Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Official Report 590KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Children’s Legal Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments and Consequential Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 [Draft]

Agenda item 2 is consideration of the draft Children’s Legal Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments and Consequential Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, which is an affirmative instrument. I welcome to the meeting the Minister for Community Safety, Ash Denham. She is accompanied by Scottish Government officials: Jill Stephen Poller is a legal aid policy officer in the access to justice unit, and Martin Brown is a solicitor in the constitutional and civil law division.

I refer members to paper 1 and invite the minister to speak to the draft regulations.

Good morning. I thank the committee for asking me to speak to the regulations.

The purpose of the instrument is to support implementation and commencement of the Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019, which provides for orders in relation to children to allow investigation of their actions, notwithstanding that they will not have committed offences.

The orders, when they are granted, will largely permit the sort of interventions that the police would otherwise be able to make in respect of suspects, including searches, interviews and taking of prints and samples. The interventions will enable the police to determine what has happened so that the right support can be put in place for a child whose behaviour has caused harm, as well as for the person who was harmed by that behaviour.

The legal aid provisions are to allow for representation in respect of applications for the orders, in order to ensure that the rights of children—and others, in some cases—are protected in the course of proceedings.

That is a brief overview of the regulations. I am, of course, happy to answer any questions that the committee has.

Thank you, minister. Do members have any questions?

Members: No.

As members have no questions or comments, we will move on to agenda item 3, which is consideration of the motion on approval of the affirmative instrument.

Motion moved,

That the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee recommends that the Children’s Legal Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments and Consequential Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 be approved.—[Ash Denham.]

Motion agreed to.

I thank the minister and her officials for attending.

Do members agree to the committee producing a brief report on the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

There will be a brief suspension for the next panel to come in.

10:03 Meeting suspended.  

10:11 On resuming—