Age of Criminal Responsibility Advisory Group meeting: June 2024

Attendees and apologies

Natalie Don (chair), Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise

Tom McNamara, Youth Justice and Children’s Hearing Unit, Scottish Government

Rachel Grant, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service

Brian Taylor, Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice, Scottish Government

Katy Nisbet, Clan ChildLaw

Laura Buchan, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)

Megan Farr, The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland

Sharon Glasgow, Social Work Scotland

Gerard Hart, Disclosure Scotland

Lesley Swanson, Bairn’s Hoose Unit, Scottish Government

Louise Piaskowski, Children’s Hearing’s Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review Team, Scottish Government

Fiona Steel, Action for Children

Carol Eden, Victim Support Scotland

Martin Dorchester, Includem

Alistair Hogg, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA)

Stephen Bermingham, Children’s Hearing’s Scotland

Wendy Dalgleish, Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB)

Pam Semple, Children’s Hearing’s Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review Team, Scottish Government

Carron McKellar, Police Scotland

Fiona Dyer, Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ)

Neill Mitchell, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA)

Kenzy Thomson, Children’s Hearing’s Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review Team, Scottish Government

Melissa Parkinson, Children’s Hearing’s Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review Team, Scottish Government

Welcome and Introductions 

The chair welcomed members to the meeting, and noted apologies from Natalie Cook, Police Scotland, Elliot Jackson, Children’s Hearings Scotland, Lorna Aitken, Education Scotland and Jillian Ingram, COSLA. 

The chair welcomed Brian Taylor, Deputy Director for Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice at the Scottish Government to his first meeting of the group. Brian introduced himself and this was followed by a round of introductions from all group members. 

Minutes and actions from last meeting 

The chair invited members to agree the note of the previous meeting.  No comments or amendments were necessary, therefore the note was agreed, and will now be published on to the Scottish Government’s Advisory Group webpage. 

Mel Parkinson provided an update on outstanding actions from the previous meeting.  These are now all complete. 

Learning Event Report 

The draft ACR Learning Event Report from 30 January 2024 was issued in advance of the meeting. The report captures the meaningful and informative feedback from discussions on the day relating to specific parts of the Act which will inform the review. 

The chair invited Kenzy Thomson to provide an overview of the report. 

Section 1 focused on the background, purpose, delegates and summary of programme. section 2 provided a summary of the table discussions on key themes such as communication, training, resources, use of language, and the implications of any change to the age. Section 3 captured the lessons learned and actions from the table discussions.

Action: The chair asked members to provide any comments or reflections on the report by 15th July 2024 to Kenzy and Mel. Once finalised the report will be published on the Advisory Group webpage. 

Subgroup progress updates: Victim Support and Operational Implications 

Victim Support

The chair invited Carol Eden, chair of the Victim Support Subgroup, to present on the work of the group and the draft report. 

Carol noted the recommendations that are in the report: 

• Provision of adequate information and support for victims of all ages of harm caused/crimes committed by young people, regardless of the route undertaken by the person causing harm/perpetrator.
• Consider Single Point of Contact service as created through Children Care and Justice(Scotland) Act as a vehicle to provide this information and support.
• Explore options to consider restorative justice, where appropriate from a victim’s perspective.
• Explore possibility of gathering additional victim data which can be  shared appropriately.

The following comments were made during discussion on the report: 

• Members felt it would be beneficial to see a pathway on how victims can reach support services. 
• Responses to harms caused and other support options are being explored as well as anticipated volumes using the CYCJ/ data and research subgroup information.  Action: Carol to meet with Pamela Morrison to work on this area.
• SCRA are carrying out an evaluation on support for victims around the victim information service and experience and needs of victims of harm and victims who have caused harm. The report will be shared with the group once finalised. Action: Carol/SCRA to meet to discuss this evaluation. 
• Members are supportive of the move towards restorative justice. It was noted that there is a difference when approaching information sharing and appropriateness for a child who has caused harm and an adult who has caused harm and the importance in getting the right balance for this. 
• When engaging with communities it is often recognised that social media is one of the main vehicles for communities discussing live cases.  This does not protect the victims. Lack of understanding of processes in communities means there is no clear understanding of what support is available. 
• There needs to be an individualised response to each case as no case is the same for every child, and tailored approaches are therefore required. 
• It was noted that there needs to be a clear understanding and trust between services and functions within the systems, ensuring they are meeting the needs of the child. It has been recognised that going through the children’s hearings system rather than a court can result in  more intensive support for children, and that should be better communicated. 

Operational Implications 

The chair invited Neill Mitchell, chair of the Operational Implications subgroup to provide an update on the work of the group and to discuss the report issued in advance of the meeting. 

Neill provided an overall summary of the key strands the group have worked on. These are expanded on in the summary report issued to group members. The report provides a summary of each issue with the full reports of each issue attached as an annex: 

• Investigative interviews and inter-agency referral discussions (IRDs) Resource implications of an increase to the Age of criminal responsibilty 
• Response of the Children’s Hearings System 
• 24 hour limit on a child being kept in a place of safety 
• Harmful behaviour by a child from outside Scotland 
• Out of hours service for applications for orders under part 4 of the Act  Criminal exploitation of children 

There are two important issues highlighted by the report:

• It is not possible to have a compulsory intervention beyond the child’s 18th birthday
• It is not possible for England or Wales to put in place a formal statutory response when a child’s seriously harmful behaviour took place in Scotland

Neill asked Advisory Group to consider to what extent it is necessary to address these issues before increasing the ACR further?

The following points were raised during discussion on the highlighted issues:

• Whilst the system is up to 18th birthday for vast majority of children who have offended, what is the wider response and support for post 18? 
• Resource and funding will be a particular concern for this aspect of work. 
• Transitional time of criminal justice age. 
• The risk of sexual harm which will not require a criminal conviction, is there a system join that could happen around care and risk management using civil orders in this context?

Professor Lesley McAra and Professor Susan McVie, University of Edinburgh presented on the Edinburgh Study at the previous Advisory Group meeting in March 2024. They recommend the Scottish Government considers setting up a developmental risk management authority to keep under review all cases of young people who are involved in the most serious and harmful behaviours as they mature into adulthood. This would allow appropriate measures to be taken to manage individual and public protection. Action: Scottish government officials to consider this.

Review progress and next steps 

The chair informed members that there is only 6 months remaining to conclude a full report on the findings from the review to report to Scottish Ministers by 17 December 2024. 

The chair invited Mel Parkinson to provide an update on the progress of the review and key dates/actions going forward. 

All subgroups have now presented their work to the advisory group and the next step is to conclude summary reports from each group. It was agreed that each group would draft a summary report attaching any supporting reports as appendices.

All reports will be uploaded to the Objective Connect shared Space for group members to consider and comment on. Action: SG officials to invite Advisory Group members to the Objective Connect space, and advise the Group when the draft Report for comment is uploaded there.  A full draft of the overall report will be submitted and discussed by members at the next meeting in September. A final virtual meeting will take place in November 2024 to finalise any outstanding reports before submitting to Scottish Ministers. 

Scottish Ministers are required to report on the recommendations with any decision to raise the age of criminal responsibility to Scottish Parliament by December 2025. 

A final Learning Event is being considered for early 2025, with the findings being submitted to Advisory Group via email for sign off. 

Following the Learning Event, SG will advise of the need for any further meetings of the Advisoy Group. 

Any other business 

The date of the next meeting is to be scheduled for late September 2024 in Glasgow. Action: secretariat to issue date and venue for next meeting. 

The chair closed the meeting and thanked members for attending.