Children's Hearings System - future of secure care and the single point of contact (SPOC) for victims: consultation

2. Consultation process

2.1 Responding to this consultation

The consultation will run for 14 weeks. We are inviting responses by 16 April 2026.

In order to respond to this consultation, please use the Scottish Government's online Consultation Hub, Citizen Space.

You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date.

If you are unable to respond using our consultation hub, please complete the Respondent Information Form and send it to securecareconsultation@gov.scot.

In addition, an Easy Read version of the consultation and questions will be made available early 2026. Please contact us at securecareconsultation@gov.scot to note your interest in receiving these materials.

This formal public consultation is not the only means by which the Scottish Government will seek views on the proposals and related issues. Many of these matters are subject to ongoing and in-depth engagement with partners and stakeholders, whilst others have already been subject to primary legislation or other public consultation in preceding years. Throughout the period of this consultation, engagement work with key partners and stakeholders will continue. If it would be helpful to engage with you or your organisation in a specific arrangement, please get in touch at securecareconsultation@gov.scot.

2.2 Handling your response

If you choose to respond using the Consultation Hub, you will be taken to the "About You" page before submitting your response. Please let us know how you would like your response to be handled - especially whether you are happy for it to be published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

Please note that the Scottish Government is subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy.

2.3 Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the Consultation Hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response by email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available in spring 2026.

2.4 Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to securecareconsultation@gov.scot.

2.5 Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policymaking process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all of our consultations online. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of the analysis. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise, the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review.
• inform the development of a particular policy.
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals.
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.