Cross-Border Placements Regulations: business and regulatory impact assessment

5. Public Engagement

We have sought to understand the impact of the Regulations through speaking to a range of stakeholders within the children and families sector in Scotland and beyond. This engagement has included the Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection (CELCIS), Social Work Scotland (including the residential sub-group), COSLA, the office of the Children and Young People's Commissioner for Scotland, Children's Hearings Scotland and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, The Promise Scotland, Children's Health Commissioners, as well as Chief Social Work Officers from Scottish Local Authorities. We have also engaged with the Association of Directors of Children's Services in England, the national leadership organisation in England for statutory directors of children's services, as well as the Competition and Markets Authority.

On 6 January 2022, we published a policy position paper on Cross-border placements of children and young people into residential care in Scotland.^[3]

Views were sought on the proposals set out in the paper for regulations that would recognise DOL orders in Scotland as if they were CSOs. This was a focussed engagement, inviting views by email in light of the urgency of bringing forward regulations to better regulate cross-border DOL placements into Scotland. In addition to this, we met with a wide range of stakeholders and partners to discuss the proposals.