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

Attendees and apologies

(Chair), Scottish Government (SG), Pam Semple
Angus Independent Advocacy, Heather MacMaster
Barnardo’s, Selwyn McCausland
Borders Independent Advocacy Service (BIAS), Eve Manderson
CAPS Independent Advocacy (CAPS), Jane Crawford
Children 1st, Bryan Evans
Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS), Edward McKim 
Clan Childlaw, Vicki Straiton
East Ayrshire Advocacy Services, Annmarie Denny
Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross (IAPK), Julie Hutton and Sarah Fogg
Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV), Gordon Main 
Partners in Advocacy (PiA), Pauline Cavanagh
Scottish Children’s Report Administration (SCRA), Melissa Hunt
SG, Paul Gorman, Tom McNamara (joined for a short time), Melissa Parkinson, and Louise Piaskowski
Who Cares? Scotland (WC?S), Kay McKerrell 

Apologies

Advocacy Service Aberdeen, Kevin McBeath
Advocacy Western Isles, Cathy Anne Dunn
Borders Independent Advocacy Service, Karen Palmer
Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS), Elaine Adams and Kate MacKinnon
Clan Childlaw, Micheál Phelan
Scottish Child Law Centre, Sarah Foster
Scottish Children’s Report Administration, Alistair Hogg
Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA), Suzanne Swinton 
Social Work Scotland (SWS), Vivien Thomson

Items and actions

Items and actions

This note provides an overview of the agenda, discussion, and action points from the meeting of the Children’s Hearings Advocacy Expert Reference Group (ERG). The meeting was held as a videoconference on Thursday 30 November 2023. Papers issued for this meeting included: the agenda; minutes from last meeting 10 August; Scottish Government update paper; and Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) update paper.

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed and introduced guests Paul Gorman, Team Leader, Empowered Children and Young People, Children’s Rights Unit SG and Gordon Main, Project Lead, Our Hearings, Our Voice. Due to a competing calendar commitment, Gordon was able to attend for his agenda item only.

Agenda item 2 - actions and activity since last meeting on 10 August 2023

The Chair asked members for any comments of the note of the last meeting. No changes were requested, and the note was agreed. This will be published. 

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

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

Update - Status is ongoing. An approach for a new representative from the Child and Family Law Sub-Committee of the Law Society has been made to the committee secretary following Morag Driscoll’s resignation. They have indicated interest, and we are awaiting an update.

Action - Advocacy organisations to contact SCRA Communications Team if they would like a free stall at the staff event in September.

Update - Completed. SCRA update paper mentioned Barnardo’s Scotland had a stall. 

Action - SG 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.

Update - Status is ongoing. SG met with Collette Galagher (Keeping the Promise Operational Change Lead, SCRA) about links and support for the solicitors’ best practice at hearings project work. SG offered to keep this group linked in with the project and to share information when available about co-production workshops being planned to help produce the best practice guide. Selwyn as NPN Chair is a member of the project working group. Gordon Main has also spoken to the NPN about this project and advocacy organisation/workers have provided views that have been considered in the work. 

Action - Elaine Adams / SG – share the slides about the principles of language in children’s hearings work.

Update – Completed. Slides from Elaine were shared on 23 October 2023.

Action - CHS were asked to provide any information on completion rates for the advocacy training and if this is mandatory or by choice.

Update - Completed. Edward confirmed to the group that the training module is mandatory. The completion rate by the panel community was 86% and a mini project has been started to get this to 100%.

Action - Partners in Advocacy will share their 3-minute bulletin work being tried in Edinburgh area.

Update - Completed. The PowerPoint from Pauline was shared on 23 October 2023.

Action - All to consider what can be done to improve signposting or information for workers wanting to know more about the independent advocacy profession.

Update - Status is ongoing. SG proposed a meeting of the Communications and Engagement sub-group should be convened early in the new year to consider ideas and plan to take the actions forward.

Action - IAPK will share a copy of the postcards from their recent re-branding exercise.

Update - Status is ongoing. Julie confirmed she would share this. 

Action - SG to consider with SCRA options for an awareness campaign for end of year time.

Update - Status is ongoing. As mentioned, SG proposed convening a meeting of the Communication and Engagement sub-group to consider.

Agenda item 3 - Members updates

Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) Update – a written paper accompanied this item.

The Chair thanked Melissa and Alistair for their written update paper which was circulated. The group discussed one of the topics. SCRA recorded and provided data for the first time for the period 1 January to 31 September 2023 on counts of children with a linked advocacy worker and counts of pre-hearing panels and children’s hearings where an advocacy worker was present. The total count of children with an advocacy worker at their hearing was 1859 or 20% (total for the period is 8980 children). The total count of hearings with an advocacy worker present was 3076 or 16% (from a total of 19,717).
Bryan Evans suggested it could be helpful to look at the advocacy worker data with the Safeguarder data to better understand representation rates in the various areas across Scotland. Melissa agreed it could be helpful to look at these data sets together, to consider if there is any mirroring or what different influences nationally or locally are at play. Kay McKerrell asked if any further breakdowns at local authority rather than locality level could be provided. In each locality there will be a few advocacy organisations working in the different local authority areas. A few other members agreed breakdowns at local authority level would be helpful. Selwyn McCausland also commented that context in areas is important to understand as influences on referral rates. For example, in Glasgow, baseline when the children’s hearings advocacy provision started was no child protection advocacy, the engagement with multiple social work teams is trickier, and the rate of hearings in the area is much higher than a lot of others which can have capacity impacts too e.g. multiple hearings scheduled at same time, advocacy worker can only physically attend one of these. For these reasons, a request was made for not only percentages to be provided but for actual numbers too. Melissa confirmed this data is new and has been gathered and provided as a first run for the purpose of this group’s work. The data would benefit from sense checking and feedback on whether this is the right information to capture. It will not therefore at this stage be a part of the official stats published on the SCRA dashboard. SG agreed it would be useful to work with SCRA on auditing data.
Actions

• SCRA and SG agreed to conduct some auditing across SCRA records and reported numbers from provider organisations over the next 12 months.
• SCRA will work with their Data Manager on the best way to provide the data. They will consider if a run of figures for Safeguarders in hearing can be provided alongside the advocacy worker presence information. They will also consider if further breakdowns of numbers, e.g., by local authority area, can be provided but cautioned small numbers may make this tricky.
• SCRA hope to be able to continue to provide updates on the counts for ongoing consideration at future meetings. Added explanation will be provided on what is captured. For example, advocacy worker present, is this physical attendance and/or occasions where advocacy work may not be present, but advocacy support has been recorded including when advocacy statement/report provided and considered in the hearing.

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) update

The Chair invited Edward to provide an update. Edward explained CHS are conducting a significant restructure supported by SG investment. The new model moves to nine regional support teams from 22. This aligns with the nine SCRA regional areas. The restructure is in preparation for delivery of Children’s (Care and Justice) Bill and the Hearings for Children redesign proposals. A phased approach is being taken to introduce the new model, which has included recruitment for nine new paid Regional Delivery Manager posts, replacing the volunteer area convener’s role to support greater consistency. Ayrshire, and Central and West Lothian regional areas have smoothly moved to this new structure. The next phases planned for February 2024 for: Glasgow; Highland, Moray and Eilean Siar; Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway; and Tayside and Fife. In April, the remaining areas will become live: Grampian and Northern Isles; North Strathclyde; and South East.

There is also a new Participation Officer role within each area support team. Seven of nine positions have been filled with the remaining two due to start shortly. The post holders bring different children’s hearings system expertise. The Participation Officer as well as the Regional Delivery Managers, when settled, will be keen to get to know the advocacy organisations and their workers to develop strong local relationships. 

National Provider Network (NPN) update

The Chair invited Selwyn to give an update on the NPN’s recent activities. Selwyn mentioned the network has continued to hold six-weekly meetings and members are still finding these useful. Julie supported this stating NPN is useful and a valuable touch point with colleagues across Scotland doing the same thing as us. It is much appreciated and thanks to Selwyn who chairs very well. The network continues to discuss a wide range of matters. The challenges around referral pathways and pressures felt by Social Work shortages remain as common shared concerns. Recruitment of suitable advocacy workers has also been tricky. SG updated the website guidance on consent, but this matter still brings up practice level issues.

Selwyn and Pauline met with Alistair Hogg and Neill Mitchell from SCRA to work on ensuring clarity of non-instructed advocacy (NIA) in the advocacy practice guidance note. The consideration of NIA in hearings will remain by decision of the Chair of the Children’s Hearing. The discussions confirmed a view that legislation change may be needed to fully support NIA as a core right within the Children’s Hearings advocacy provision. 

Wellbeing approaches for front line staff perspectives remain high on the agenda, and a sub-group of NPN is being set up to bring together providers across Scotland with a recognition of the pressures on staff from the demands of providing the service.

In relation to the Hearings for Children Report, the NPN will provide a statement in due course. There is good support for opt-out model and considering the impact this would make on referral pathways. Recognised there is support for this in the Hearings for Children report although not explicitly. The NPN are linking in with Language Leaders work with Sarah Fogg representing the Group.

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

Grant monitoring and reporting

Louise started the update with recognition that it is a busy time for all. Thanks was given to organisations who have shared annual reports and statement of accounts as well as invites to attend Annual General Meetings and events including PiA 25th anniversary celebration and the Lothian’s Independent Advocacy Events. These things help inform our understanding and appreciation of the full range of work organisations are taking forward. SG unfortunately could not make them all, but Louise enjoyed the Lothians event. SG have been processing the final few quarter 2, July to September 2023, grant offer claims and reports. Quarter three claims and reports due in the new year. 

The information advocacy organisations provide through grant monitoring reports is invaluable to SG in strengthening the evidence base we take to Scottish Ministers to expand our provision and keep the commitment to funding. A request is being made to Ministers for a decision on the continuation of funding, for at least next year ideally a multi-year commitment up to end 2026. An update will be provided as quickly as possible.
As an early reminder, the final quarter 4 / end of year claims must be with Scottish Government for payment no later than 15 March 2024. Reports can follow later in March/April. Also required this year as part of reinforcing the Fair Work Framework is for all grant recipients to complete a Fair Work Survey. SG are happy receive these at any point within the year.

On National Progress Reports, Louise confirmed analysis and report writing work was continuing. SG will bring the completed reports to this group as quickly as possible.

Self-assessments

Pam updated that we have received some but not all on the self-assessments using National Practice Model tool for 2022-23. From past discussions we know some of the parameters and questions are not felt to be fit for purpose – due to a question narrow range. 

Pam asked if organisations are finding the tool unusable? Has the tool been superseded by other effective and efficient ways of reporting to SG. Should SG with the group take forward work to amend the National Practice Model (NPM), or to get the information in the grant offer letter changed if that would be beneficial?

Feedback shared, was that it is useable, but it is not useful in any way. There was some agreement that it is superseded by other reporting and duplicates information reported (evaluation findings and info on staff training mostly) so it is felt to be a bit of a waste of time to have to copy and paste the information.

Some are in favour of the idea of reviewing the NPM now with a few years of practice under belts which in some ways have moved us away from that document. A review would be best achieved collaboratively.

SG would be happy to discuss this further with organisations and asked if this would be suitable to add to the next NPN agenda. This could allow organisations time to consider what they would like to do. Selwyn agreed to add to the NPN agenda.

Action

• SG and NPN - discuss use of self-assessment tool with advocacy organisations with a view to amending Grant Letters or reviewing the National Practice Model more broadly. Selwyn agreed to add the topic to the NPN agenda.

External Evaluation 

Pam updated that we have worked with procurement and the Invitation to Tender was published Friday 24 November as a Quick Quote exercise. A handful of research bodies noted interest. The deadline for applications is 13 December. Assessment will follow with the expectation of an award being made for the contract start date of 29 January 2024 and the end date for report by 31 October 2024. Tenders will be assessed on quality and costs. Ratio: Quality (Technical) 70%, and Price (Commercial) 30%. The estimated budget is expected to be in the range of £35,000 to £45,000 ex VAT. 

The evaluation question is - What is the impact of children’s hearings advocacy scheme on children’s hearings - for children and young people, Panel Members, Reporters, Social Workers, Safeguarders, legal representatives and other professionals involved in the child’s Hearing? 

A project initiation meeting is expected to take place in January. If organisations wish to be involved in helping the evaluators with the work, please let SG know. 

PiA and IAPK expressed interest in evaluation interactions. Brian also expressed his view it would be useful if the evaluators sought Safeguarder's views and could go to Children’s 1st to help them access these. 

Action

• ERG Members – inform SG if your organisation is keen to be engaged in the external evaluation work and SG will mention at the initiation meeting.

Communications and Engagement

Louise noted thanks to the team at SCRA for providing their support and update on the website analytics. Comparing last update in April, views to the website numbers are similar overall but with some variations on views of certain pages. Most notable increase (and second most viewed page) was the doubling in number of views on the ‘contact someone local’ page up from 219 to 449. Most notable drop in page hits was the Resources page 276 down to 62. Other drops include children’s hearings advocacy and the law 116 to 90 and how advocacy can help 59 to 38. The “Hearing about me” form is a recurring top search. As mentioned, SG proposed convening a meeting of the Communications and Engagement sub-group. 

Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill 

Pam updated on 23 Nov the Parliament voted on a motion agreeing that consideration of the Bill at stage 2 be extended to 9 February 2024. SG understand a stage 2 meeting will be on 24 January 2024 with the deadline for amendments 12 noon on Thursday 18 January. A Resourcing and Implementation Group with 30+ delivery agencies continued to meet over the summer, helping to explore cost forecasting and detailed plans for training and guidance for delivery on-the-ground. There will be further meetings in early 2024.

Hearings System Redesign / Working Group

Pam confirmed the SG response to the Hearings System Working Group Report was expected to be published in December 2023. Officials from across SG have conducted in-depth policy analysis of the recommendations, with consideration being given to the legislative, financial and workforce implications as well as the benefits to children and families. Any process to redesign the Children’s Hearings System will be collaborative and will involve engagement with all sectoral interests and consultation on any major system or legislative changes. It is essential that those involved with the system, whether as participants or decision-makers, can help shape the design and delivery of the future reforms.

A Redesign Board was being established, drawn directly from the Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership (CHIP). This board will be co-chaired by SG and COSLA and will comprise senior representatives from Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS), Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) and Social Work Scotland (SWS) to provide oversight and governance for the delivery of change to the Children’s Hearings System. COSLA published its response to the Hearings for Children Report in October 2023. SG officials are keen to attend future meetings to discuss the government response with ERG members.

Other updates

Louise drew attention to other updates in the written paper including, the open consultation on care leaver payment, development of the Bairns’ Hoose and the Pathfinder phase, the National Care Service, the National Trauma Transformation Programme New Roadmap and Guidance, and what OHOV been working on noted in their Autum update. 

PiA asked who they could contact to get hard copies of the latest OHOV Voice magazine for children and young people. Contact details for SCRA were provided.

Action

• Scottish government – will consider officials to attend the next meeting to provide update on Scottish government response to the Hearings for Children Report and Children’s Hearings Redesign work.

Agenda items 4 and 5 – Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV) / Language Leaders – Gordon Main, OHOV and Sarah Fogg, IAPK

Pam asked Sarah to start whilst waiting for Gordon to join the meeting. Sarah explained the purpose of the principles for using non-judgmental language. Sherrif Mackie was a key speaker at the Language Leaders Group event in Stirling in November and is a supporter of the children’s advocacy work. A good practice example shared was that the Sherriff Courts in Perth contained specific criteria to recruit specialists in family law disciplines. This understood to be the first time these disciplines have been stipulated in criteria for Sherrif appointment. 

Pam welcomed Gordon and he shared a presentation with the Group. All know the issues of how language impacts on stigmatising and power of including children and young people in Hearings. Language is a key part within the OHOV 40 call to action and children and young people feel passionately about the language they experience. The basis of the project is for children and young people to work alongside (co-produce) the agenda for change. The Language Leaders Group has representation from CHS, SCRA, Social Work, Children’s Rights, Children’s Hearings Advocacy (Sarah on behalf of NPN). Sherrif Mackie contributes ad-hoc on legal and technical language shift themes. The cost of delivering these changes will not be entirely free but it is within our gift to be able to make these changes with minimal costs associated with workers’ capacity and resource materials. Language is included within the Hearings for Children Report recommendations. The main area of learning has been in setting Principles, changing culture, and embedding change. It is not about telling people what language needs to be used instead of certain words e.g., access, contact, siblings. It is about learning the language/normal non-stigmatising words individual children and young people use and understand. It is also about challenging and removing difficult language, busting myths around words used for legal purposes when that is not the case. In North of Scotland work was done to produce a glossary of words. The interactive virtual word bin and update on the work is available on the CHIP website. An animation and a training module were being developed to be available to all professionals working with children and young people not just those within Children’s Hearings System.

Heather noted the interesting work, language matters and stated it is helpful to hear the key part is the principles behind this. In Angus, in adult’s services, there is a project taking the approach of use of these words and not others.

Eve added she sees that children and young people are individuals and works to learn what language they want to use to name things that matter and are important to them. Language is personal and it is important to be mindful of this. Julie supported these comments and stated culture is the thing that needs to be penetrated and change for parity in ethics. Needed to hold ‘place’ using certain language. The courage of advocacy workers to swim in the stream with other professionals puts them in a vulnerable spot where they are sometimes undermined.

Gordon agreed we need bravery, as people being brave makes a difference. 

Pauline commented the transformational work is exciting and will be rewarding for children and young people to be able to receive information they can understand. Advocacy can often involve lots of explaining information to children/young people that has been provided by others.

Sarah added in Perth and Kinross the voice of infants and babies has been a focus. The Language Principles can/should apply beyond the Children’s Hearings System For example in report writing for all (including babies and is being talked about for adults and child protection case conferences) as words such as ‘criminal’ stick.

Brian agreed this is an important point that the principles should apply into adult life too. It will be useful to expand on this and turn up the volume. UNCRC challenge of rights will be important to consider.

Pam thanked Gordon for his input before he left the meeting.

Action

• Scottish government and Gordon – the Language Leaders presentation slides used for this item will be shared with ERG members.

Agenda item 6 – Strengthening Advocacy Provision 

Pam introduced Paul Gorman, Empowering Children and Young People (CYP) Team, SG to speak. Paul explained his teams remit includes CYP participation, accessing and upholding rights (including role of advocacy) and complaints. The main body of work is around cultural and systemic change. There was four parts of the team’s work covered in the update: 

UNCRC Bill update

Scotland is the first UK nation to incorporate into Scots law. On 14 Sept a motion was laid to reconsider the Bill, amendments were reconsidered on 18 September and on 7 December the Bill was to be considered for approval by the Scottish Parliament. SG are excited about what comes next. More info and resources are coming to support what it means in practice. There has been some loss to coverage from what was contained in the original Bill. However, culture and momentum has been building with expectation that children and young people should expect their rights to be respected regardless of scope.

Strengthening advocacy

A statement was made in progressing the human rights of children action to support strengthening advocacy across SG. It was clear there are high quality services across Scotland and recognition advocacy can be delivered in several ways specific to the wishes of the child. Work is demonstrating the importance and value we place on upholding rights. An SG network has been set up. In 2022 a mapping exercise was conducted and identified where there was pockets of advocacy policy, but it was not joined up. The purpose of the network is to share learning, collaborate and consider things that matter, with meetings taking place six weekly. Pam and Louise are both members of this group.

Child friendly complaints 

Next phase of the plan involves strategic implementation, so we know what is happening and feed information. CYP will need to be helped to be aware of rights and able to access information to know how to raise concerns and that adults in their life may help with raise concerns / make complaint. 

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has been working on a child friendly complaints model to implement and apply to all public bodies next year. This talks about the role of advocacy to make complaints and help children through the journey.

Statutory Guidance will be produced, and a Skills and Knowledge Framework has been developed to assist everyone - advocacy workers, parents, family members - to support CYP to uphold the child’s rights.

CYP participation framework

The framework agreement was launched with the aim to bring coordination to CYP participation within SG. There were good pockets of work but also examples of tokenistic participation. The framework responds to growing need for CYP participation in decision-making and policy development and aims to bring oversight, quality, and governance through the procurement to establish the framework. This should bring easier and more effective participation to work on projects and build a bank of evidence that should help to avoid duplication. Records of how we action this and participation becomes retained. This is a different type of culture for SG but will develop in time.

Pam thanked Paul for his contribution and invited any comments or questions from group members.

Jane commented this work is exciting and good to hear about. She questioned what might be done to specifically mention the role of independent advocacy as it needs to be highlighted as really having someone with no other agenda to help. Jane stated an example that children and young people with mental health needs should be able to access independent advocacy and cannot. Independent advocacy is not funded in all areas of Scotland.

Paul commented this will need teased out. In SPSO work with children and young people it emerged clearly that they would want a trusted adult known to them already. So not necessarily an independent advocacy worker to help them uphold their rights/make a complaint and the language used gives recognition to a portfolio of adults who can support. If advocacy for mental health is a right in legislation, then there could well be a breach and opportunity for workers to help children and young people hold the public authority to account.

Kay contributed language of trusted adult does not consider the independent nature of the role of the advocacy worker. Often as relationship develops the independent advocacy worker may become that child’s trusted adult. Data and frequency will be interesting to monitor.

Pauline stated she had really enjoyed this talk and supported Jane’s point. This must be a person-centred approach. There is an opportunity to explain independent advocacy (IA) as being free from the agenda of others. It is not about presenting IA as being better than another form but about being rights enshrined and equally important and the need for IA is greater than CHS advocacy.

Selwyn contributed if there is a right to advocacy it needs to be resourced and made sure access is available. COSLA and SWS strongly highlighted resourcing concerns in its input to Hearings for Children report. There is still work to do culturally around being rights based, not UK / Scots law. The Promise is making these things clear too. Barnardo’s are interested to see how the participation framework moves forward.

Agenda item 7 – Communications and Engagement activity

Members supported the proposal to convene a meeting of the sub-group and Louise said a meeting would be set for mid-January time. The current membership includes Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, Children’s Hearings Scotland, Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, Social Work Scotland and CAPS Independent Advocacy and SG. Other interested volunteers are welcome to join. PiA would like to be involved.

The purpose is to hold a deeper discussion and work on activities identified to help with the promotional aspect of our work. This would include considering how to support information sharing and learning for practitioners considering the feedback the first-year celebration webinar. Other things to be considered include promotional opportunities such as a Q&A blog with an advocacy worker or video podcast style recording about how an advocacy worker can help to add to the available resources.

Agenda item 8 - Training and CPD

Pam invited Vicki from Clan Childlaw to speak. Vicki pointed to the update they had given in writing covered in the SG update paper. Vicki reminded organisations to contact them to set up access to the eLearning platform for new staff to access and complete the induction training.  All children’s hearings advocacy workers should be encouraged to sign up for one of the annual training sessions too.

Any other business 

It was agreed to keep the frequency of meetings to three in the year scheduled for Thursdays 10:30-12:30: 14 March, 4 July, and 21 November 2024. 

No other matters were raised. Pam thanked everyone for their attendance and participation and closed the meeting.