Children’s Advocacy in the Children Hearings System: Expert Reference Group: August 2023

Attendees and apologies

(Chair), Scottish Government (SG), Pam Semple
Angus Independent Advocacy, Catherine Sheppard
Advocacy Western Isles, Cathy Anne Dunn
Barnardo’s, Selwyn McCausland
Borders Independent Advocacy Service (BIAS), Eve Manderson
CAPS Independent Advocacy (CAPS), Jane Crawford
Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS), Edward McKim 
Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS), Elaine Adams
Clan Childlaw, Micheál Phelan
Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross (IAPK), Julie Hutton 
Partners in Advocacy, Pauline Cavanagh
Scottish Children’s Report Administration, Alistair Hogg
Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA), Suzanne Swinton 
Scottish Government, Emma Wilson and Louise Piaskowski
Who Cares? Scotland (WC?S), Kay McKerrell 

Apologies

Advocacy Service Aberdeen, Kevin McBeath
Angus Independent Advocacy, Heather McMaster
Children 1st, Bryan Evans
Children and Young People’s Centre for Excellence (CELCIS), Kate MacKinnon
East Ayrshire Advocacy Services, Annmarie Denny
Scottish Children’s Report Administration, Melissa Hunt
Social Work Scotland (SWS), Charles Rocks / new representative to be confirmed.

Items and actions

Items and actions

This note provides an overview of the agenda, discussion, and key action points from the meeting of the Children’s Hearings Advocacy Expert Reference Group (ERG). The meeting took place as a videoconference on Thursday 10 August 2023.  Papers issued for this meeting included: the agenda; minutes from last meeting 20 April; Scottish Government Update Paper; ERG organisations communications contacts and social media channels; Clan Childlaw update paper on training and legal support service; and the Skills and Knowledge Framework paper.

Welcome and introductions

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies received. A welcome was extended to Catherine Sheppard attending from Angus Independent Advocacy and to Emma Wilson, from the SG Children’s Hearings Team lead on Hearings Redesign, joining as a guest for this meeting.

A resignation notice was received from Morag Driscoll. She has resigned as convenor of the Child and Family Law Committee of the Law Society and therefore resigned from ERG. The Chair acknowledged the contribution she had made within the group, wished her well in the future and confirmed we were in contact with The Law Society of Scotland about looking for a replacement for Morag. The group extended their best wishes for Morag and agreed there would be real value in having a representative who can offer the expertise of Scotland’s legal profession, particularly for children and young people in and around Children’s Hearings and family law in the courts.

Action 
•    SG will ask the Law Society of Scotland if they would like to consider making a representative nomination for this group.

Agenda item 2 - actions and activity since last meeting on 20 April 2023

The Chair confirmed there had been a small amendment made to the draft note of last meeting. Highlighted by Julie Hutton, IAPK, on page 4, under Children (Care & Justice) Bill, para 3, ‘is also apparent’ was changed to ‘is also not apparent’. The note was accepted and will be published in due course. 

The Chair provided an update on the actions and activity from the last meeting:

Action
SG to provide detail on plans for responding to the Hearing’s System Working Group (HSWG) report and how organisations can get involved once the report has been published.

Update
The HSWG Report was published 26 May. A joint meeting of Youth Justice Improvement Board (YJIB) and Children's Hearings Improvement Partnership (CHIP) met on 7 June in person in Edinburgh where the report was discussed, and SG outlined plans for responding to this. Selwyn as NPN Chair is a member of CHIP.
 
At the Children’s Hearings Advocacy National Provider Network (NPN) meeting on 8 June Tom McNamara provided an update and themes and recommendations related to advocacy were discussed. Tom invited one-to-one discussions and explained SG will take time to consider and respond to the independent report. As part of this work, we will consult with and be advised by partners to understand the range of implications arising from the recommendations and to consider how practicably these can be delivered. SG team visited PiA last month and will be happy to set up time with others too if that would be beneficial.

Emma was invited to speak today to provide an update on the work. There will be opportunities to continue the dialogue.

The Minister for Children and Young People and Keeping the Promise, received a letter from Louise Hunter Who Cares? Scotland, supported by some of the other advocacy provider organisations, raising concerns in relation to HSWG Report referencing the narrative on the environment and role of independent advocacy reducing. Ms Don replied to Louise Hunter acknowledging the concerns raised and offered assurance that the SG will take time to consider its response to the independently prepared report and will engage with, and listen to, stakeholders views within those considerations.

Action
SG to ensure advocacy organisations have a representative invited to the Children’s (Care and Justice) Bill implementation session on 5 June in Glasgow.

Update
Selwyn attended the first meeting on 5 June on behalf of the NPN (open to other NPN members to get involved) and other members/organisations represented on ERG are part of the implementation group membership too. A second meeting was held on 1 August. An update in this work is covered in the SG update Paper. This action was closed.

Action
SG to set up bilateral meetings with advocacy organisation in considering further the anticipated readiness and implications of children’s advocacy service expansion for the 16–17-year-old cohort.

Update
SG will contact organisations to set up a meeting over the period up to Christmas/early new year.

Action
CHS will clarify timescales for roll out and responding to feedback with digital team colleagues and will provide the group with an update.

Update
Edward may cover at agenda item 3 – members update.

Action
NPN to consider next steps regarding implications of a systemic non-instructed advocacy approach for under 5-year-old. Considerations will need to be further reviewed by SG, SCRA and CHS.

Update
Selwyn may cover at agenda item 3 – members update.

Action
SCRA and CHS accepted NIA approach for children and young people with complex communications needs and/or disabilities. NPN will consider communications to ensure this is widely understood and practiced in children’s hearings including through an updated or new practice note.  

Update
Selwyn, Alistair, Edward may cover at agenda item 3 – members update.

Action
Scottish government to review and update the hearings advocacy website. Consider any new resources that may be required.

Update
Question and answer about consent updated.  A further update will be provided at agenda item on communications and engagement activity.

Action
Members to provide SG with contact details of the person/s in their orgs who oversee their social media and communications work.  Provide a note of social medial channels/handles idea is to share with all to build a community to share/promote each other’s information.

Update
ERG organisations communications contacts and social media channels paper was provided for this meeting.  The details will be refreshed and circulated.  This action was closed.

Action
Scottish government to put Skills and Knowledge Framework on the agenda for the next meeting on 10 August.

Update
This item is on the agenda for discussion at this meeting. 

Agenda item 3 - Members updates

Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) Update

Alistair reported no particular issues raised from their locality check in. 

The Children (Care and Justice) Bill is massive with lots of work being done in relation to raising the age of referral and the implications for this. There is a lot to consider, changes of test thresholds, movement restriction in secure care, etc. As the Bill moves to stage 2 amendments work will be continuing. Gathering data and forecasts to update/supplement the financial memorandum has been a big part of the work.  

There is a bit of a hiatus in respect of HSWG Report, awaiting the SG considering and providing its response by the end of this year. Meantime the focus is on what improvements can be worked on right now. This includes the language leaders group work led by Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV) on use of appropriate language for children and young people by multi-agency partners.  Promoting solicitor best practice in Children’s Hearings project, and the child friendly scheduling pilot project. Tayside and Fife have been doing work with relatives/family on what they need to prepare.

For non-instructed advocacy practice for children and young people with complex communication needs and/or disability, a slot in diaries (Alistair, Selwyn, Pauline and Edward) will be fixed to review the SCRA practice guidance and clear up any misunderstandings.

SCRA Comms Teams also provided an update. They continue to promote the advocacy cartoon animation which they created on all of SCRA’s social media platforms.

In addition, we have created several new pages on our website about advocacy and promoting the www.hearings-advocacy.com website:

• Page for young people 
• Page in the children section about people at my Hearing (includes advocacy workers)
• Page in the young people section about people at my Hearing (includes advocacy workers) 

At the SCRA staff event in September, Sarah Fogg from Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross will speak alongside others about the Language Leaders work, led by Our Hearings Our Voice. Any advocacy providers are welcome to have a stall at our staff event (stalls are free). Contact the communications team.

At a meeting of the ERG comms sub-group, they had suggested the group collate all the organisations comms contacts and this work is now well advanced.

Julie highlighted that promoting practice is one thing but systemic issues of getting a solicitor/legal representation for children and young people out with the central belt is challenging. Would value having continuing representation from the Law Society of Scotland on ERG.

Alistair agreed there is a problem in sourcing solicitors. Selwyn added that his had been discussed at the project group meeting as this is a well-known issue and impacts on child representation. Elaine questioned if this has been raised with the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) and commented that hybrid hearings should have eased the situation a bit.

Action

• Advocacy organisations to contact SCRA Communications Team (Maryanne McIntyre or Shona Jack) if they would like a stall at the staff event in September.
• Scottish government will explore the issue of access to legal representation for children and young people for hearings with SLAB to try to establish a position and understand what work may be in train.

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) update

The Chair explained Edward was delayed joining the meeting. He had, however provided a bulleted summary which the Chair read. Edward would be invited to answer any questions when he could join.

CHS updated the Feedback loop website to focus more on feedback, with complaints as a final option rather than the main offering. CHS have categorised the web channels into child/young person, parent/relevant person or professional. For professionals they have added in a section that suggests a local contact to resolve the issue which may be more appropriate (Area Support Team). It is not just the website though, CHS are also encouraging feedback through complaints handling by flagging the feedback channel to professionals and young people. 

CHS Complaints Officer is working with SCRA on two key areas. One is a postcard (probably) with a QR code. Panel members will be asked to provide the card (or flag the website) to children and young people. This will also be freely available in hearing centres. Posters or leaflets are still options too. A joint comms approach is needed between SCRA and CHS. The plan is for this to be tested in selected areas further detail and announcement will follow.  

CHS plan to update the joint CHS and SCRA Corporate Parenting website to serve as a landing page for the QR code, which is still to be worked through. The idea is that the landing page will help young people to provide feedback (or complain) by offering a link to CHS or SCRA. Crucially we only want young people to have to tell one organisation about everything. Where there are cross overs, we will manage that behind the scenes and comms is engaged because the words are really important, and they will get the views of young people too. Hoping to kick this off in September. 

They have had one item from a Social Worker through the feedback webpage about hearing management and language used in the hearing room. 

In July 2023, CHS had 655 page views on the feedback page, even though these did not translate to feedback, it shows awareness of it is being raised. 

National Provider Network (NPN) update

The Chair invited Selwyn (Barnardo’s/NPN Chair) to give an update on the network’s recent activities.  

There have been three meetings of the NPN since the last ERG meeting, the next is scheduled for end of August. The network remains strong with good attendance. Referral rates continue to be reported as increasing. Localised issues continue to be addressed. Some fundamentals continue such as late referrals, language used specific to some panels. It is also considered that hearings are becoming more complex, with the length of waiting for hearings to begin and/or meetings getting longer in some situations. Update on non-instructed advocacy work was covered by Alistair. A meeting will be arranged to discuss matters for children with complex disabilities with further work needed within the network and with partners necessary with regards to rights and hearing the voices of younger children/infants and babies. Selwyn attended the SCRA project group for promoting solicitor best practice in hearings and a representative has been invited to join the next NPN meeting to speak to all members about this project. No further issues raised about consent guidance, getting consent is not trouble-free in practice.  

SG have asked advocacy organisations to continue to consider the implication for expanding services for 16-17 year olds through raising the age of referral to the Children’s Reporter as intended through the Children’s Care and Justice Bill. For example, how to ensure uptake is as high as possible. Selwyn attends the Bill Implementation Group meetings.

Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership (CHIP) update

Elaine Adams spoke about the last meeting being a joint CHIP and Youth Justice Improvement Board (YJIB) in June which focussed on Sheriff Mackie’s hearings system redesign, hearings for children report. The general sense is that the report had landed well, and time would be required to digest it fully. This, as well as the children’s care and justice bill, are two big ticket items for CHIP monthly meetings, the next in September will hear about Scottish government arrangements.

Elaine also provided an update on the Language Leaders work being led by Our Hearings Our Voice. Work has included a child friendly glossary and general principles which have been shared with the strategy group. Two slides about the general principles work will be shared. Further work is needed on reframing, and with consideration to language of the statute. Sheriff Mackie has shown interest in continuing to support work in this area.

Action

• Elaine / SG – share the slide about the principles of language in Children’s Hearings work.

Scottish Government (SG) update – a written paper accompanied this item.

Louise mentioned, end of year grant work is nearly complete. A reminder was made to organisations for any outstanding items such as monitoring reports, schedule 3 forms, and self-assessments using the national practice model are sent to Scottish government as quickly as possible to help to with progressing the analysis work.

Annual training for advocacy workers is being planned with clan childlaw.  managers of the advocacy organisations were reminded to let Clan childlaw know when they have new staff starting so they can get set up with access to the children’s hearings advocacy e-learning induction materials.  All staff, including new recruits, should complete one annual ‘follow on’ session that will be offered over a choice of dates, venues with a mix of both in person and online.

This week Scottish government had also issued a commission to stakeholders to assist with a review of the impact of The cross-border placements (effect of deprivation of liberty orders) (Scotland) Regulations 2022.  The review is seeking feedback from those involved in the notification process and the advocacy organisations providing services to ascertain how these regulations are working in practice.

Pam updated on the external evaluation. Plans are being progressed with procurement to identify an organisation to take this work forward.  The methodology for this was shared with the group and agreed last year.

Agenda item 4 - hearings system redesign 

Emma Wilson explained that SG had acted as observers with no influencing role in shaping the recommendations of the Sheriff Mackie led hearings redesign work.  In programme for government 2021, there was Ministerial commitment to look at hearings system redesign and this report will be one piece of work informing this.  Ministers have formed no opinions or made any decisions about the direction or recommendations. 

The report is extensive, with 97 plus recommendations that are detailed and therefore Scottish government has made clear it will take time to respond by the end of this year. Matters of children’s rights and role of independent advocacy feature strongly throughout. The process will involve engaging across a range of policy areas on initial first impressions and followed by in-depth analysis on how these relate to current policy, viability, risks and stakeholder interests. This will help identify where some things are already happening and can continue and where there are things more complex and sensitive, or where more work would be necessary to provide a definitive answer. 

The financial analysis underpinning the report is also still to be published which will need to be carefully considered in Scottish government mapping and analysis work. Careful sequencing with those other significant reform programmes national care service, keeping the promise, children’s care and justice bill etc will be vitally important to avoid duplication and ensure proper connectedness. Planning structures and milestones as well as governance are also being worked out. The Governance structure has been discussed with ministers and CHIP group / sub-set group feeding back into existing established governance groups is what is envisaged. A further update will be shared at the next CHIP meeting in September.

Sheriff Mackie’s work and report was informed and showcases the importance of working with and considering the voice of children and young people. This must remain a key part of the programme of work going forward and will also need to be properly worked out and supported to hear the views of all featured.

Initial impressions, sequencing of work, in-depth policy analysis, legal, financial considerations will inform Scottish government position. A response to the recommendations is expected by end of the year. As normal practice, any significant new policy or legislative development would need full public consultation, and legislative change taken forward by a bill process.

The chair and group thanked Emma for the informative update. Julie added that seeing duplication of processes and barriers to participation is bread and butter work of advocacy workers. Joined up thinking is absolutely what is needed.

Agenda item 5 - skills and knowledge framework

The Skills and Knowledge Framework was endorsed by the ERG in July 2022. Since then, there have been various discussions and actions to provide information on what their corporate response might be to the Skills and Knowledge Framework and an implementation plan.

Ahead of this meeting ERG members were asked to consider whether now is the right time to be attempting to progress the Skills and Knowledge Framework or would it be more appropriate to delay agreeing an implementation plan until the full effect of all the various substantial areas of work ongoing which impacts on the children’s hearings advocacy, i.e. UNCRC, keeping the promise, the children’s care and justice bill, children (Scotland) Act 2020, the hearings redesign work and potentially the national care service, is known and more easily understood.  There would be no point introducing a suite of actions for the framework to have to be amended as we follow different paths. The group acknowledged that there is a lot of support within their organisations for this work however it made sense to focus our efforts on other arcas until there is far more clarity and certainty around Children’s hearings.  The work done to date provides a solid basis to build from when the time is right.

Edward also shared information about the learning academy hosted learning module for the children’s panel members on advocacy, which is 1 hour 15 mins long.

Action

• Edward was asked to provide any information on completion rates for the advocacy training and if this is mandatory or by choice.

Agenda item 6 – communication and engagement activity

Louise thanked everyone for supporting the promotion of the children’s hearings advocacy services during the Independent Advocacy Awareness Week 24-28 April.  The new social media visual is available on resources tab on the hearing’s advocacy website. SCRA team also suggested another social media awareness raising campaign towards the end of the year could be worthwhile.  

In the last three months, the visitor searches on the website have included: hearing about me; preparing for my hearing; quotes from young people; help at hearing; training to become and advocacy worker; young people and their hearing. The website translation function was used six times. There is also improved accessibility functionality options added to the website too.

There was a discussion about where professionals could find information about training or working in the independent advocacy sector. Should there be a part on the website specifically for professionals, where could be palaces to signpost to e.g., SIAA website for information about practice standards, jobs, training etc or somewhere else.  Suzanne added that SIAA are looking to update its website and could consider what more they could add around training for example volunteering is a good way into the sector too.

Pauline offered an update on a trial 3-minute bulletin they have been running informing referral partners about activity, increasing awareness of independent advocacy and to encourage improved referral behaviour.

Julie mentioned Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross have had a rebrand and have a range of promotional materials, postcards to demonstrate work with children and young people and siblings among a mix of other things.

Eve talked about work in Scottish Borders to forge relationships with the wider third sector to keep the publicity messaging going for the children’s hearings advocacy services.

Action

• Pauline – will share Partner in Advocacy’s 3-minute bulletin work.
• All – consider what can be done to improve signposting or information for workers wanting to know more about the independent advocacy profession.
• Julie – will share a copy of the postcards.
• Scottish government – consider with SCRA options for an awareness campaign for end of year time.

Agenda item 7 – training and CPD

Louise invited the new coordinator Micheál Phelan from clan childlaw to give an update on the plans for the making advocacy real in children’s hearings training and the legal support service.

The online induction training for all new employees is available to be accessed at any time, contact by email to advocacy@clanchildlaw.org for joining instructions.  The materials are being reviewed to include any updates and the content is being reorganised to make specific topics easier to find to help with refreshing knowledge as and when needed.

All employees will be invited to attend one annual ‘follow on’ training session within the year April to March. Dates and venues will be shared with the advocacy organisations shortly. Feedback from the advocacy organisations has helped to inform the topics of interest for the training, summary documents and handouts.  Topics of interest include Legal Aid for children and instructing a solicitor, grounds of referral, terminating a compulsory supervision order and rights on leaving care, secure care and offences/disclosure, siblings rights, requesting review hearings and attending court. The engagement from organisations and the suggestions and feedback shared and was very much welcomed.

The Legal Advice Service has new dedicated communications points including a phone line 0748 309 0269, and email advocacy@clanchildlaw.org for queries. The service operates three days a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10am - 4pm. Micheál will triage queries, and these will be allocated to an available Solicitor as quickly as possible.

Any other business 

The next meeting is on 30 November at 11:00 to 13:00. No other matters were raised.