Secure care group minutes: October 2023

Attendees and apologies

Laura Caven, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) (Chair)

Tom McNamara, Scottish Government (SG) Head of Youth Justice and Children’s Hearings

Jillian Gibson, COSLA

Andy Sloan, Care Inspectorate

Mary Geaney, Rossie Young People’s Trust

Sinclair Soutar, Kibble Safe Centre

Alison Gough, Good Shepherd Centre

Lorraine Johnstone, St Mary’s Kenmure

James Mackenzie, Scotland Excel

Ruby Whitelaw, Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ)

Maureen Roberts, CYCJ

Jo Derrick, STAF

Alan Thomson, Foxgrove

Nathan Stokes, SG Youth Justice

 

Apologies:

Liz Murdoch, SG Youth Justice

Alison Melville, SG Youth Justice

Hazel Crawford, SG Unit Head of Children’s Residential Care

Chris Wright, Care Inspectorate

Zoe Brawn, Scotland Excel

Beth-Anne Logan, STARR

Ben Farrugia, Social Work Scotland

Helen Smith, NSAIS (Foxgrove)

Victoria McNulty, NSAIS (Foxgrove)

Aileen Blower SG CAMHS Psychiatry Adviser

Melissa Hunt, SCRA

Janine McCullough, Education Scotland

Chloe Riddell, The Promise Scotland

Laura Conachan, CHS

Rod Finan, SG Office of the Chief Social Work Advisor

Juliet Henderson, Police Scotland

Helen Smith, NSAIS (Foxgrove)

Frank Slokan, SPS

Donna Munro, SG CAMHS

Daniel Clark, Police Scotland

Tamar Jamieson, Police Scotland

Ross Gibson, CYCJ

Stephen Mcleod, Scottish Government

Ruth Kerracher, STAF

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

Laura welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave apologies for those unable to attend.

Note of previous meeting

Laura confirmed that no amendments had been received to the note of the meeting held on 23 March. All present were content to agree it as an accurate record.

The action points relating to the reimagining secure care discussion had been completed.

No comments had been received on the terms of reference for the group.

Update since the last meeting

Tom advised the update paper circulated in advance of the meeting, summarised some of the work that has been going on since the last meeting. This is attached at Annex A.

Over the summer, officials have been exploring the issues raised by parliament during Stage 1 of the Children’s Care and Justice Bill. In August, the lead Committee decided to hold extra evidence sessions this autumn around finance and resources. Stage 2 is expected in mid‑November with the Minister scheduled to give evidence on the resource issues at the beginning of that month.

There was a brief discussion about issues raised by victims and communities around safety and security, and a concern about the tone of recent media coverage in respect of young people, antisocial behaviour and the right responses to that. All agreed it was important to showcase secure centres’ existing expertise in caring for all children, as well as demonstrating how Scotland is preparing to address outstanding concerns.

Tom highlighted the report of the Hearings System Working Group published in late May. Ministers have committed to respond to Sheriff Mackie’s report by the end of this year, policy analysis and planning for that response were well underway. The terms of Minister’s response will give sector partners the opportunity to engage in wider consultation on the legislative and structural questions, that activity would have to start early next year ahead of ‘The Promise’ Bill.

Reimagining secure care project

Maureen gave an update on the work of the project, which has now completed the Discovery and Define phases.

Stakeholder engagement included 17 virtual sessions and 24 in person sessions, with a total of 383 participants. Analysis of the information gathered during these sessions, together with knowledge of previous and current reviews, policy, legislation and research highlighted 7 key themes. The themes reiterated that secure care forms part of a continuum considering a child’s journey and experiences before during and after secure care, like the Secure Care Pathway and Standards.

There was significant overlap across the themes, for example, any proposed model of care would need to be trauma informed.

These were subsequently refined to 3 design briefs: model of care, preventing children being deprived of their liberty and mindsets and culture.

The next phase of the project (Develop) involves collaborating with a range of stakeholders from different disciplines and roles within the current system to co-produce innovative ideas and opportunities. Six online co-design sessions are planned with senior level professionals and practitioners, where each design brief will be explored to generate ideas of what secure care might look like.

There was a discussion about staff’s concerns around the introduction of more older young people (16 and 17) coming into the centres. The need for more training on mental health, trauma and risk assessments was also raised. Maureen recognised that there is some anxiety around this work, but is also encouraged by the numbers of people keen to be involved. She assured members that all of the areas mentioned would be covered during the design brief sessions.

There were also concerns around the time constraint and capacity for this work. The project team have received feedback from stakeholders in terms of their ability to engage with design sessions due to their capacity. They are considering other ways of engaging those who are unable to attend and will consider offering more online sessions. A feedback pack will also be sent out to all involved to aid discussions with staff who are unable to attend.

Action point: SG to circulate Maureen’s slides with note of meeting.

Secure transport

Ruby reminded everyone that a sub-group was set up in 2021 to consider the long-standing issues local authorities face in relation to secure transport.

Over the past year, the sub-group have developed a ‘gold standard’ transport specification on what secure care transport should look like to be used when commissioning services. This included participation work with young people and a data gathering exercise by secure centres, local authorities and Scottish Government to ascertain the level of need. Over a 3 month period, there was a total of 80 journeys, mostly for arrivals/admissions but also children’s hearings, court appearances, hospital visits, other medical appointments and police interviews.

Secure care transport was a key issue raised during Stage 1 of the Care and Justice Bill and discussions with relevant partners are ongoing to address the concerns raised by the Committee, including regulation and monitoring and provision of services.

Many of these issues mirror those previously highlighted by the sub-group which were deemed to be out with the scope of that group.

Whilst the new specification will be key in future commissioning arrangements, Jillian explained that the sub-group have taken the work as far as they can while discussions with partners are ongoing. She thanked all members for their involvement.

Action point: SG to send out Ruby’s slides with note of meeting.

Care Inspectorate - Secure care pathway review

Andy highlighted the Care Inspectorate’s Report had been published and they were happy with the response it had received. His colleagues are going to Good Shepherd Centre to present their findings and would be happy to attend all centres if that would be helpful.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting is due to take place in January and will be held virtually.

Action point: SG secretariat to circulate date for next meeting.

 

Annex A

Scottish Government

Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill

The general principles of the Children Care and Justice (Scotland) Bill were agreed unanimously at Stage 1 on 22 June. Ahead of this, the Education, Children and Young People Committee published its Stage 1 report on Parliament’s website and the Scottish Government published its response.

We are continuing to review the evidence received and emerging themes at Stage 1 including at the Youth Justice conference to inform considerations ahead of Stage 2. There is continued engagement with Parliament to finalise a timetable for Stage 2, with the lead committee signalling it may take some additional scrutiny on updated financial forecasts ahead of that. We have been working with partners to develop some updated financial information as requested by the Committee at Stage 1 over recess, for submission in the near future.

The Resourcing and Implementation Group has met three times (5 June, 1 August and 5 September). The focus thus far has been to discuss issues and solutions for implementation; governance; the methodology for certain financial forecasts and calculations; and commencement and sequencing plans. The information received over the various sessions continues to be reviewed and synthesised to inform next steps. We are also working with partners to ensure children and young people continue to inform plans for implementation of the bill.

Dialogue is ongoing and the Bill team will keep partners updated on this via existing communication links.

Reimagining Secure Care

The Scottish Government commissioned CYCJ to support considerations of how secure care operates in order to meet the Promise’s recommendations relating to this type of care and future changes which will be brought in if the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill passes through Parliament and no under 18s are detained in YOI. The first phase discover has come to an end. This entailed gathering views from various stakeholders to understand where developments and improvements could be most impactful and achievable. The project is now in the define phase which looks to identify the most important areas to develop/prioritise in relation to provision in Scotland. The development phase will take place later this year/early next year whereby a visual blueprint of what secure care could and should look like in Scotland will be produced. A report will then be presented to SG and Ministers in spring.

A governance group has been set up, chaired by Scottish Government to oversee this project.

SG funding

The Scottish Government previously funded a 3 month pilot paying for one bed in each of the 4 contracted secure centres from 1 January 2023 until 31 March 2023. The objectives of this trial were:

• to ensure capacity for children living in Scotland when it’s needed;
• to provide financial support to the 4 contracted secure centres as we begin these discussions; and
• to assess the viability of expanding national funding in order to meet the longer-term changes required to meet the asks of the Promise.

Agreement was reached to extending the pilot until 31 March 2024 and expanding it to cover funding for up to 16 placements.

Youth Justice Improvement Board (YJIB)

The last meeting was on 8 March. A further joint meeting with the Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership took place on 7 June. Discussion focused on the Hearings System Work Group report and its recommendations. The next full meeting on YJIB was postponed from 13 September and will take place on 2 October whereby there will be presentations on Bairns Hoose, Equally Safe initiative and discussions around local issues and police custody.

Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership

CHIP is currently primarily focussed on the recommendations of the “Hearings for Children” report published by the Hearings System Working Group in May. Partners are working on assessing impact of the wide ranging recommendations, establishing where they link to existing work across the sector, and considering where early progress can be made where changes do not require significant investment or legislative change. Members have agreed to a governance and oversight structure for taking the work forward under a Redesign Board. This group, to be co-chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, will be established shortly, and will first focus on those practice based, procedural recommendations.

CHIP is also giving thought to the involvement of children and young people in the development of this work, and how this can be sensitively undertaken without overloading existing groups such as Our Hearings, Our Voice. The development of resources, creating a common understanding of the principles of the system and rights and responsibilities of all parties, is emerging as a key element of the early work in responding to the recommendations, and will provide a sound basis for further reform.

Children's Hearings redesign

The independent Hearings System Working Group (HSWG) was established by the Promise Scotland in summer 2021. The group published its report “Hearings for Children” on 25 May. The report contained 97 recommendations (and a number of further sub recommendations). Since the publication of the report, the Scottish Government has begun to prepare for a government response at the end of the year.

An initial high level cross-government policy analysis of the report’s recommendations was conducted across June and July. Initial impressions include the observation that there are broad legal implications and a need to map current policy developments and understand them fully against the context presented in the report. There are also several areas where clarity is needed on the underpinning evidence for recommendations. Officials have now begun an in-depth analysis of the recommendations. Children’s Hearings team officials are also working with colleagues from areas such as the National Care Service, family law and child protection to ensure that the recommendations are considered within the wider policy and strategic context. The intentions here are to baseline current activity, to ensure alignment and prevent duplication. We have also established an initial planning group comprising officers from the key statutory delivery partners – SCRA, CHS, COSLA and Social Work Scotland. This group met three times across the summer, and has supported the coding work and early thinking on recommendations that could potentially be progressed without legislation. Importantly, no decisions have been made on any recommendations. Officials from the Children's Hearings team have met with a number of key external bodies and groups since the publication of the report to hear views and provide updates on our approach to a response. We are keen to attend meetings and events where organisations would find this helpful.

UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill

We remain absolutely committed to Scotland being the first UK nation to incorporate the UNCRC into domestic law, ensuring we are a country that respects, protects and fulfils children’s rights. On 27 June, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice made a statement in Parliament outlining our progress in amending the Bill to address the judgment of the Supreme Court the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill and bringing the Bill back to Parliament for reconsideration. Our intention is to present the amendments to Parliament as soon as possible after the summer recess. The Bill would make it unlawful for public authorities, including the Scottish Government, to act incompatibly with the UNCRC requirements as set out in the Bill, when acting under powers conferred by Acts of the Scottish Parliament.

CYCJ

Secure Care Pathway and Standards Scotland

Since the last meeting of the Secure Care Group CYCJ and STARR have provided workshops on the Standards to two local authorities in April and September, a further session is planned for October. A session with children from one of the secure care centres is being progressed for next month.

Our first Standards newsletter was published in July 2023, and it has been agreed that this will be developed bi-annually.Secure-Care-Pathway-and-Standards-Champions-Newsletter-July-2023_V2-002.pdf

A subgroup from the Champions group is currently working to develop child friendly resources of the Pathway and Standards. This work is at the early stages, the first meeting took place on 5 September with agencies sharing feedback thereafter from children and staff on what resources should look like.

Secure Care Pathway and Standards Champions group 

The Champions group have met on five occasions since the last Secure Care Group. Sessions have included input from the Reimagining Secure Care team, from the Scottish Government on the Heath and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) act and the application of the Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment in practice by CYCJ.

The group continue to develop the secure care pathway and standards evidencing progress through the self-evaluation template.

Secure Care Practitioners Forum

The practitioner’s forum for secure care has met on four occasions this year, it continues to meet every second month. Practitioners have shared good practice and discussed consistency of paperwork and arrival practices. The agenda on the 28 September referral pathways and language.

STARR

STARR has met with the four independent secure care centres with a view to re-engaging in meaningful visits with children and staff. Visits are at the planning stage for autumn and spring where the group hope to discuss the UNCRC bill and the Children’s Care and Justice bill.

Four Nations Secure Care Symposium

CYCJ are hosting an online symposium on 1 November, featuring inputs from academics and practitioners who have an expertise in secure care. The session will focus on issues relating to the secure care workforce. Registration details will be included within the next CYCJ ebulletin.