News In Focus
26 June 2006
Referrals to children's reporter at record level
The children's reporter system in Scotland is under increasing pressure from the number of young people referred - a record 54,000 last year.
The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) had requested an extra £20 million over the next three years to hire more staff, but this has been refused by ministers. Proposed reforms to the system have been delayed until after the Holyrood elections in May 2007.
The 54,000 figure for 2005-06 was an increase from 50,529 for 2004-05. The number of actual referrals was about 97,000 as some children were refered more than once.
The biggest rise is in the number of referrals on non-offence grounds, from under 54,000 to over 59,000. The number of offence cases rose by 1,500 to around 38,000.
SCRA has 140 children's reporters to deal with these cases. Reporters and staff have been working weekends and overtime to try to cover the workload.
Only 11% of children referred end up in front of a children's panel. The delayed bill had been intended to tackle the issue of inappropriate referrals, through alternatives such as services provided by schools, social work or through the NHS.
A spokesperson for the Executive said it was aware that the number of referrals were increasing and that this was unsustainable.