Legal Representation Grant Scheme: a review
About this study
The Legal Representation Grant Scheme allows children's hearings
to appoint legally qualified safeguarders or curators ad litem to
represent children. This is done when required to allow the child
to effectively participate at the hearing, or because it may be
necessary to make a secure supervision requirement (or a review of
such a requirement).
The Scottish Government Education Information and Analytical
Services Division, acting on behalf of the Children's Hearings
Team, commissioned ScotCen to conduct research to review the
operation of the Scheme and to inform its future development.
You can read a
summary of the findings here - they were published in July
2009. Or you can read
the whole report (in various formats) on the Scottish Government
website.
Potential policy impact
This report has policy and practice implications for anyone
involved in the Children's Hearing system.
The research has already been used by policy-makers to help inform
the thinking about future changes to the scheme.
Methodology
The study involved 51 in-depth telephone interviews with professionals including local authority clerks, reporters, legal representatives and panel members. There were 23 face-to-face interviews with young people in secure units who had experience of attending a hearing with a lawyer or legal representative. The data was systematically analysed using Framework.
You can:
Of interest:
- NatCen Social Research
- 35 Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0AX
- Charity no. 1091768
