Concerns Over Planned Children’s Panel Move
A children’s panel based in a community centre in Dingwall is moving to Inverness in the New Year after the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration deemed the building "not suitable".
A children’s panel based in a community centre in Dingwall is moving to Inverness in the New Year after the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) deemed the building "not suitable".
The panel, covering covering large parts of Ross and Cromarty, will switch to a new purpose built hearing centre in Inverness.
Moyra Gordon, Locality Reporter Manager from SCRA said: “SCRA has a statutory duty to provide accommodation for Children’s Hearings. It is vital that the accommodation we provide is fit for purpose and meets the needs of children and families.
“We currently hold Hearings for Ross-shire at an Outreach Hearing Centre in Dingwall. However, the community centre we use is not suitable and we have been looking for alternative accommodation for some time now.
“From spring next year we are looking at moving Hearings currently held in Dingwall to our brand new Hearings centre in Inverness. We are already in dialogue with the Panel community and will be engaging with local partners over the next few weeks.
MSP for the Highlands and Islands, Rhoda Grant has raised concerns about a "lack of consultation with partners and volunteers".
She recognised that the move could be a "good thing" but warned that some families may have further to travel.
SCRA say they will take into account travel time and arrangements to ensure everyone is able to get to the new centre in time.
From 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015 there were 162 Hearings and 12 Pre-Hearing Panels held in Dingwall.
For the whole of the Highland Local Authority area, there were 1,059 Hearings and 109 Pre-Hearing Panels in 2014/15.