Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with key stakeholders regarding implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act). We are currently prioritising work across the Scottish Government in light of increased budget pressures.

There has been detailed discussions with the Care Inspectorate on child contact services regulation, with a view to the Care Inspectorate taking on the role of independent regulator.

We plan to establish a short-life working group later this year with key stakeholders on child welfare reporters, which will inform the development of policy around the new register under the 2020 Act.

There has also been engagement with stakeholders in relation to special measures for vulnerable witnesses and parties. Part 3 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, if enacted, will extend provisions in the 2020 Act, relating to certain family cases, to civil cases more generally.

We have implemented extensive reforms to streamline and improve the planning system to support our economy and give greater certainty to developers and investors. Our reforms include removing certain applications from the system, increasing capacity to focus on applications where most value can be added; extending the review cycle of Local Development Plans to allow planning authorities to focus on delivery; and appointing Scotland’s first National Planning Improvement Champion to work with all those involved to support improvement within the service.

We recognise there is scope to improve on current planning timescales with the most recent annual data for the 2022-23 period showing that the average timescale for major developments is 39.5 weeks, and local (non householder) development is 14.4 weeks. It is important to note that there can be many reasons for delays in determining applications, including requests for and submission of additional information, delays with responses from consultees and the requirement for a legal agreement. However, constructive and collaborative working between applicants and authorities means that consistently over 93% of applications are approved annually.

Our current consultation "Investing in Planning - a consultation on resourcing Scotland's planning system" aims to further support improvement in the delivery of planning services, including streamlining the assessments required to support applications, project managing applications, improving engagement and taking a proactive approach to development and consenting.

Attached is a list of suppliers with spend for Consultancy. The data has been sourced from The Procurement Information Hub and includes all suppliers that fall under the consultancy classification.

Due to the wide range of services captured under the term consultancy we are unable to predict the expenditure for financial year 2024-2025.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the recommendations in partnership with COSLA. It is important that appropriate consideration and deliberation is applied and a response will be published in due course.

The Scottish Government has always recognised the importance of Scotland’s international connectivity. Our ambition is to make Scotland at least as well connected as peer nations. Transport Scotland, in partnership with VisitScotland and Scottish Development International, works to help Scotland’s airports secure new routes that are essential for inbound tourism, business connectivity and the economy as a whole. Recent successes include direct routes from Atlanta, Calgary and Beijing and we look forward to welcoming the arrival of a new airline for Scotland later this month, with JetBlue launching their first ever Scottish service to New York JFK.

Representatives from the cross government partnership recently took part in the route development forum Routes Europe 2024, meeting with a number of airlines to discuss future opportunities and promote Scotland as a market that can sustain more direct connectivity.

The Scottish Government recognises that tax is one factor in airlines’ decision-making on where to fly. We will review the rates and bands of Air Departure Tax prior to the implementation of the tax once a solution to the Highland & Islands exemption has been identified.

As a public body CHS are required by law to operate in line with the SPSO requirements, and all complainants must have recourse to the SPSO as the final stage for complaints. The SPSO has statutory powers to investigate complaints, the National Convener is independent of Government in the exercise of his children’s panel appointment and tenure functions. The Scottish Government has no locus.

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 offers legal protections to workers. Workers are defined in the Act where they have a contract or other arrangement to do work or services personally for a reward; their reward is for money or a benefit in kind, for example the promise of a contract or future work; they only have a limited right to send someone else to do the work (subcontract); their employer has to have work for them to do as long as the contract or arrangement lasts; they are not doing the work as part of their own limited company in an arrangement where the ‘employer’ is a customer or client.

Panel members within Scotland’s children’s hearings system are volunteers. The inclusion of volunteers within the Act is a matter for the UK government. By virtue of Schedule 2 Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 the Panel members are appointed by the National Convener rather than Scottish Ministers.

Ministers and Scottish Government officials have clearly and comprehensively explained the Scottish Government’s position in relation to the matters raised by the group of former panel members and their representatives on numerous occasions dating back several years.

Scottish Ministers are satisfied that there are appropriate safeguards and procedures in place for any panel member to raise a concern or complaint via the Children’s Hearing Scotland (CHS) complaints procedure, with appropriate recourse to appeal to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. As such, Scottish Ministers do not feel it is appropriate to raise this subject with the UK Government

As a public body, Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) is required to operate its complaints policy in line with the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman (SPSO) model complaints handling procedure. This includes recourse to the SPSO as the final stage for complaints.

Ministers and Scottish Government officials have clearly and comprehensively explained the Scottish Government’s position in relation to these matters to the former panel members and their representatives on numerous occasions dating back several years. A summary of the provided information follows:

- The Children’s Hearings (S) Act 2011 provides that the terms and conditions of children’s panel membership are for the National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS). The National Convener’s independence in discharging his functions are set out in the same statute. Scottish Ministers and Scottish Government officials have no role in decisions regarding recruitment, tenure or training of panel members and any departure from that would not be appropriate.

- The National Convener reports to the Board of CHS on the performance of his duties. Any complaints about the National Convener, members of staff within CHS, or CHS policies and procedures, should be directed to the CHS Board.

- The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman has confirmed that the CHS complaints procedure is compliant with their standards. CHS has satisfied itself regarding the suitability of its complaints procedure, including taking external advice. No concerns therefore arise for Scottish Ministers or Scottish Government officials.

The Scottish Government has exhaustively explained the position and has confirmed that there is no appropriate locus for Ministers or officials in these matters, so it would not be appropriate to meet the group.

I met with the Chair and Chief Executive/National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) on March 21, 2024 and discussed a range of issues relating to the operation of the tribunal element of the children’s hearings system, including matters related to the functions of the National Convener namely children’s panel capacity and CHS plans for the retention, recruitment and training of children’s panel volunteers.