Justice Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Official Report
737KB pdf
Subordinate Legislation
Children’s Legal Assistance (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (Draft)
The next item is an evidence-taking session with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on an affirmative instrument. I welcome to the meeting the cabinet secretary and Scottish Government officials Kit Wyeth, head of the children’s hearings team, and Catriona MacKenzie, legal aid policy manager. I see that we are also joined by Felicity Cullen, but I do not know who she is. [Interruption.] The clerk has just told me that you are a legal adviser, Ms Cullen. You are not mentioned in my notes, but you are welcome anyway.
I invite the cabinet secretary to make an opening statement on the draft regulations.
Thank you, convener. I am pleased to be here to discuss the draft regulations, which make provision for state-funded legal representation in children’s hearings and their associated proceedings, detail how children’s legal aid will operate and make assistance by way of representation available to certain persons in certain circumstances.
The regulations form part of the implementation of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011. The act, which is due to go live on 24 June, strengthens and modernises the children’s hearings system, and the changes that it introduces are focused on improving outcomes for children and young people and ensuring that the system is more child and young person-friendly and that it is nationally consistent but locally delivered.
As part of those changes, we are replacing the current interim arrangements, which have been in place since 2002, for providing legal support to children and parents in hearings. The regulations will provide a permanent and sustainable national scheme, administered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, for the provision of state-funded legal representation in children’s hearings. Restrictions will continue to apply to the granting of such legal representation other than in urgent and emergency situations, and it will need to be apparent that a child or parent needs that support to participate effectively in the children’s hearing.
That is a very brief overview of the regulations and their context, and I am happy to answer any questions.
Members do not seem to have any questions, so we will move to item 3, which is the formal debate on motion S4M-06775, on approval of the draft regulations.
Motion moved,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the Children’s Legal Assistance (Scotland) Regulations 2013 [draft] be approved.—[Kenny MacAskill.]
Motion agreed to.
The cabinet secretary will be staying on for the next item, but I thank the officials for attending.
I suspend the meeting for a minute for a changeover. Members should not leave their chairs.
09:49
Meeting suspended.
09:50
On resuming—