Thursday 26 November 2015
The Scrutiny Committee's independent Report regarding the implementation of the Children (Guernsey and Alderney) Law, 2008 (the "Children Law") has been released.
In January 2015 the Scrutiny Committee commissioned an independent reviewer, Kathleen Marshall, to lead the review. A Scottish solicitor, Kathleen Marshall was the first Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland from 2004 to 2009 and a visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde. She has published widely and has undertaken extensive research into children's participation, both in general and within the court system, and has written extensively on child protection issues.
In 2011, she was part of the team which undertook the Youth Justice Review in Northern Ireland and before commencing her work in Guernsey she led the independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland which reported in November 2014 (the Marshall Report). She also served as a commissioner on the McLellan Commission which undertook "a review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland" which published its report in August 2015.
Kathleen Marshall had no previous connection to the Channel Islands before commencing this work and was seen as the ideal candidate to undertake this independent review with her wealth of experience and international reputation in this area.
The main scope of the review concentrated on three areas; accountability and governance, coordination of services and practice. The review sought to establish whether outcomes for children and families had improved as result of the implementation of the Children Law.
The Report concluded that the Children Law itself has been widely welcomed as an excellent piece of legislation, but more needs to be done to implement the Law and embed it into practice. Kathleen Marshall has made twenty-one recommendations in her Report, relating to aspects of private and public law.
The report can be found in the downloads section.
The Scrutiny Committee will question Kathleen Marshall about the findings and recommendations in the Report during a Committee meeting to be held in public in the Royal Court on Wednesday 2nd December 2015 commencing at 09:30 hours.
Scrutiny Chairman Deputy Robert Jones said:
"The Committee welcomes the publication of the Marshall Report; five years after the inception of the Children Law it was considered an appropriate point in time to review its implementation. The appointment of an independent and impartial expert, Kathleen Marshall has proved to be an excellent choice.
Kathleen Marshall approached the review by gathering information from a wide range of people through a Call for Evidence and meetings with government departments, professionals and members of the public, including parents and young people during several visits to the Bailiwick.
The Committee will now take the opportunity to question Kathleen Marshall in public on her findings and recommendations during a meeting to be held on Wednesday 2nd December 2015".
