I thank the Public Petitions Committee for giving me the opportunity to discuss my petition. I am calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to change the laws that govern the recording of discussions at child welfare hearings so that presiding sheriffs have access to such records. My petition is lodged under the auspices of Grandparents Apart, of which I am a member and who, at their heart, want what is best for our children in family disputes.
Although the child welfare system has its merits, the recording of the hearings would benefit all users. I mean no disregard, but it may be that not everybody here knows that a child welfare hearing is different from a children’s hearing, and our comments are on child welfare hearings. Grandparents Apart has seen how families are affected by how the child welfare hearings system works and how others have been affected by their experience of it. We see how the system could be improved for children and how time and costs could be reduced for the benefit of all concerned. It is important to note that only 2 per cent of contact cases go to court.
It is evident that changes are progressing in the Scottish justice system, and that is positive. Changes take time, and the members of Grandparents Apart welcome change. The recording of minutes in the child welfare hearings system, which my petition calls for, should be part of the change. At present, there is no method of documenting what has been discussed at a child welfare hearing.
I will give a few examples of how court costs and court time would be reduced and how children would benefit from the recording of child welfare hearings. In many cases, what has been discussed during a previous child welfare hearing becomes an issue for the sheriff, and he or she then has to discuss the points with the relevant parent again. If hearings were minuted or recorded, the information would be available.
Also, without recording, there could be a pattern of false information being presented or of obstructive behaviour that could continue unchecked. The sheriff may note that one parent has been obstructive and that their behaviour has encroached on the court’s time, and they may suggest that there will be serious repercussions if it happens again. Sadly, however, in our experience, the behaviour is allowed to continue when, at a following hearing, a different sheriff is unaware of what took place at the previous hearing. If hearings were minuted or recorded, the information would be available to the sheriff.
A parent’s legal team may try to discredit the other parent through erroneous information provided by their client, and the presiding sheriff may inform their legal representative that they have a duty of care to their client. However, the next child welfare hearing may have a new legal representative and a new sheriff who is unaware of what has gone on before. Again, if there was a note of that, it would promote expediency and the child welfare hearing would not take so long.
If a legally aided parent who had been granted a motion failed to turn up to court or their legal representative was late and then deviated from the motion, that would be highlighted in the minutes. Any pattern of obstructive behaviour in the past would be shown in the minutes or recording. That would happen according to article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in the child’s best interests and in order to have the best possible system.
In another scenario, a client might move from one sheriffdom to another, and the only information that would be available to the sheriff would be about contact via the interlocutor, which is all that you get after a child welfare hearing. The new sheriff would have to elicit why the person had moved court and what the circumstances were, and the new legal rep would take up valuable time that could be used to discuss contact issues. Again, that pattern of obstructive behaviour would be shown in the minutes or the recording.
Each of those scenarios has a detrimental effect on court time, court costs and—most important—the child. As decisions get delayed, the legal costs for parents increase, and that can have a ripple effect on children. Those scenarios have been experienced by both our legally aided and self-funded members. As I have said, having minutes or recordings that show what had been discussed would, I think, be an important way of letting people know what has happened before.
On 26 January, I was informed by Mrs Anne Hampson, policy officer at the Scottish Civil Justice Council—some of you might know her—that the SCJC family law committee had been actively considering case management in sheriff courts with regard to family cases and that its findings would be considered shortly. Indeed, just the other day, the present secretary of the family law committee, David Ross, informed me that the committee is moving forward with this.
Many big departments in the justice system are looking to move forward and bring innovative practices into Scotland’s legal system. All of that takes time, but I hope that all those departments will continue to enhance the court system and ensure that it encompasses best practice in all forms of law, especially the field of family law, of which child welfare is a part. I know that any change to civil court procedures requires a policy decision by the Scottish Government and a subsequent change in legislation. As the wish expressed by Lord Gill and the present Lord President, Lord Carloway, for a fairer and more effective justice system is taken forward, I hope that that review will look at the use of digital innovations in the child welfare hearing system in order to support children and families better.