, guidance,
treatment or control, and
(b) that it might be necessary for a compulsory
supervision order to be made in relation to the child
then local authority and constable MUST - other person MAY give all relevant information to the reporter.
www.scra.gov.uk
Role of the Reporter in EEI/Whole System
Approach – Experiences across Scotland
 Significant involvement in developing WSA processes and approaches (the “setting
up”). Obvious that different authorities at different stages in this development.
 Clear that the reporter should have no role in decision-making around referrals being
made.
 Varying involvement in other discussions about young people already known to
reporter.
 Varying role for reporter in providing information to inform multi-agency discussion.
 Reference to a range of issues around sustainability and the impact of the creation
of Police Scotland and implementation of Management of Concerns structure
 Children and Young People’s Act – sharing information.
 Multi-agency Group being chaired by SCRA to look at the relationship between the
Hearing System and GIRFEC – WSA issues will be central to this.
www.scra.gov.uk
Information gathering, assessment and
decision making
 Bringing information to a single place
 Ordering it and making sense of it
 Informed decision making about need for
compulsion to be considered
 Utilising the arms length objectivity of the Reporter
 Providing maximum information at the point of
referral – streamlining subsequent investigatory
processes
www.scra.gov.uk
Criteria for Referral to Reporter – Referral
trends
• Consider referral rates for all ages to reporter for offending:
YEAR
08/09
Offence Referrals
25004
09/10
10/11
21373
16444
11/12
12/13
11690
8082
That’s a reduction of 68%.
• Referral rates for 16 and 17 year olds:
16
1013
1176
894
631
793
17
176
238
162
161
156
That’s a reduction of only 20%
www.scra.gov.uk
Purpose of Compulsory Supervision – retaining 16
and 17 year olds within the Hearing System
08/09
09/10
10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
All Children
13503
13808
13448
13067
12460
11428
Children
aged 16,17
976
1011
889
850
934
911
% 16,17
7.2%
7.3%
6.6%
6.5%
7.5%
8.0%
www.scra.gov.uk
16 and 17 year olds subject to compulsory measures
Regional variations – a selection
% 16,17
08/09
09/10
10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
Aberdeen City
Dumfries &
Galloway
4.7%
5.3%
4.7%
6.4%
7.7%
7.8%
7.9%
10.9%
11.4%
10.0%
13.8%
10.4%
Dundee
5.6%
4.1%
3.4%
3.3%
4.5%
5.5%
East Dunbartonshire 11.9%
15.0%
14.2%
8.8%
3.7%
4.1%
East Lothian
City of
Edinburgh
2.6%
4.1%
4.3%
2.6%
12.6%
5.6%
7.4%
5.1%
4.9%
6.3%
8.4%
8.3%
Glasgow
9.2%
9.4%
8.1%
8.1%
9.0%
9.5
Highland
8.1%
8.6%
7.3%
7.2%
10.4%
11.2%
Perth & Kinross
2.1%
3.5%
1.3%
5.2%
3.3%
2.0%
Scottish Borders
8.1%
8.5%
6.0%
6.5%
12.4%
13.6%
www.scra.gov.uk
16 and 17 year olds – cases remitted by the court
References for Advice
16,17 yr olds
08/09
09/10
10/11
11/12
12/13
Sum:
353
324
332
278
231
16,17 yr olds
08/09
09/10
10/11
11/12
12/13
Sum:
183
165
183
151
122
Remits for Disposal
www.scra.gov.uk
Development of Criteria for Referral to SCRA in
WSA cases
Factors
 Change in definition of “child” – s.199 of Children’s
Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011
 Change to the Lord Advocate’s Guidelines:
(i) Joint Reporting where s.199 applies, and
(ii) No need for joint reporting of minor offences
by 16/17 year olds on CSO
 EEI Guidance – children on CSO, “rebuttable presumption”
that referral made to reporter
www.scra.gov.uk
Purpose of Compulsory Supervision – retaining 16
and 17 year olds within the Hearing System
 Termination due to age/continued offending/lack of
engagement.
 ADSW (Social Work Scotland) Position Statement &
Guidance for Panel Members
 Signs that more 16 and 17 year olds remain within hearings
system
 There are regional variations
www.scra.gov.uk
Summary
 The Hearing system must be seen in the context of
GIRFEC
 We are not making sufficient progress everywhere
on retaining 16/17 years olds in the Hearing System
 We need to develop further clarity on referral and
compulsory measures
 The relevance and efficacy of our interventions
requires constant review
 We need to keep sharing our professional resources
and expertise in the best, most effective way
possible
www.scra.gov.uk