On International Youth Day, we share a guest blog by Andrew James, a young person with lived experience of the Children’s Hearings System.

CHS welcomes the launch of the Scottish Government’s Children’s Hearings Redesign consultation on the recommendations of the Hearings for Children report. Through our response we aim to continue to shape improvements in the hearings system.

CHS welcomes the Scottish Government’s announcement that people under the age of 18 will no longer be held in Young Offenders Institutions from the week beginning 2 September 2024.

Children and young people under the age of 18 in Scotland now have their rights enshrined in law. CHS welcomes the incorporation of the UNCRC into Scottish law.

The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) has published its annual hearings data for the latest full year, 2023-24. It shows an overall small decline in the number of hearings across Scotland. 

Thirty-two current and former volunteers who have served at children’s hearings across Scotland were guests of the King and Queen at the Royal Garden Party in Edinburgh on 2 July.