Hearings System Working Group

After working as a solicitor, then as an Advocate, David became the resident Sheriff in Alloa: a position which he held for 15 years. He has also worked with charities supporting disadvantaged and marginalised young people in:

• Scotland,
• Malawi, and
• Nepal.

Through this and his work as a Sheriff, he developed a strong belief in the power of redemption and a compassionate approach to sentencing. He has an interest in restorative justice as a means of addressing the needs of victims of crime.

Now retired, he continues to support many charities, does a little teaching, and still serves part-time as a Sheriff.

Alistair is the Head of Practice and Policy at the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA).

He started his working life as a solicitor, specialising in criminal defence work. In 2000, he decided to change direction and to work on behalf of children and young people. First working for SCRA as a Children’s Reporter, since 2007 he has held many roles within the organisation.

Alistair has always believed in providing the best service possible for children and young people, and contributes to many partnership groups which focus on improvement. The work of the HSWG will take this work to a new level, and Alistair is fully committed to the exciting journey that lies ahead.

Beth-Anne is Scotland’s youngest public appointee, being appointed to the board of Children’s Hearings Scotland when she was 19. She has experienced almost every aspect of care since birth, her first children’s hearing happening when she was only 6 weeks old.

Beth-Anne has held many consultancy positions and full-time roles in the care sector. These have included work for:

• Who Cares? Scotland,
• CELCIS, and
• The Children's and Young People's Centre for Justice (CYCJ).

She was also a co-chair for the Independent Care Review, working on the “Best Place” workgroup.

As well as these roles, Beth-Anne has done a considerable amount of work with the secure care sector.

She's been influential in the creation, design, and implementation of the Secure Care National Standards.

And she's also the founder and chair of STARR, Scotland’s only space for secure care experienced people.

Beth-Anne currently works for North Lanarkshire Council as a promise development worker. She is wholeheartedly committed to keeping the promise.

Lorraine joined Edinburgh Napier University in 2018, where she set up – and now manages – the HUB for SUCCESS. The Hub is a collaborative initiative, aimed at supporting people with care experience into tertiary education.

Lorraine is a fully qualified and registered Social Worker. She brings over 30 years of working with children, young people, and their families in various community settings.

She spent 9 years advocating for children and young people attending children’s hearings. As well as this, she was a board member of the “Stop Go Group” of the Independent Care Review.

Lorraine has her own experience of childhood trauma, care experience and adverse childhood experiences. She uses this experience to influence and develop her work. She is also committed to keeping the promise.

After starting out as a social worker focused on child protection, Carol has worked:

• as a Reporter in the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration ,
• as the Independent Chair for Child Protection within a local authority, and
• at CELCIS, where she led the nationwide Permanence and Care Excellence Programme.

She knows the promise represents the greatest opportunity to make a real difference to children and young people— where they need support and protection.

And as a person with lived experience of care – and part of the workforce of a “care system” that needs to change – she’s committed to that promise. She believes we must realign what Scotland does to make sure we’re a country who upholds and protects children.

Fiona works with colleagues and partners across Scotland to ensure that organisations understand their role, responsibility, and purpose in work to #KeepthePromise.

She makes sure The Promise Scotland is well positioned to tell this story of change, and to elevate, support and influence all those who are part of this work.

She also works with The Promise Oversight Board to help them in their public reporting role.

Tom is Unit Head for Youth Justice and Children’s Hearings in the Scottish Government, where he's been working since 2000— when it was still the Scottish Executive.

His first post included responsibilities around:

• Children’s Panel Advisory Committees, and
• Children's Panels,

with these responsibilities including:

• appointments advice,
• policy, and
• administration issues.

After this, he worked in other policy areas, including youth justice, children’s rights and community engagement.

Since 2013, he has held responsibility for:

• Scottish Government sponsorship of public bodies involved in children’s hearings,
• managing relationships with safeguarders and advocacy partners, and
• hearings system policy development, legislative reform and current system improvement.

Other functions within his Unit are:

• youth justice policy,
• secure care placement management,
• Care and Justice Bill development, and
• age of criminal responsibility reforms, along with Child Interview Rights Practitioners allocation.

As Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Christina’s main role is programme management and secretariat support for the Hearings System Working Group (HSWG).

She is also:

• The primary support for the HSWG’s Chair, and
• The Project Manager for the Collaborative Redesign Project, which is developing redesign proposals to be submitted to the HSWG.