Children’s Advocacy in the Children Hearings System - Expert Reference Group minutes: January 2026

Attendees and apologies

Attendees in Victoria Quay 

• Chair, Pam Semple, Scottish Government 
• Athena Lynch, Scottish Government
• Bryan Evans, Children First 
• Elaine Adams, Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection 
• Melissa Hunt, Scottish Children’s Report Administration 
• Jane Crawford, CAPS Independent Advocacy
• Julie Hutton, Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross 
• Lauren Platt, Scottish Government 
• Louise Piaskowski, Scottish Government
• Melissa Parkinson, Scottish Government 
• Sarah Fogg, Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross 
• Selwyn McCausland, Barnardo’s 
• Tom McNamara, Scottish Government 
• Susan Downes, Scottish Government 

Virtual attendees

• Alicja Piliszczuk, Borders Independent Advocacy Services 
• Amerdeep Kaur, Law Society of Scotland
• David Mackay, Children’s Hearings Scotland
• Elaine Cargill, Angus Independent Advocacy 
• Jayne Brinded, Partners in Advocacy 
• Kay McKerrell, Who Cares? Scotland 
• Orielle Taylor, Children and Young People's Centre for Justice 
• Vicki Pirie, Clan Childlaw 

Apologies

• Gordon Main, Our Hearings Our Voice
• Heather McMaster and Avril Muir, Angus Independent Advocacy
• Kate McKinnon – Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection
• Mel MacDonald, Children’s Hearings Scotland 
• Vivien Thomson, Social Work Scotland
   

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). Once agreed by members the meeting note will be published. 

The meeting was held in a hybrid format, enabling participants to join either in person at Victoria Quay or remotely via Microsoft Teams. Papers issued for this meeting included: the agenda; minute of the last meeting 23 October 2025; Scottish Government (SG) update paper; Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) update papers; and Terms of Reference for the group. 

Welcome, introductions and apologies

The Chair welcomed all attendees, followed by a round of introductions. The Chair gave special acknowledgement to the following members:

•    David Mackay, attending on behalf of Mel MacDonald from CHS.
•    Vicki Pirie from Clan Childlaw, who has taken over from Rebecca Scott.
•    Orielle Taylor, attending her first meeting from Children and Young People's Centre for Justice (CYCJ).
•    Jayne Brinded from Services Partners in Advocacy, who has successfully taken over Jillian McFadyen’s previous role.

Tom provided an update on the Children (Care, Care Experienced and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill (The Bill). The Stage 1 report was published on 17 December 2025 and the Minister for Children, Young People and the Promise provided a response to the report on 12 January 2026. A Stage 1 debate took place on 14 January 2026 to consider and decide on the general principles of the Bill. The Bill is currently on Stage 2 to be completed by 20 February 2026. Matters are all fluid, noting already 125 amendments lodged to be debated across the stage 2 sessions. Stage 3 will follow into March, and team are confident the timescales to complete Stage 3 before the end of the parliamentary term will be achieved. 

Tom also provided a brief update on the live public consultation of the future of secure care and encourage views to be shared with Scottish Government. If members have any questions or want to meet to discuss any areas in detail, contact the Scottish Government (SG) team.

Minutes and actions from previous meetings

The Chair invited any changes to the draft note of the 23 October 2025 meeting. No changes were made, the note was agreed, and it was confirmed it will be published on the SG website.

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

Action 1: SG will share on behalf of SCRA the child friendly hearings resources after this meeting. 
Update: The information included a pdf explaining Child Friendly Scheduling for Professionals and an animation to explain what is available to children in a Cartoon animation Child Friendly Scheduling. This was sent to members following the last meeting in October with the draft note. 

Action 2:  SG to progress work on training and scoping options for a children’s hearings advocacy worker qualification. A meeting of the Training and CPD subgroup will be set up as soon as fuller research has been completed, as per actions noted at the sub-group in April 2025. 
Update: A meeting was held with the Training and CPD subgroup on 15 January 2026. Further information following this meeting will be shared in agenda point 4. 

Action 3: Claire Grant (SG) and Rebecca Scott (Clan Childlaw) provided their contact email addresses and invited members to contact them with any views about what the training content for cross-border placements should over, and any other considerations around timing and delivery that should be thought about in the planning.
Update: Completed. The new contact for Clan Childlaw is now Vicki Pirie following Rebecca’s departure. 

Action 4: SCRA will consider the concern raised regarding the reason/s for the hearing being scheduled being provided as part of the notification letter for advocacy.
Update - SCRA cannot confirm if they can do this yet. They have recently reviewed and altered some letters because of ongoing project work. However, there are some technical issues with the template which are holding things back. The work is still looking further at correspondence and SCRA are thinking about whether there are more changes that need to be made. They are also looking at making a change to inserting the hearing reason into the advocacy letter.

Action 5: Advocacy organisations and any other members receiving hearings information should report any concerns with timings to the local SCRA teams.
Update: complete. 

Action 6: SG to convene a group to carry out a deep dive, drilling down into available data, e.g. SCRA official statistics, to determine where variances exist across Scotland in terms of uptake of children’s hearings advocacy, and what steps could be taken to address any identified barriers.
Update: Initial Data Analysis subgroup meeting was held 20 January 2026. Actions from that meeting will be cascaded in due course.

Action 7: National Provider Network (NPN) sub-group looking at consistency of reporting to feed into the deep dive work. 
Update: Complete. This was discussed at Data Analysis subgroup meeting.

Action 8: Clan Childlaw to consider if any themes from the helpline information can be gathered and discussed with the Expert Reference Group and/or National Provider Network specifically to gain learning and support practices. 
Update: Vicki sent a written update included in the SG update paper and will be spoken to later in the meeting. Vicki also has an item to speak to further in the meeting to update members. 

Action 9: SG, SCRA and CHS to work together to review the wording to the question [who can give permission to have an advocacy worker] on the website. SCRA and CHS will also consider a scenario discussion to bring clarity on expectations. 

The following points were made during discussion at the meeting:

David, Children’s Hearings Scotland agreed that the text needs updated with clarification and in a way that is suitable for children. David provided the following suggested new wording:

‘’Q. Will my parents need to give permission for me to be able to have an advocacy worker?’’

OLD: If you would like advocacy support but a parent/carer will not give their permission, your social worker can let the Children’s Hearing know that you would like an advocacy worker or more information about advocacy.

NEW: If you would like advocacy support but a parent/carer will not give their permission, let your social worker know and they can either discuss this further with your parent/carer or raise it as an issue at your next children’s hearing. 

Selwyn McCausland noted that existing practice is to discuss with parents to answer any concerns regarding advocacy. He stated that there needs to be a way for Hearings to know that a parent/carer has refused advocacy support for a child. Who can consent over and above the parent?

Kay McKerrell commented this is a helpful paragraph with good wording. There is a single point of failure in it as it is not always the case social work are aware that a hearing has a blockage. Gatekeeping is taking place in this scenario. It feels safer if there is not a single point of social work only to raise such an issue. 

Bryan Evans contributed a safeguarder is responsible for listening to a child’s view, which may be that they want an advocacy worker so this view must be listened to. 

Julie Hutton added the process could put more pressure on the child who could be in a lot of jeopardy to speak out against a parent and looks to give more for the child to do at an already difficult time.

Kay McKerrell stated this was a valid conversation to have and confirmed this will be put on the agenda to discuss in more detail at the next National Providers Network (NPN) meeting. 

David reflected the draft text aimed to keep the tone positive, message simple with a clear single point for children/young people to understand on the website. There may need to be a separate process of how advocacy workers let SCRA and/or Children’s Hearings Scotland know of this type of gatekeeping concern.

Action
•    Kay to lead discussion on the revision of the website question text at the NPN and report back to ERG on outcome. 

Action 10: Kay as Chair of National Providers Network to schedule a focussed discussions on practice improvement matters as identified including with SCRA and Social Work Scotland. 
Update: Neil Hunter, Principal Reporter/Chief Executive of the SCRA attended the NPN on 20 November 2025 to discuss the work of the Redesign Board. Vivian has given apologies for the 5 February meeting and the news of her resigning from Social Work Scotland. Kay is looking at the next suitable contact and will make future arrangements with them however this will not be in time for 5 February.

Action 11: Advocacy organisations to note new contacts at Clan Childlaw and raise any questions or concerns with Alison or Rebecca. 
Update: Completed. Contact details shared. However, as noted at the start of this meeting the contact has changed to Vicki Pirie, Lead Solicitor.

Action 12: Clan Childlaw will look at changing the date for the January session for new starts and communicate with advocacy organisations directly about this. 
Update: Completed. This training took place on 27 January 2026 in the SG Victoria Quay building.

Action 13: SG to circulate the link/s to the Seeing Beyond the Surface Guide. These were circulated in email and included as hyperlinks in this note. 
Update: Completed. This was sent with the draft note of last meeting. 

Action 14: SG will contact Neill Hunter, SCRA and Elliott Jackson, CHS to invite them to NPN to provide an update on the remits and work plans of the groups and how transparency of the Redesign work can be supported. 
Update: Part Completed. As mentioned, Neil Hunter attended the November meeting. NPN will review timings of when to ask for further engagement.

Action 15: SG to send link to the Children’s Hearings Redesign Board webpage containing published minutes of the meetings. 
Update: Completed. 

Member updates 

The Chair asked Louise to take this item of the agenda forward.

Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) Update - Melissa Hunt 

There are no major updates from SCRA. Melissa thanked Tom for his update on the Bill at the beginning of the meeting and noted there is lots of potential change happening for SCRA which may affect children’s hearings. 

Written Update Papers were shared in advance, including:
•    SCRA Advocacy Data 1 September 2025 to 31 December 2025 

An annual report covering 2024 and 2025 (as full years of data) will be produced for the next ERG in 2026.

Sarah Fogg enquired whether the report included hearings from a specific age group. Melissa confirmed that, no, the data field covers all hearings where an advocacy worker was involved no matter what age group. 

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) Update

David Mackay confirmed there is not a huge update from CHS. There is work which has been taken forward across the organisation including outreach work and Mel will update at the next ERG. Guidance has been created for Panel Members regarding responding to needs of infants and their rights. This resource focuses on children aged 0-3 years and has been developed in collaboration with CELCIS and NHS Infant Mental Health professionals. 

The link to the resource was provided: 
'Responding to the needs of infants, babies and very young children - Practice Guidance for Panel Members'.

National Providers Network 

Kay McKerrell confirmed there is not a huge amount to update on. She confirmed the date for the next NPN is 5 February 2026. At this meeting, Stage 2 amendments to the Bill will be discussed. Kay noted that Neil Hunters attendance at the last NPN meeting was great as this showed more involvement across organisations.

Kay invited Selwyn to give an update on the reporting subgroup. Selwyn had an opportunity to discuss reporting on information with Sarah from Independent Advocacy Perth & Kinross. They are looking at the purpose of information specified and consistency in reporting from the monitoring reports from the organisations against the Offer of Grant letter reporting expectations. This discussion needs to be carried forward however due to the Christmas break and the Bill work which has taken precedent, this is still ongoing. 

Louise asked what timeline they were working towards. Selwyn has confirmed this will be before March. Sarah Fogg has noted that it is interesting how different providers work on different systems completely and local authorities/other commissioners ask for different information. This means that to be able to define data, some wording needs to be amended to make sure the data pull is correct. 

Clan Childlaw 

Vicki provided an update from Clan Childlaw. An induction session took place on 27 January 2026 in Edinburgh  - this was a great in-person session. There was lots of discussion and case specific questions. The next two refresher sessions will be held online on 10 and 24 February 2026 for existing advocacy workers. Advocacy organisations are invited to contact Vicki for more information or to sign up any employees they wish to attend. These sessions will be the last to take place during this financial year. New training dates will be announced in due course. 

The Chair has asked if any themes arose from the training for example, information that should be included in future or any feedback etc. Vicki confirmed that nothing new came up during the sessions and she always makes sure to ask attendees if there is anything specific they wish to be covered in the training. As new Regulations will be coming into place soon regarding advocacy for children and young people in cross border residential placements in Scotland, there was a lot of discussion on this. There was also a discussion on how different practice can be in different areas especially regarding children asking to speak to Panel Members alone and differences in how this is managed depending on which area the children’s hearing is taking place. Selwyn agreed that this is an issue as it has never been a ‘right’ that is given to the child. He has seen situations that people are asked but will not leave the room including parents who refuse to leave.

Action 
•    Vicki to update on future Clan Childlaw training dates for children’s hearings advocacy workers when available.

Children’s Hearings Redesign 

Elaine Adams provided an update on Children’s Hearings Redesign Board workstream activity. The Board last met on 22 January 2026, and an engagement session has been planned for 25 February 2026. Currently, there are four subgroup workstreams. The four workstream subgroups are:
•    Culture – draft principles are being developed
•    Planning and Preparation for Hearings – The next meeting will take place on 23 February
•    Referral – moving at pace – Reporters are currently working in some police hubs to pilot improvements around referral practice. SCRA have recently launched a Learning Hub for professionals for which further content is being developed

Updates on these three workstreams will form part of the engagement session on 25 February 2026

•    Data – this group is still at the scoping stage. It is intended that the work of this group will take place over a number of years.

Scottish Government Update 

A written update was provided to members prior to the meeting. Members were asked if they had any questions regarding this update – none were given. 

For grant funded organisations, Quarter 3 grant claims should now be with SG and funds received into organisation’s accounts. If not, please contact Louise or Pam as a matter of urgency. SG have held 1-2-1 meetings with the grant recipient organisations and explained the funding situation for 2026-27. SG hope to be able to issue grant offer letters as soon as possibly before end of March but would reiterate that as the programme is part of the Fairer Funding Pilot these organisations can plan on the basis that they will receive no less than the offer of grant received in 2025-26.

Louise made a plea for organisations to have their Q4 claims to SG by 18 March to allow time to get payments made before the end of the financial year. 

Subgroup meeting updates 

Development of a qualification

A meeting was held on 15 January 2026 with the Training and CPD Sub-group. This was a useful discussion regarding the development of an advocacy qualification. It was discussed that when this was first brought to the table in 2019, we were in a very different environment especially regarding lifelong advocacy, cross border children’s residential care placements and Deprivation of Liberty Orders (DOLS). The group met to consider what level the qualification should be and what this should include. SG contacted the SQA (now Qualifications Scotland) however there was not much information given on a bespoke qualification. SG also contacted West Lothian College as they held and provided the training and qualifications for panel members. They directed SG to Children’s Hearings Scotland as their staff now work with CHS as they were tuped over when CHS brough the training in-house. This was being considered as a niche qualification with Children’s Hearings advocacy in mind. However now with the landscape changing considering the Bill provisions around lifelong advocacy for care experienced people. SG will need to make sure appropriate connections are made and that the groups work and expertise is appropriately offered to support any broader advancements. SG will make the policy connects to take this forward and will update members at the next ERG. 

Action 
•    SG - Pam/Louise to contact Holly Lambert and team to take forward training and qualification discussion. 

Data Analysis

The group was convened to discuss: what data is available, what is it telling us and how valuable is the info SCRA is providing, where do we have gaps, what is the purpose of it, why are we gathering it and what will we do with it?

This ties with the work already mentioned by Selwyn. It also relates to the children’s right measurements work being led by SG colleagues Paul Gorman and Caroline McMenemy. Members have been sent a questionnaire to complete around April time when they are doing annual reports. An incomplete return is just as valuable, please send relevant information even if not all questions suit. A draft discussion paper prepared for the sub-group meeting will be shared with the group. 

Action
•    SG to share the draft discussion paper prepared for the Data Analysis subgroup meeting held in January 2026.

Remit of the ERG

Terms of Reference supported this discussion.

The Chair noted that a lot of changes have happened since the start of this Expert Reference Group. Things have moved past initial implementation of the children’s hearings advocacy provision, with expansions and legislative change, and Hearings Redesign work in progress. The Chair began the discussion on the purpose and structure of this group, initially to provide strategic support for implementation of the new children’s hearings advocacy provision. Is it still the right focus, people, organisations, and level of discussion that is required. 

Kay McKerrell agreed the group is worth reviewing and making some amendments. No initial thoughts on what these amendments may be but there should be a discussion. She commented the ERG has been the broad strategic part of implementation and the NPN the practice focussed part.

Melissa Hunt agreed these needs looked at as TOR is written as implementation stage rather than in practice. Need to confirm the purpose of the group. 

Mel Parkinson commented the Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership (CHIP) is back up and running. The purpose and refreshed structure of that group will become clearer on what that meeting may include and the progress of the redesign work. It will be a good opportunity to be checking the groups have a clear purpose and scheduling  mindful of how many meetings are happening in the hearings space. 

Jane Crawford commented that as not everyone who is involved in the ERG is involved in CHIP, this meeting is good for keeping communication with fellow providers. Mel Parkinson confirmed that CHIP membership is not expanding. There are four subgroups to the redesign board which may be expanding after feedback from the engagement session on 25 February. Melissa will send an invitation to the engagement session to ERG members.

Action
•    SG to send redesign engagement event invitation to ERG members. 

Sarah Fogg agreed that this group is good for understanding a Scotland wide perspective. 

Julie Hutton agreed that this group will be needed even with expansion due to changes which are happening/have happened. 

Selwyn also agreed the purpose needs to be refreshed considering the current legislative changes proposed in the Children (CCCSP) Bill and Hearings Redesign non-legislative change programmes.

Louise asked members to take some time to think about it. It may be an idea to have this conversation once the Children (CCCSP) Bill has passed and after the hearings Redesign Board engagement session. Going forward we need to look at having a revised and clear purpose for the group, as well as the format of meetings, agenda items, anything else to bring into space e.g. speakers etc? Ideas are invited. 

Action
•    All members to share any views with Scottish Government on purpose and composition of the group. This item will be carried forward to the agenda for the next meeting.

Any other Business

The Chair mentioned an approach made by CYCJ and Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists about potential provision of advocacy support for children and young people through court proceedings of all types and purposes. To be clear this was about the spectrum of youth justice and family courts matters, rather than children’s hearings specific. They want to understand any existing provision, streamlining and training needs of those workers with regards to speech and language therapy. SG made an approach was made to Kay to ask the NPN for interest and views about any existing provision and practice (in children’s hearings or border), and training interests to feedback to contacts. 

Melissa Hunt contributed that lengths have already been made for children’s preferences to be considered in criminal court. Melissa’s undertaking was to capture views on Children’s Hearings Courts. It opens the offer of independent advocacy in a way that is sustainable. It would need further discussion and could be something for this group to discuss. 

Date of next meeting 

The provisional date of the next meeting is to be confirmed – May/June time. 

The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance and participation and closed the meeting. 

Action
•    SG to send the next ERG meeting details in a diary invite.