Age of Criminal Responsibility Advisory Group minutes: September 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Natalie Don-Innes, Minister for Children Young People and The Promise (chair)
• Ryan McQuigg, Action for Children 
• Cheryl Clark, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service 
• Jason Black, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service 
• Fiona Dyer, Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice 
• Martin Dorchester, Includem 
• Carol Eden, Victim Support Scotland 
• Rachel Grant, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service 
• Katy Nisbet, Clan Child Law
• Sharon Glasgow, Social Work Scotland 
• Melissa Rutherford, Child Interview Rights Practitioner 
• Carron McKellar, Police Scotland 
• Kelly Gallacher, Bairn’s Hoose Unit, Scottish Government 
• Jillian Ingram, COSLA
• Gerard Hart, Disclosure Scotland 
• Alistair Hogg, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration 
• Marie-Louise Fox, Scottish Legal Aid Board 
• Megan Farr, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland
• Brian Taylor, Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice, Scottish Government 
• Tom McNamara, Youth Justice and Children’s Hearing, Scottish Government 
• Pam Semple, Children’s Hearing Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review Team, Scottish Government
• Kenzy Thomson, Children’s Hearing Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review Team, Scottish Government
• Melissa Parkinson, Children’s Hearing Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review Team, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions 

The chair welcomed members to the meeting which was followed by a round of introductions.

Apologies were noted from Fiona Steel from Action for Children, Diane Dobbie from National Youth Justice Advisory Group, Mick Doyle from Scottish Community Development Centre and Stephen Bermingham from Children’s Hearings Scotland.

Minutes and actions of the previous meeting 

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and will be published on the advisory group webpage.
An update was provided on the actions from the previous meeting. All actions have now been completed and closed. 

Review report

There are only three months remaining of the review period and the advisory group will report to Scottish Ministers in December on the findings of the review. 

There has been extensive work carried out by stakeholders, subgroups and members of the advisory group to gather the critical data, evidence and research required to inform any decision on the future age of criminal responsibility.

Scottish Government officials have been working on the structure of the draft report which was issued in advance of the meeting for members to provide their feedback. 

The chair invited Mel Parkinson to discuss the structure of the report and asked members to provide any initial comments: 

• chapter 10 of the report – it would be beneficial to outline the changes in systems and services and how this would be framed to understand the operational duties, time and resource capacity for all agencies broken down by age categories. 
• to make sure the data is clear and consistent throughout the report. There is more than one data report and there are variations between the draft narratives that may suggest different positions or answers to questions. That would need to be resolved.

Action: Group members to provide any further observations on the structure of the report by Tuesday 8 October 2024.  

Subgroups – summary report 

In advance of the meeting each of the subgroups had submitted a summary report  capturing all the work completed over the course of the review period - to help inform any future decision on the age of criminal responsibility. The reports, once finalised, will be included in the final report to Scottish Ministers from the Advisory Group. The chair invited each of the subgroup chairs to present on their reports.

Data and research

Fiona Dyer spoke to the Data and Research Subgroup report and the work carried out by the group during the review period .  

It was noted that a further update to the data report will be required to capture the most accurate data for 2023 – 2024 once the statistics have been published. This is likely to be provided at the start of 2025.  

Members of the group are working on a case study to help offer a better understanding of the child’s journey under ACR. Once  finalised, this will also be added into the report. 

There is an ongoing research project being carried out by SCRA on the back of the work that was commissioned by the Advisory Group on serious and frequent offending for 12- to 15-year-olds.  A report will be available early 2025 on this work. 

The chair invited members to provide feedback on the report: 

• the number of recorded offences captured within the report look substantial.
• what action can be taken to support a child who is 18 and cannot be dealt with through the children’s hearings system? This occurs in very rare circumstances but it has to be acknowledged that it is still a route that is possible.  This would have a massive impact on community confidence. 
• how do we manage risk? There needs to be a solid response to this question as it is the central impediment of raising the age of criminal responsibility any higher. 
• how do we put enough safeguards in place to manage the risks of those children who are 18 and can no longer be supported through the children’s hearings system?. 
• there are a small number of children who will enter adulthood who are in the system and this category of children will need identified care and risk management strategies invoked that follow them into adulthood.
• there is a risk that the statistical breakdown of the most serious offences is compared to those small number of cases. If we do not have a separate track for the very small number (most serious offences) then we diminish the 98% of other children (lower-level offences) who we are able to support and nurture through mainstream hearings system interventions. 
• a short life focus group will be convened to discuss this in more detail in order to provide reassurances to Scottish Ministers that there is a process in place, potentially using already existing legislation from the 1995 Act, to ensure risk management process are robust.
• there has to be consideration for victims and families of serious harmful behaviour and the support that is available to them.  How do we make sure families are getting the appropriate level of support that is required? Group members agreed that this should be included in the next steps of the report. 

Victim support 

Since the previous meeting the group have been working to finalise their summary report.  The report strives to explain the processes and solutions for victims and their families and the impact this has on victims – with particular emphasis on what this looks like when more serious offences occur. 

The report also looks at the level of information available to victims and the existing legislation that is available to victims and their families.  

The chair invited members to provide feedback on the report: 

• first recommendation is really important, and this gets decoupled from the process. Victims have a right to support regardless of the person who has caused  harm, or the age of the person creating the harm, or whether or not they have been identified. 
• the role of Bairns’ Hoose is crucial. Further discussion is required on resource and capacity. 
• recommendations of victim notification scheme – hitting the wrong balance as all children should receive a report and it must be consensual for entering a victim information scheme as they have a right to privacy. Almost imposing further harm to those who do not want to be involved in processes.
• when speaking with victims directly, some feedback had been in terms that they felt like they were second class citizens and were often feeling left behind or disregarded. 
• crimes, especially those involving children, get discussed locally within communities.  Victims and perpetrators are often in the same schools.  Again, feedback from directly from a victim is that they received no support as and ‘all the support was given to the perpetrator’. The response and support for victims needs to be strengthened to ensure all victims are receiving the support they need. 
• perhaps more of a focus on restorative justice should be factored into future discussions?

Community confidence:

The community confidence subgroup work reflects on a lot of information from the other subgroups. The subgroup carried out media tracking, data analysis, polling, developed a toolkit to engage with communities, while also linking with other interested parties to gain different perspectives of community confidence. This work has underpinned a total of 24 recommendations split across three key thematic areas, 1. Messaging and engagement , 2. Better investment to combat root causes, and 3. Wider support needs.

The feedback from communities is around the messaging and the impact that social media has on spreading information. There is a good public awareness of ACR more generally but when further information is asked for there is an instant disconnect. 

There has to be further thought about messaging and the root causes for this disconnect. It was highlighted engagement with young people, making sure young people have spaces to go in the community etc. can help to support better messaging and understanding. 

The chair invited members to provide feedback on the report: 

• Ensure structure and support is looked at from a youth justice and child protection lens. Taking a more contextual safeguarding approach around behaviour and communities. 
• Framing issue around ACR and the impact on a child’s life. It is not about a child’s capacity right from wrong; it’s about protecting them from the lifelong impact of criminalisation. 
• Duality of victim and perpetrator from day one needs to be called out as creates huge impact.
• Deal with head on the worst cases and not relying solely on statistics. 
• There is work ongoing with The Promise to mitigate the lack of understanding on young lives of care experience. This work is all about transformational change, making positive impacts of their lives and that the whole of society benefits from this.

Action: Group members to provide any further observations on the summary reports to the secretariat by CoP 8th October 2024. 

Operational implications report 

At the previous meeting in June, the chair of the operational implications subgroup presented the summary report which detailed the work and findings of the group. The summary report was issued alongside the papers for this meeting for awareness only. The chair noted any further observations on this report should be sent to the secretariat directly by 8 October. 

Learning event 

At the learning event in January 2024, it was agreed that a further learning event would be useful after the review period. This event will be to reflect on the findings and learning from the final year of the review and to explore what a future of ACR could be. This would then help to inform Ministerial decisions for reporting to the parliament at the end of 2025. 

Planning is ongoing for this event with a holding date of 5 February 2025. Further details will be provided in due course. 

Next steps

The chair noted that the priority over the next three months will be to finalise the subgroup reports so that the evidence for these can be used to complete the report of the Advisory Group. 

One final meeting before the end of the review period will be scheduled for late November to feedback and finalise the main report before submitting this to Scottish Ministers in December 2024. 

The chair thanked members for their attendance and input and closed the meeting. 

Action: Secretariat to issue date for the meeting in November.