J1/S2/06/50/A

JUSTICE 1 COMMITTEE

AGENDA

50th Meeting, 2006 (Session 2)

Wednesday 13 December 2006 The Committee will meet at 9.45 am in Committee Room 4.

1. Decision on taking business in private: The Committee will decide whether to consider the contents of a draft Stage 1 report on the Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill in private at this meeting and at future meetings.

2. Subordinate Legislation: The Committee will take evidence on the Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/552) from—

Peter Jamieson, Justice Department, Scottish Executive; and

Gillian McDonald, Justice Department, Scottish Executive.

3. Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill: The Committee will take evidence at Stage 1 of the Bill from—

Johann Lamont MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice;

Paul Cackette, Head of Civil Justice, Law Reform and International Division, Scottish Executive;

Lorna Brownlee, Bill Team Leader, Scottish Executive;

Bob Cockburn, Deputy Principal Clerk of Session, Scottish Court Service; and

Alison Fraser, Office of the Solicitor of the Scottish Executive.

4. Family Support Services inquiry: Mary Mulligan MSP, Committee Reporter, will present the findings of her inquiry into the provision of counselling and family mediation services and contact centres in Scotland to the Committee for its consideration.

5. Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill: The Committee will consider the possible contents of a draft Stage 1 Report.

Callum Thomson

Clerk to the Committee

Papers for the meeting— Agenda item 2 Note by the Clerk on SSI 2006/552 J1/S2/06/50/1

Agenda item 3 Note by SPICe (PRIVATE PAPER) All submissions received in relation to the Bill are published on the Committee’s website, at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/justice1/inquiries/meso/j106-meso-evid-00.htm

J1/S2/06/50/2

Agenda item 4 Reporter’s report on the inquiry into the provision of family support services in Scotland

J1/S2/06/50/3

Agenda item 5 Paper from the Clerk (PRIVATE PAPER) J1/S2/06/50/4

Documents for information— The following documents are circulated for information:

• Correspondence from Minister for Justice on Proposed Council Regulation concerning jurisdiction and applicable law in matrimonial matters (“Rome III”); and

• Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland, Annual Report 2005-2006. This

document is also available from the Judicial Appointments Board website, at: http://www.judicialappointmentsscotland.gov.uk.

Forthcoming meeting— Tuesday 19 December, Committee Room 1

J1/S2/06/50/1

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Agenda item 2

Justice 1 Committee

13 December 2006

SSI Cover Note For Committee Meeting SSI title and number:

The Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, (SSI 2006/552)

Type of Instrument:

Negative

Meeting:

50th Meeting, Wednesday 13 December 2006

Date circulated to members:

Friday 8 December 2006

Justice 1 Committee deadline to consider SSI:

8 January 2006

Motion for annulment lodged No

SSI drawn to Parliament’s attention by Sub Leg Committee:

Yes

1. If members have any queries or points of clarification on the instrument which they wish to have raised with the Scottish Executive in advance of the meeting, please pass these to the Clerk to the Committee as soon as possible, to allow sufficient time for a response to be received in advance of the Committee meeting. 2. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has drawn the Committee’s attention to the instrument. An extract from the Subordinate Legislation Committee’s 45th Report is reproduced as an annexe to this paper.

J1/S2/06/50/1 Annexe

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Subordinate Legislation Committee

45th Report, 2006 (Session 2)

Subordinate Legislation

The Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, (SSI 2006/552) 1. When the Regulations were laid before Parliament they were accompanied by a letter, printed in Appendix 1, stating that the instrument was in breach of the 21 day rule whereby an instrument should be laid 21 days before it comes into force. The Committee asked the Executive for further explanation of this breach of the 21 day rule, in particular with regard to the reasons why they were not advised of amendments to the Regulations in England and Wales until after they came into force. 2. In its response printed in Appendix 2, the Executive indicates that the Home Office omitted to inform them of the proposal to amend the minimum age of appointment for police officers in England and as a result did not become aware of the English Regulations until after they had come into force. 3. The Executive has taken steps to try to ensure that such a breakdown in communications will not arise in future and believes that no applicant to the police in Scotland will have been disadvantaged by the introduction of the Regulations. 4. The Committee notes the information provided by the Executive and draws this to the attention of the lead committee and the Parliament.

APPENDIX 1

The Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, (SSI 2006/552)

1. The Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 were made under sections 26 and 27 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 on 20 November 2006. They come into force on 23 November 2006. They are being laid before the Scottish Parliament on 21 November 2006.

2. Article 10(2) of the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Statutory Instruments) Order 1999 (SI 1999/1096) has not been complied with.

3. The reason for not complying with that article is as follows:-

4. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 which came into force on 1 October 2006 make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of age in employment and vocational training, unless it can be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. It has therefore been necessary to review the regulations for the police service that contain age criteria. It is considered that there is a justifiable case for retaining a minimum age for appointment, but that this should be set at 18 years.

J1/S2/06/50/1 Annexe

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Leaving the minimum age of recruitment at 18 years and 6 months, however, could potentially be discriminatory.

5. In light of this conclusion, it is considered necessary to breach the 21-day rule as two Scottish Police forces, Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders, have a policy of continuous recruitment and accept applications at any time after individuals are aged 18 years and 6 months. The Executive does not wish to retain the 18 years and 6 months minimum age for any longer than is necessary as it may dissuade current candidates for police constable posts, who are under 18 years and 6 months, from applying to those forces.

6. The draft regulations were published for public consultation and were issued to members of the Police Advisory Board for Scotland, including the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Scottish Police Federation. The Scottish Police Forces are strongly in favour of the changes. The consultation should ensure that interested parties have received notification of the proposals.

7. There will be members of the public currently applying to join the Police Forces in Scotland and by bringing this instrument into force early we will promptly expand the range of individuals potentially eligible for the post of police constable. This should favour a wider field of applicants, rather than disadvantage any.

8. Similar changes to police appointment regulations have been made for England and Wales. Unfortunately, however, we were not advised of these amendments until after they came into force, which has caused the difference in timing of the amendments between England, Wales and Scotland.

20 November 2006

APPENDIX 2

The Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, (SSI 2006/552)

1. Thank you for your letter of 28 November in which the Committee requested -

“further explanation of the breach of the 21 day rule, in particular with regard to the reasons for the Executive not being advised of amendments to the Regulations in England and Wales until after they came into force”.

2. The Home Office consult on changes to police legislation in England and Wales through the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales (PABEW) and this body recommended to the Home Secretary that changes were required to the minimum age of appointment for Police Officers. However, due to a breakdown in communication between the Home Office and ourselves they did not inform us of the work being done in this area and accordingly we did not become aware of the Regulations until after they had been made and come into force.

3. We have since discussed the need for better communication links with the Home Office and have recently been granted observer status at PABEW. This will enable

J1/S2/06/50/1 Annexe

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us to respond quickly to changes in legislation proposed by PABEW if similar changes are thought appropriate for Scottish policing and should prevent a similar situation arising in the future.

4. The Police Forces and police bodies (including the Police Advisory Board for Scotland) were consulted on the introduction of the new age of appointment for Police Officers and all respondents were in favour of the amendments. They also foresaw no major difficulties in introducing the changes and we believe that no applicant to the Police in Scotland will have been disadvantaged in any way by the introduction of the regulations.

Justice 1 Committee

Reporter's report on the inquiry into the provision of family support

services in Scotland

Session 2 (2006)

Justice 1 Committee

Reporter's report on the inquiry into the provision of family support services in Scotland

CONTENTS

Page Introduction and background 1 Background and approach to the inquiry 1 The focus for the inquiry – adult relationship support services 2 Evidence received to the inquiry 2 Structure of the report 4 The extent of service provision in Scotland 5 Introduction and approach to mapping exercise 5 Counselling services 5 Family mediation services 7 Child contact centres 9 Results of mapping exercise and conclusions 11 Central government funding 12 Introduction and background to funding issues 12 Current funding from the Executive for family support services 12 Funding issues that were raised in evidence 13 Transfer of funding for local mediation groups to GAE settlement 15 Executive’s response to funding concerns 17 Funding of child contact centres 18 Provision of adult relationship support services at local level 24 Introduction and background to local service provision 24 Responsibility for the provision of adult relationship support services 24 Local authority funding for adult relationship support services 26 Integrated working at local level 28 Summary of conclusions and recommendations 34 Are there any gaps in service provision? 34 What are the main issues relating to the provision of these services? 34 Annexe A 37 Table 1: Provision of adults relationship services in Scotland 37 Table 2: Provision of children’s & parenting services in Scotland 50 Fig. 1: Provision of child contact centres in Scotland 66 Table 3: Provision of child contact centres in Scotland 67

Justice 1 Committee Reporter's report on the inquiry into the provision of family support services

in Scotland The Reporter reports to the Committee as follows—

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Background and approach to the inquiry

1. The Committee’s interest in the provision of family support services in Scotland is in many ways derived from its scrutiny, in 2005, of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 (“2006 Act”).

2. The Committee’s consideration of the proposals contained in the 2006 Act – specifically, those relating to divorce1 and parental responsibilities and rights (PRRs)2 – naturally touched upon the support services that exist to help couples and families that are experiencing difficulties in their relationships. Whilst the Committee held the view that the consideration of the provision of these services was important to its scrutiny of the legislation, the Committee considered that the issues which had come to light during the scrutiny of the 2006 Act merited a more in-depth study before any firm conclusions could be drawn. The Committee was keen to undertake further work on the issue of family support services at a later stage in the Parliamentary session.

3. In February 2006, the Committee agreed to appoint Mary Mulligan MSP as Committee Reporter on an inquiry examining various aspects of the provision of family support services in Scotland. The following remit was agreed for the inquiry:

• to ascertain the extent of service provision across Scotland; • to look at the different ways in which services are provided at a local

level; and • to consider any ways in which service provision can be improved.

1 Sections 11 to 15 of the 2006 Act 2 Section 23 of the 2006 Act

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The focus for the inquiry – adult relationship support services

4. The Reporter recognises that there are a vast number of different family support services that provide support and assistance to adults, children, young people and families. Some of these services can be described as universally available, such as some parenting and counselling services, whereas others are targeted to specific users, such as children with complex health or behavioural problems.

5. Whilst the Reporter acknowledges the important role that all family support services play in the community and the significant role that the voluntary sector plays in this respect, this inquiry has concentrated on services that can broadly be termed as adult relationship support services. These service types are counselling (including relationship preparation), family mediation and contact centre facilities. These services aim to support couples (and their families) who are experiencing difficulties in their relationship or who have decided to separate or divorce. As such, these services were highlighted by the Justice 1 Committee in the context of its scrutiny of the 2006 Act and, specifically, during its consideration of the provisions relating to divorce and the impact that acrimonious break-ups can have on children and families.

6. The Reporter acknowledges the bigger issue, which goes beyond the scope of this inquiry, of the provision of children’s support services and considers that another Parliamentary committee may wish to do further work in this area.

7. The Reporter has, however, undertaken to map as widely as possible the family support services that currently exist in Scotland. This information is presented in part 2 of this report.

Evidence received to the inquiry

Written evidence 8. The Reporter issued a call for written evidence on 29 March 2006 and received 55 responses. Responses were received from individuals and organisations.

9. Some individuals who responded had experience of using a family support service, whilst others were associated in a professional capacity with organisations that provide a service, for example, through providing training for counsellors. A number of different organisations responded, some of which directly provide adult relationship support services in the community, whilst others are umbrella organisations for these local service providers. Other organisations that responded target their services to deal with children and parenting issues within the wider context of family support services.

10. The written submissions are not contained in this report, but are accessible via the Parliament’s website, at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/justice1/inquiries/fami lySupport/j106-FamilySupport-evid.htm

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Fact-finding visits 11. The Reporter conducted a number of meetings and fact-finding visits across Scotland. The Reporter met with local voluntary organisations, mediators and counsellors, sheriffs, legal practitioners, local authority representatives and where possible, service users.

12. The meetings and fact-finding visits formed an invaluable part of the evidence gathering stage of the inquiry and were arranged to give the Reporter an understanding of some of the different types of adult relationship support services that are available and of the key issues that impact upon that impact upon the provision of these services at local level. In the course of this evidence gathering, the Reporter had an opportunity to discuss the demands and expectations people have of adult relationship support services and to hear the views and experiences of service providers and service users.

13. In addition to visiting family support service operations that are considered to have developed particularly interesting or innovative ways in their provision of adult relationship support services, the Reporter wanted to get a representative view of how these services are provided across Scotland.

14. The Reporter had various meetings and made several fact-finding visits in connection with the inquiry as set out below.

2 March 2006: meeting with Scottish Executive officials from the Education and Justice Departments 22 June 2006: Cross Party Group on Children and Young People – joint presentation with Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People 30 June 2006: fact-finding visit to South Lanarkshire Family Mediation and South Lanarkshire Council HQ, Hamilton 6 July 2006: fact-finding visit to Scottish Marriage Care REACT project, Easterhouse 9-10 August 2006: fact-finding visit to Family Mediation Grampian, in Peterhead and Aberdeen, Couple Counselling Grampian, Aberdeen and Peterhead Family Centre; the Reporter also met officials from Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Moray Council; and family law solicitors based in Aberdeen 18 September 2006: meeting with Family Support Partnership West (FSPW) 23 September 2006: fact-finding visit to Burnbank Family Centre, Hamilton 11 October 2006: meeting with Sheriff Totten (Glasgow Sheriff Court) 26 October 2006: meeting with Sheriff Mackie (Alloa Sheriff Court)

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28 October 2006: Family Support Partnership West (FSPW) conference, Planning Partnership Possibilities for the Future 31 October 2006: meeting with Sheriff Stephen (Edinburgh Sheriff Court) and Sheriff Gillam (Linlithgow Sheriff Court) 1 November 2006: meeting with Robert Brown, Deputy Minister for Education and Young People.

Structure of the report

15. The Reporter considered that the first objective of the inquiry should be to conduct a mapping exercise to show the availability of family support services at a local level. The purpose of the mapping exercise was to highlight any gaps in service provision to enable subsequent discussion to take place on what types of services are needed and to identify whether there are any structural and/or resourcing issues that require to be addressed. The findings, which focus on the provision of adult relationship support services, are discussed in part two of this report (data is also included at Annexe A).

16. Parts three and four of this report discuss the main issues that have arisen from the results of the mapping exercise, from the Reporter’s fact-finding visits and from the written evidence received to the inquiry.

17. The Reporter is aware of major concerns that relate to the proposed transfer of core funding for local mediation services to local authorities and the lack of core funding for child contact centres. These issues are discussed under the heading of central government funding, in part three of this report.

18. In focusing on local level service provision, the Reporter is aware that some uncertainty exists about whether local authorities have a responsibility to provide adult relationship services and about the difficulties associated with local authority funding streams. The Reporter has also heard evidence about the importance of integrated working within local communities. These issues are discussed in part four of this report.

19. Finally, part five of this report provides a summary of the Reporter’s key conclusions and recommendations.

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PART TWO: THE EXTENT OF SERVICE PROVISION IN SCOTLAND

Introduction and approach to mapping exercise

20. The impression that the Committee formed from evidence presented during its consideration of 2006 Act was that the provision of family support services across Scotland is patchy. As a result, the Committee recommended in its Stage 1 report on the Bill that a full review of existing provision should be undertaken by the Executive.3

21. During the consideration of amendments at Stage 2, the Deputy Minister for Justice acknowledged the concerns expressed by the Committee about gaps in service provision. The Minister did not, however, consider that it was for the Executive to conduct a review of these services.4

22. Thus, the Reporter considered that the first objective of the inquiry should be to conduct a mapping exercise to show the availability of services at a local level. Furthermore, the purpose of the mapping exercise was to highlight any gaps in service provision to enable subsequent discussion to take place on what types of services are needed and to identify whether there are any structural and/or resourcing issues that require to be addressed.

23. As previously stated, the Reporter’s inquiry focused on counselling, family mediation and contact centre facilities. These service types are described in turn in this part of the report and the results of the mapping exercise are included at the end of the report, at Annexe A. The results reflect service coverage as broken down into local authority areas for adult relationship support services (Table 1) and children’s and young people’s services (Table 2). Also, the data relating to contact centres has been reproduced showing geographical coverage across Scotland (Figure 1). This data was collated with research assistance from Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Counselling services

What is counselling? 24. Counselling involves a trained counsellor helping an individual or couple to work through problems by focusing on any underlying issues and offering them ways in which these issues can be faced up to with a view to their eventual resolution. In this way counselling builds up strength and confidence and should enable people to better deal with their problems independently.

25. Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA) describes counselling as a way of resolving the wide range of problems that afflict society.5 COSCA suggests that such problems can include relationship and family difficulties, work related stress or health and behavioural problems associated with, for example, alcohol or drug misuse.

3 Justice 1 Committee Stage 1 Report on the Family Law (Scotland) Bill (SP Paper 401), Paragraphs 52-60 4 Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice, Justice 1 Committee Official Report, 9 November 2005, col. 2255 5 Written submission from COSCA

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26. The importance of providing counselling as an early intervention and preventative measure has been raised in written evidence by various family support organisations. Parenting Across Scotland – a multi-agency partnership – suggests that early intervention can be less resource intensive in the long term and can be less distressing for families than intervening once a crisis has developed.6 Similarly, Relate Scotland stated that many people seek the use of counselling services too late and suggested that it is better for support to provided when things start to go wrong, or earlier, rather than waiting for a crisis.7

Counselling organisations 27. The mapping exercise has shown that there is a range of counselling services available to adults attending as a couple or as individuals. Counselling services for couples are mainly provided by two organisations in Scotland – Relate Scotland (formerly Couple Counselling Scotland) and Scottish Marriage Care (SMC). These organisations are two of the four national bodies that receive direct core funding from the Executive to provide family support services in Scotland (the other two organisations are Family Mediation Scotland and Stepfamily Scotland).

28. Relate Scotland and SMC receive core funding which allows them to perform a role that includes training people as accredited counsellors; co-ordinating services across local service centres; and ensuring qualitative standards are met by local service providers. The organisations also conduct research and work in partnership at a national level with other service providers to support families in Scotland.

29. Relate Scotland does not directly provide services itself but co-ordinates the counselling services as provided by its affiliated local groups. Relate Scotland has 14 local service members that provide counselling in 57 locations across Scotland and also provides a telephone counselling service for those who cannot access a local centre. The telephone service received funding from the Executive in 2006-07, but this will come to an end in March 2007.8 Funding for Relate Scotland’s local services is derived from local authorities – through the Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) settlement – as well as through local fundraising, donations and grants from charitable trusts.

30. Like Relate Scotland, SMC relies on locally managed centres to provide its counselling services. SMC has 10 service centres and services are offered in a further 11 outlets across Scotland. SMC’s national office supports the service centres through providing strategic planning, quality assurance, training and financial management, but does not directly fund them.

31. SMC also runs the Relationship Education and Counselling Team (REACT) community project in Easterhouse, Glasgow. REACT was established in 6 Written submission from Parenting Across Scotland (see link to The Scottish Parliament website at paragraph 10 of this report) 7 Written submission from Relate Scotland (the submission was received from Couple Counselling Scotland before it was renamed Relate Scotland; the submission is referred to in this report as being from Relate Scotland) 8 The Executive provided funding of £10,000 in 2006-07 through the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund for Relate Scotland’s Helpline. Source: Scottish Executive Education Department.

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Easterhouse following a successful pilot in the area and receives funding from the Camelot Foundation and the Executive to assist it in delivering its young parents support service. REACT recently completed its first evaluation and the Executive has confirmed that funding will be awarded to the project for the next financial year.9

32. Together, Relate Scotland and SMC’s services cover every local authority area in Scotland (the Western Isles is covered by a joint service provided by SMC and Family Mediation Western Isles).

33. Both Relate Scotland and SMC rely on volunteers to deliver counselling services at a local level and, as such, the number of counselling sessions depends upon the availability of individual counsellors. Also, because the centres are managed locally, the opening hours for individual centres vary.

34. In addition to the basic couple counselling service, SMC and Relate Scotland also provide some other counselling services. For example, SMC provides a relationship preparation course known as FOCCUS, which is designed for couples who are planning to marry or cohabit and seeks to improve a couple's communication and conflict management skills and the overall quality of their relationship. In Glasgow, SMC is also developing family systemic counselling (which involves the wider family) and Relate Scotland provides (or is in the process of developing) psychosexual therapy (for couples) in 10 of its 14 centres.10

35. The mapping exercise has shown that counselling services for adults (as individuals) are also provided at a local level by a range of service providers. Some of these services cater for the wide range of problems including domestic abuse and alcohol and drugs misuse.11

Family mediation services

What is family mediation? 36. While counselling is aimed at resolving difficulties in adult relationships, family mediation services focus on the welfare of the child and seek to find ways to reduce conflict and to reach agreement in relation to the child’s future.

37. Family mediation sessions are not just for parents and children, but can also include other family members such as grandparents and stepparents as appropriate.

9 The Executive provided funding of £21,000, in 2006-07, through the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund for REACT which will be increased to £52,000 in 2007-08. Source: Scottish Executive Education Department. 10 Source: Liz Izat, Manager of SMC’s Glasgow centre; and written submission from Relate Scotland 11 For example, Abuse Not in Fife targets sufferers of domestic and sexual abuse, Inverclyde Counselling Service in Greenock targets those with alcohol problems and Printfield Community Project in Aberdeen targets people suffering from drugs misuse.

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Family mediation organisations 38. The mapping exercise has shown that one of the main providers of family mediation services is the collective of 14 local family mediation groups12 which focus on support for families affected by separation and divorce. These local services are co-ordinated by the national body, Family Mediation Scotland (FMS). As with Relate Scotland and SMC, FMS receives core funding from the Executive for its role in relation to training accredited mediators and supporting local services.

39. It is noteworthy that ten of the 14 local family mediation groups also receive some core funding from the Executive which assists them in the delivery of their services. This funding system has continued from when family support services applied for grant assistance from the former Scottish Office under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.13 In 2000, when the Scottish Executive Justice Department took the policy lead in family support services, the grants under the 1968 Act were continued. From 2004-05 grant funding for the mediation and counselling family support services was combined with other funding streams and ring-fenced in the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund. The criteria by which funding is provided under the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund is targeted at organisations that provide services at national level. Despite the national focus of the Fund, ten local mediation services have continued to receive funding from the Executive under the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund. The four services that do not receive funding from the Executive are the most recently established services – Argyll & Bute, Shetland, Orkney and South Lanarkshire – and are deemed not to meet the criteria of the Fund on the basis that the Fund is targeted at services at national level. These four organisations rely on local authority contributions and trust grants to meet their financial requirements. However, the Executive has decided that theses services should be invited to apply for funding from the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund for 2007-2010.14

40. Differing funding allocations mean that local services deliver a variety of mediation services. For example, all-issues-mediation (AIM) is available in four areas in Scotland – Central Scotland, Lothian, Tayside & Fife and West Scotland. AIM provides the opportunity for separating parents to look at all issues associated with separation and divorce including property and financial matters as well as child related concerns. In Aberdeen, Family Mediation Grampian works in partnership with local solicitors and offers a free legal advice session for separating or divorcing couples. Also, mediation groups in Highland, Lothian, Tayside & Fife and West Scotland provide counselling sessions for children and young people. These sessions are taken by a trained mediator and allow children and young people an opportunity to explore their thoughts and feelings on changes that they may be experiencing in their life due to parental separation, divorce or moving into a stepfamily.

12 Local mediation groups affiliated to Family Mediation Scotland: FM Argyll & Bute; FM Borders; FM Central Scotland; FM Dumfries & Galloway; FM Fife; FM Grampian; FM Highland; FM Lothian; FM Orkney; FM Shetland; South Lanarkshire FM; FM Tayside; FM West; and Counselling and FM Western Isles. 13 Section 10 of the 1968 Act describes financial and other assistance to voluntary organisations etc., for social work. 14 Source: Scottish Executive Justice Department and Education Department

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41. An important element of the service that local mediation services provide is as a referral facility for the courts and solicitors. Although there was a range of views from the sheriffs that the Reporter spoke to with regard to their use of mediation services as an appropriate disposal for the courts, they offered overwhelming support for the contact centres that the local mediation groups also provide.15 Only Family Mediation Dumfries & Galloway does not currently provide contact centre facilities.

42. Another big provider of family mediation services in Scotland is Children 1st. Children 1st has developed what it describes as family group conferencing, which can involve the whole family in discussions, including, say, aunts and uncles, and is aimed at agreeing a family plan.16 The Reporter understands that family group conferencing offers a more specialised type of support for children and families which goes beyond the focus of this inquiry into adult relationship support services. As such, family group conferencing services are included in Table 2.

43. The mapping exercise has also indicated that across Scotland there are 42 solicitor-mediators, who are known as Comprehensive Accredited Lawyer Mediators (CALM).17 These solicitors are accredited by the Law Society of Scotland and have received additional training in mediation to allow them, like all-issues-mediators, to offer separating or divorcing couples assistance with child-related issues and financial and property matters. The Reporter has heard from sheriffs that CALM mediators also have an important role in acting as reporters to family law courts in the context of child welfare hearings.18

Child contact centres

44. Child contact centres are neutral venues that support and promote contact between parents, grandparents, guardians and children that do not live together. Contact centres are provided across Scotland by a range of local voluntary groups. In all there are 32 contact centres in Scotland, seven of which are provided by individual voluntary organisations19 and the rest are provided by local family mediation groups.20 Contact centres are not currently located in the following local authorities: Dumfries and Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Highland, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, Perth & Kinross, Shetland and West Dunbartonshire. The locations of contact centres are shown in Figure 1, Annexe A.

45. There are three main services types provided for by the centres in Scotland (although they are not all available at each centre), which are:

• supported contact;

15 See list of Reporter’s meetings with sheriffs, paragraph 14. 16 Written submission from Children 1st 17 Source: The Law Society of Scotland 18 See list of Reporter’s meetings with sheriffs, paragraph 14. 19 Child contact centres in Scotland which are not managed by local family mediation services are located in (see also Table 1 and Figure 1, Annexe A): Aberdeen; Dundee; Glasgow; Greenock; Hamilton; Kirkcaldy; and Paisley. 20 Source: Scottish Association of Child Contact Centres (SACCC). See footnote 8 for a list of local family mediation services.

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• supervised contact; and

• exchange contact.21

46. Supported contact is the main service which is provided by all centres and involves the provision of facilities to encourage contact between children and non-resident parents or other family members. Parents and relatives arriving at and departing from the centre are monitored and a record of attendance is kept. Except at three centres, this service is free of charge although some others ask that clients make a donation for the use of the centre.

47. Supervised contact is more targeted and is appropriate for potentially more difficult contact arrangements including, for example, where a child has suffered or is at risk of suffering harm during the contact period. The supervisory role is often provided by trained professionals and social workers. As such, there is a charge for this type of contact service. Contact centres in Dundee, Musselburgh, Edinburgh, Stirling, Livingston and Whitburn (West Lothian) provide supervised contact (these centres are differentiated from the other centres in Figure 1).

48. Exchange contact is provided at all centres and allows families to use the centre as a neutral venue to pick-up and drop-off children where the contact arrangements take place outside the centre.

49. The Reporter understands from the fact-finding visits to the Burnbank Family Centre, Hamilton and the Peterhead Family Centre that use of the contact centres is usually not considered as a long term solution to a family’s problems. The Reporter also understands that because individual families have different needs the period of time and frequency of sessions that families might use a centre for vary. The Reporter heard from a worker at the contact centre at St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Hamilton that some families use the centre for 3-4 weeks, whereas other families have been using the facilities for nearly 2 years.22 Once a family has become more confident in the contact arrangements through the centre, the Reporter heard that centre staff and sheriffs are keen to encourage families to move the contact outside the centre itself.23

50. The Reporter heard from sheriffs about the vital role that contact centres play in assisting their handling of family law cases. Research into contact centre provision that was conducted by FMS in 2004-05 indicates that 24% of referrals to contact centres are each received from the courts and solicitors (self-referrals and referrals from social work and other agencies account for the remaining 52%).24 This indicates the important service that contact centres provide across Scotland and it is, therefore, significant that these facilities are not available in a number of local authority areas. Furthermore, most contact centres have restricted opening

21 Ibid 22 Barbara Stobie, Hamilton Contact Centre 23 Reporter’s fact-finding visits to Burnbank Family Centre, Hamilton, Peterhead Contact Centre and from meetings with sheriffs (see paragraph 14). 24 Family Mediation Scotland Child Contact Centre Research 2004-05: total self referrals – 43.8%; total court referrals – 24%; total solicitor referrals – 23.9%; and total social work and other agency referrals – 8.3%.

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times and the majority are open on Saturdays only. These issues are discussed in more detail in part three of this report.

Results of mapping exercise and conclusions

51. The mapping exercise has confirmed the Reporter’s suspicions about the patchiness of service delivery in terms of counselling and family mediation services and contact centres in Scotland.

52. In particular, the Reporter observes that there is a significant lack of contact centre facilities in 11 local authority areas in Scotland.25 The Reporter is concerned about these gaps. The provision of contact centres in Scotland is discussed in more detail in part three of this report.

53. The Reporter is, however, encouraged by the partnership working that local services have shown and considers that this co-operation has helped to avoid overlaps between local services. The Reporter recognises that there is much less duplication in adult relationship support services at a local level than it had been thought might be the case.

54. Within the terms of the mapping exercise, the Reporter also observes that services which offer relationship preparation support for adults are lacking in Scotland. The Reporter recognises the importance of providing advice and support to adults through ‘preventative’ work and education in addition to those services that seek to resolve crises after they have developed. From the evidence received, the Reporter understands that support services that focus on early intervention can be more effective and can save time and resources further down the line.

55. The mapping exercise has shown that other than SMC’s relationship preparation course, FOCCUS and its REACT project in Easterhouse, which is primarily targeted at young people, relationship preparation support for adults does not feature prominently in Scotland. The Reporter considers that the lack of such preventative services is a serious failing and would like to see more thought given by the Executive and the national bodies to their provision.

56. Although the mapping exercise has been conducted at a high level, the Reporter considers that this exercise is a necessary first step in allowing suggestions to be made about how local services can be improved. The Reporter recommends later in this report that further mapping exercises are required at a local level and that they should be conducted by the local service providers, with the support of the national bodies. The Reporter also recommends that funding should be made available by the Executive to enable these mapping exercises to be conducted.

57. The Reporter’s consideration of the main issues arising from the provision of these services are discussed in parts three and four of the report, which deal with central government funding issues and the delivery of services at local level.

25 See paragraph 95 for a list of the local authority areas in which contact centre facilities are not available.

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PART THREE: CENTRAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Introduction and background to funding issues

58. The vast majority of family support services are provided by the voluntary sector and are generally free at the point of delivery. As such, it is not surprising that funding is a huge issue for the organisations that provide these services. Concerns about funding were raised with the Justice 1 Committee during its consideration of the 2006 Act and have continued to be raised with the Reporter throughout the course of the inquiry.

59. The Reporter is aware of major concerns that relate to the proposed transfer of core funding for local mediation services to local authorities. This issue, along with the lack of core funding for child contact centres in Scotland, is discussed in more detail in this part of the report and the Reporter makes a number of recommendations on these matters.

60. Various other concerns were raised in evidence, including, the lack of long-term sustainable funding for family support services and the associated uncertainty that this causes, particularly for local groups. There is also concern about insufficient levels of funding for service providers and the variety of funding sources that local services rely upon as well as the difficulties that some organisations experience in meeting demand for their services.

61. A number of concerns were also raised that relate to local authority funding streams through which financial support is provided to local services. These issues are discussed in part four of this report.

62. The Reporter considers that funding concerns should be considered in the context of an anticipated increase in demand for family support services. In written evidence, the majority of local authorities state that current trends indicate that demand for adult relationship support services will continue to increase in the future.26 More worrying perhaps, is the acknowledgement by Edinburgh City Council that the cases that are being referred to family support services are increasingly complex and need more time and resources as a result.27

Current funding from the Executive for family support services

63. As referred to earlier in this report, the Executive gives some financial support to the four national family support organisations (Relate Scotland, SMC, FMS and Stepfamily Scotland) and to ten local mediation groups. This core funding is channelled through the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund to the value of £1.2m for 2006-07.28 Funding for specific local projects is also distributed from the Fund.29

26 Written submission from COSLA: for example, Argyll & Bute Council, East Ayrshire Council, Glasgow City Council, Moray Council. 27 Written submission from COSLA, Edinburgh City Council 28 Source: Scottish Executive Justice Department 29 The Executive provided funding through the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund to two family support service projects in 2006-07. Relate Scotland Helpline received £10,000 and funding will come to

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64. In addition to core funding, the Executive has made funding available as an incentive to encourage joint working between family support organisations at national and local levels. For the national bodies, £250,000 has been made available under the heading of the Change Programme for 2006-07. This is the final year of a three-year funding plan that supports initiatives to integrate administrative functions and streamline support for local services for the benefit of the end user.30

65. For local counselling and mediation groups, the Executive has invited bids for joint applications seeking a share of the £300,000 announced by the Deputy Minister for Justice, resulting from the concern expressed by the Justice 1 Committee about insufficient funding levels for these local services.31 This resource is available to assist local services in joint working initiatives, such as collaborative proposals for accommodation, equipment purchase and training. The Reporter understands that an assessment panel has been set up by the Executive to consider bids for the allocation of this money and successful applicants will be notified in December 2006.32

66. The Executive also makes financial resources available through the Changing Children’s Services Fund (CCSF) and Sure Start Scotland that local authorities can use to support local family support services.33 CCSF was established to help local authorities improve the effectiveness and integration of mainstream children’s services in their areas. The Reporter is aware of only one local authority – South Lanarkshire Council – which makes use of CCSF to fund adult relationship support services. Through CCSF, the Executive will provide £65.5m each year in 2006-07 and 2007-08. The Executive also provides targeted resources for families of very young children to expand universal childcare services through Sure Start Scotland, amounting to £56.9m for 2006-07. CCSF and Sure Start Scotland funding is split among individual local authorities by means of a distribution formula, which includes a weighting towards deprivation and rurality, reflecting the difficulties that can be encountered in delivering cost-effective services in these areas.

Funding issues that were raised in evidence

67. In addition to the funding issues that the Reporter highlights in this report – the transfer of funding from the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund to GAE and core funding for contact centres – various other concerns have been raised with the Reporter through the evidence gathering process during the inquiry.

an end in March 2007. SMC’s REACT project received £21,000 and funding will be increased to £52,000 in 2007-08. Source: Scottish Executive Education Department. 30 Hugh Henry MSP, written answers to S2W-16239 & S2W-16240. The Change Programme funding has been used to fund, for example, FSPW’s mapping exercise and conference (2006) and FMS’ research into child contact centres (2004-05). 31 Announcement made by Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice, during Stage 3 debate on the Family Law (Scotland) Bill, see Scottish Parliament Official Report, 15 December 2006, col. 21779. 32 Robert Brown MSP, Deputy Minister for Education and Young People indicated in a letter to the Reporter, dated September 2006. 33 Source: Scottish Executive website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/children-services/17842/10263

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68. Relate Scotland and FMS both referred to the wide disparity in funding that their affiliated local groups receive from one local authority to the next. In written evidence, Relate Scotland stated that although a small number of its local service providers receive significant grants from local government – of around £25,000 a year – some local authorities offer only a few hundred pounds a year and some give nothing at all.34

69. Similarly, FMS described the breakdown of funding received by various local mediation services. For 2005-06, Family Mediation Argyll & Bute received no funding from the Executive, with 21% of its funding being derived from Argyll & Bute Council and the remaining 79% sourced from, amongst others, the Tudor Trust and Lloyds TSB.35 Conversely, Family Mediation Dumfries & Galloway received 100% funding from the Executive and South Lanarkshire Family Mediation was entirely funded by South Lanarkshire Council.36

70. Local service providers also raised concerns about resourcing issues. In written evidence, South Lanarkshire Family Mediation referred to the difficulty that they have in being able to consolidate and build on their basic service to allow them to properly benefit the whole geographical area of South Lanarkshire and stated, “simply put, we do not have the means to do this adequately”.37

71. In written evidence, Family Mediation Tayside & Fife called for a major increase in funding and suggested that £5.5m (roughly £1 for each person in Scotland) would be adequate funding for a national body and 20 local family relationship/ mediation services.38

72. During the fact-finding visit to meet Family Mediation Grampian and Couple Counselling Grampian, the Reporter heard that the three local authorities in the region have concerns about the sustainability of funding for these services and that there was uncertainty as to whether funding would even continue in 2007-08.39 In discussions with the Reporter, council officials accepted that the local counselling and mediation services do not receive enough funding and that there has not been any increase in funding levels for these organisations over the last three years.

73. The Reporter has also heard anecdotally that funding provided by West Lothian Council for family support services has remained at the same level for the last three or four years.

74. Similarly, NCH Scotland stated that most of its family support services have standstill budgets, which effectively act as a reduction in resources and that this significantly restricts the type and level of services that it can offer.40 NCH

34 Written submission from Relate Scotland 35 Written submission from Family Mediation Argyll & Bute 36 Written submission from FMS 37 Written submission from South Lanarkshire Family Mediation 38 Written submission from Family Mediation Tayside & Fife 39 See list of Reporter’s meetings and fact-finding visits, paragraph 14. 40 Written submission from NCH Scotland

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Scotland stated that its projects continually face closure or cut backs and that they are, by necessity, stuck in short term management and planning cycles.41

75. Fife Gingerbread, a voluntary organisation that provides support for lone parents, stated that one of its main concerns relates to the insecurity of funding and that it has to constantly apply for funds to continue and develop its services.42

76. A number of service providers pointed out that because of the low levels of funding from the Executive and local authorities there was a conflict between the time required to fundraise to obtain money from other sources (e.g. charitable trusts) and the time which was left available to provide the services which people expect of them. For example, Family Mediation Argyll & Bute stated:

“It is something of an irony that such a large proportion of the time of the service manager (who is also our only registered mediator) is spent seeking funding to ensure the continuation of the service, resulting in less time being available to spend in assisting and supporting the people who are in difficulty.”43

77. Also in written evidence, SMC stated that the core funding that it receives from the Executive is insufficient and in fact inhibits the organisation’s ability to meet the demands of the Executive’s Change Programme for joint working initiatives.44 SMC stated that “we committed to partnership working but, without money for our core costs, there is no mechanism in place to cover the expenses incurred by participation and cover for staff involved in additional tasks”.

Transfer of funding for local mediation groups to GAE settlement

78. During the progress of the 2006 Act, the Deputy Minister for Justice stated the Executive’s intention to transfer core funding for local mediation services – currently provided for by the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund – to GAE settlement, thereby giving local authorities spending responsibility for this money. The Deputy Minister described the funding of the local mediation groups as a result of an historical anomaly and went on to say that because of this, some parts of the country do not receive any local funding from the Executive.45 The Executive considered that this money should be transferred to local decision-makers to determine their local service priorities based on local need.46

79. Some strong opposition to the proposed transfer of funding to GAE was received in written evidence to the inquiry. One of the main concerns was that, without ring-fencing, this core funding will simply be swallowed up by other budgetary needs of local authorities.

41 Ibid 42 Written submission from Fife Gingerbread 43 Written submission from Family Mediation Argyll & Bute 44 Written submission from SMC 45 Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice, Justice 1 Committee Official Report, 9 November 2005, col. 2254 46 Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice, Scottish Parliament Official Report, 15 December 2005, col. 21902

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80. In written evidence, the Association of Directors of Social Work stated that the total funding for local mediation services (£643,152 for 2006-0747) is such a small amount of money that, in distributing this to local authorities, there is a risk that these resources will be lost to the mediation services.48

81. Family Mediation Highlands said that it has been led to expect to lose at least 50% of the funding that it currently receives when the funding stream changes from the Executive to the local authority if it is calculated under the usual formula.49 Family Mediation Highlands stated that it expects that such a substantial decrease in income would result in the core mediation service not being sustainable in its current form.

82. Family Mediation Borders and Family Mediation Argyll & Bute also raised this concern and called for greater security of funding for their services.50 Family Mediation Borders suggested that any reduction in the amount of core funding would ultimately lead to it and its sister-service – Couple Counselling Borders – being jeopardised.51

83. Other service providers referred to difficulties that they already experience in terms of meeting demand. Family Mediation Dumfries & Galloway explained how it tries to limit demand for services by curbing advertising, stating that if they advertised more they would be afraid that they could not accommodate all clients within a reasonable timescale.52

84. Also in written evidence, Relate Scotland stated that they desperately need more counsellors to reduce waiting lists and to ensure there is help where and when it is needed. According to Relate Scotland, clients have indicated that “the waiting period was hard, our situation deteriorated quite badly”.53

85. FMS expressed concern about the effect of the proposed transfer in funding on the ten mediation services that currently receive core funding.54 FMS stated that as ten of the 14 services receive direct funding from the Scottish Executive, if this resource is to be split between all local groups without an increase in the total funding provided, there will be a reduction in funding to existing recipients.

86. Family Mediation Lothian referred to the lack of certainty in relation to the transfer of money to local authorities.55 Family Mediation Lothian suggested that this is impacting on its ability to complete strategic plans, finalise funding agreements for the period 2006/09 or present budget projections for the same period to lottery bodies, charitable trusts and other funders. Family Mediation Lothian stated that:

47 Source: Scottish Executive Justice Department 48 Written submission from the Association of Directors of Social Work 49 Written submission from Family Mediation Highlands 50 Written submission from Family Mediation Argyll & Bute and Family Mediation Borders 51 Written submission from Family Mediation Borders 52 Written submission from Family Mediation Dumfries & Galloway 53 Written submission from Relate Scotland 54 Written submission from FMS 55 Written submission from Family Mediation Lothian

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“In view of the widespread confusion arising from the Executive’s decision we would ask that transition arrangements be agreed with local authorities which would offer us some certainty with regard to the continuation of funding previously provided by the Executive for a period of 2-3 years. This would allow us to begin a dialogue with our Local Authority(s) about the longer term use of the additional funding they are to receive and the basis on which they propose to allocate this (e.g. via commissioning, competitive tender or grant aid). At the end of the transition period it would be up to current recipients to make the case (and no doubt compete with others) for any further continuation of the devolved funds.”56

Executive’s response to funding concerns

87. The Executive’s response to these concerns is that funding for local family mediation services will be protected until 2010. The Deputy Minister for Children and Young People intends to postpone the transfer to GAE for a year until 2008-09, retaining it under the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund. The Executive then plans to ring-fence these resources within GAE in 2008-09 and 2009-10.57

88. The Deputy Minister for Education and Young People stated that by postponing the transfer to GAE and then by ring-fencing this money until 2010, a period of stability will ensue which will allow time for service providers to build relations with local authorities. In his letter to the Reporter, the Deputy Minister anticipates that local authorities will become accustomed to the value of the local mediation services and will continue to fund them beyond 2010, once the ring-fencing has been removed.58 The Deputy Minister confirmed that talks are currently underway to establish the formula for how the resources will be split among the 32 local authorities in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

89. The Deputy Minister also confirmed to the Reporter his intention to supplement the Executive’s financial support for local mediation services by writing to local authorities setting out the importance the Executive places on these services, and encouraging them to continue to utilise and fund the services in order that they can continue.59

90. This is a major policy change which was announced in the course of the Reporter’s inquiry and comes as responsibility for funding of family support services has moved within the Executive from the Justice Department to the Education Department.60

56 Ibid 57 Robert Brown MSP, Deputy Minister for Education and Young People indicated in a letter to the Reporter, dated September 2006. 58 Ibid 59 Ibid 60 The Executive considered various aspects of policy responsibility prior to the coming into force of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 and agreed that policy and funding responsibility should pass to the Education Department with effect from 1 May 2006. Source: Scottish Executive Justice Department.

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Conclusions on central government funding for adult relationship support services 91. In light of the evidence received, the Reporter welcomes the Executive’s proposal to provide local mediation services with greater security in funding and its commitment to write to local authorities emphasising the important role that these services play. The Reporter recognises that this is a tremendous step forward and hopes that it will provide reassurance to these family support services about the importance that central government attaches to the role that they play in Scotland today.

92. The Reporter especially welcomes the Executive’s change in policy on the basis of the fears expressed by family mediation services that without ring-fencing they would expect to see a reduction in the amount of their core funding. The Reporter also hopes that local authorities will appreciate the valuable contribution that local mediation services provide and will adequately fund them when full spending authority is devolved in 2010-11.

93. The Reporter is concerned, however, about what will happen when funding is transferred to Grant Aided Expenditure and about how the Executive will divide the money that it currently provides for ten local mediation services among all 14 regional services. The Reporter acknowledges the serious concerns raised in evidence that suggest that services are already stretched and are finding it difficult to meet local demand. As such, the Reporter is concerned that any further downturn in funding for individual services will severely limit their capacity and could lead to closures. The Reporter urges the Executive to guarantee that current budgetary allocations for local mediation services will not be reduced.

94. The Reporter discusses later in this report issues relating to how the relationships between local authorities and local services can be developed in the interim period before 2010.

95. The Reporter is mindful of the situation with regard to local counselling services which do not receive core funding from the Executive and rely on money from local authorities, through the GAE settlement, and other fundraising activities. As Relate Scotland stated in written evidence, local authority contributions to these counselling services vary hugely, from nothing to a few hundred pounds to £25,000 per year in some cases. Whilst the Reporter fully supports local authorities being able to make decisions that affect people in their area, the Reporter urges them to consider how they can fulfil their responsibilities to their constituents if counselling services are not adequately funded.

96. In recognition of the fact that the Executive’s intention to secure funding for local mediation services does not similarly protect local counselling services, the Reporter urges the Executive to convey to local authorities the particular importance of counselling services when the Deputy Minister for Education and Young People writes to them.

Funding of child contact centres

97. The Reporter visited two child contact centres in the course of the inquiry – Burnbank Family Centre in Hamilton and Peterhead Family Centre – and heard a

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great deal of evidence, particularly from sheriffs and from parents using these centres, which reflect the crucial role that contact centres have in providing family support services. The Reporter is surprised to have discovered in the course of the mapping exercise that contact centres are not currently located in 11 local authority areas.61 The locations of contact centres are shown in Figure 1, Annexe A.

98. Sheriffs referred to the vital role that contact centres provide in the handling of court business through allowing them to move a case forward where there would otherwise have been an impasse. As referred to earlier, research into the provision of child contact centres in Scotland shows that 24% of all referrals to contact centres are made by courts.62

99. One sheriff suggested that it is often very difficult for resident parents to maintain an objection to contact where it takes place in a contact centre.63 Another sheriff indicated that the early period of contact between a non-resident parent and child that have perhaps not seen each other for a long period of time is pivotal.64 The safe environment that contact centres offer during this period of contact often helps to convince the resident parent to allow or at least accept an amount of contact to take place at these centres. As such, the sheriffs that the Reporter spoke to strongly supported a strengthening of current contact centre provision.65

100. Sheriffs indicated that these facilities could be improved in a number of ways to increase families’ access to contact centres.66 A sheriff said that contact appointments are often limited to Saturdays and called for an increase in the provision of this service so that there is more scope to offer contact slots on weekdays. This sheriff suggested that weekend contact usually reduces the quality of the time that the resident parent can spend with their child and so this can sometimes make it more difficult to reach workable contact arrangements for both parents.

101. During the visit to Burnbank Family Centre, the Reporter was very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet with a number of parents (resident and non-resident) who were using the centre. Some parents were using the centre to meet the requirements of a court order and some had been directed to the service by the local authority social work department, but all had no previous knowledge about the service that the centre provided.

102. The parents that the Reporter met were extremely positive about their experiences of using the centre. The Reporter heard from the resident parents 61 Local authority areas where child contact centres are not currently located: Dumfries & Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Highland, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, Perth & Kinross, Shetland and West Dunbartonshire. 62 Family Mediation Scotland Child Contact Centre Research 2004-05: total self referrals – 43.8%; total court referrals – 24%; total solicitor referrals – 23.9%; and total social work and other agency referrals – 8.3%. The figures relating to court referrals were substantiated by the sheriffs that the Reporter met (see paragraph 14). 63 See list of Reporter’s meetings with sheriffs, paragraph 14. 64 Ibid 65 Ibid 66 Ibid

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that the fact that the centre offered a safe and secure environment for contact to take place was crucial. Although all of these parents were involved in ‘supported contact’ arrangements (as opposed to ‘supervised contact’ (see paragraph 45)), the contact arrangements were monitored by the centre’s staff and the parents and children were not allowed to leave the centre without prior agreement of all parties. The Reporter heard how these arrangements had given the resident parent confidence in the use of the centre and as contact continued over a period of time the resident parent had become more confident in the ability of the non-resident parent to honour the arrangements.

103. Every resident parent that the Reporter spoke to recognised that it was in their child’s best interests to have contact with both parents and wanted to continue to use the centre for this purpose. One parent, however, explained to the Reporter that her family was still very emotional and angry about the separation and did not support the contact arrangements taking place. For this parent, the neutrality of the contact centre and its staff was a valuable and much needed support. Similarly, another resident parent who was new to the local area and had no immediate support mechanisms relied upon the support that the centre offered.

104. The Reporter also met with a non-resident parent who described that, due to bail conditions which precluded him from approaching his ex-partner, the contact centre was the only way in which he could have contact with his child. The non-resident parent was extremely supportive of the centre as it gave him an opportunity to have contact with his child which, without the centre, would not otherwise have been possible.

105. The Reporter also met staff at the Burnbank and Peterhead centres who suggested that some people found it difficult to gain access to their facilities due to having no means to travel even short distances to the centre.67 These difficulties are particularly strongly felt by those living in remote, rural communities.68 Even in more urban areas, South Lanarkshire Family Mediation considered that there is a need for a centre that serves the Clydesdale and East Kilbride area for people who cannot travel to the Hamilton centre.69 South Lanarkshire Family Mediation cited the lack of funding and resources as being a barrier to this.70

106. In written evidence, West Dunbartonshire Council highlighted the problem of funding for contact centres and recognised that despite the fact that the service saves court administration costs the responsibility of the court service to share funding has never been defined.71 Aberdeenshire Council also suggested that some funding from the courts for contact centre facilities should be considered.72

67 Mark Stalker, Manager, South Lanarkshire Family Mediation and Elizabeth Wallace, Manager, Family Mediation Grampian and Couple Counselling Grampian 68 Ibid 69 Mark Stalker, Manager, South Lanarkshire Family Mediation 70 Ibid 71 Written submission from COSLA 72 Ibid

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107. Family Mediation Central suggested that, in relation to funding, the connection that its contact centre and mediation services have with the courts through taking referrals appears to have been overlooked.73

108. The Reporter heard on a number of occasions that there is a wide disparity between the funding of contact centres in Scotland and the support that the 350 centres in England and Wales receive. In England and Wales, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) provides substantial funding for contact centres (around £1m in 2006-0774). CAFCASS is a non-departmental public body which is accountable to the Minister for Children, Young People and Families in the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).75 CAFCASS has a statutory responsibility to ensure that children and young people are put first in family proceedings, their voices are properly heard, the decisions made about them by courts are in their best interests and they and their families are supported throughout the process.

109. In addition, the Reporter is aware that in England and Wales, the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC) provided grants to member centres totalling £1.1m in 2005-06.76 NACCC receives some core funding from DfES to assist it in its role of evaluating contact centres under its accreditation process and in providing training and support to its member centres.77

110. In Scotland, the 32 contact centres do not receive specific core funding from central government. However, the 25 contact centres that are managed by local mediation groups may benefit, to an extent, from the core funding that the local mediation services receive from the Executive.78 Although, of course, only ten of the 14 local mediation groups receive core funding from the Executive in this way and the contact centre service is not specifically referred to in these funding arrangements. As such, contact centres rely on local authority grants and other donations for the bulk of their funding.79

111. The seven centres that are managed by other voluntary groups receive their funding from a range of sources. For example, The Cottage Family Centre receives its main funding from Fife Council.80 The contact centre at Renfield St Stephen’s Church Centre in Glasgow is primarily funded by BBC Children in Need (Scotland) appeal.81 The contact centre at St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Hamilton receives free use of its premises from the church and relies purely on local volunteers who run the centre and manage referrals.82

73 Written submission from Family Mediation Central Scotland 74 This amount is the total to support partnership working with the voluntary sector and includes contact centres, supervised contact centres, mediation services and other services. 75 For more information on CAFCASS see: http://www.cafcass.gov.uk76 Source: NACCC Annual Review 2005-06, Continuity and Change, page 14. For more information see: http://www.naccc.org.uk/cms/index.php77 Yvonne Kee, Chief Executive, NACCC 78 Mike Reid, Acting Director, FMS 79 Ibid 80 Written Submission from The Cottage Family Centre 81 Renfield Centre Children’s Fund – Child Contact Centre, see: http://www.brightmoon.co.uk/. 82 Barbara Stobie, Hamilton Contact Centre

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112. There is a Scottish Association of Child Contact Centres (SACCC), but in contrast to its equivalent in England and Wales, it has no formal role.83 SACCC does not receive any direct funding from central government and does not currently have any dedicated staff.84 There is no formal accreditation process in Scotland and although SACCC retains a record of operational contact centres, it neither regulates nor co-ordinates the work of these centres. There is, however, a code of practice for contact centres in Scotland which requires, for example, that all centres must have a minimum of two workers on duty at all times.85 The Reporter recognises, however, that SACCC has no resources to either enforce the code of practice or to ensure that it is adopted across Scottish contact centres.86

113. The Reporter understands that SACCC would like to develop its role in the management of Scottish contact centres with a view to adopting a system of accreditation, as exists in England and Wales.87 Whether this role is taken on by SACCC or another body such as FMS, the Reporter considers contact centres could benefit from regulation and co-ordination and that funding would be needed to support this role.

Conclusions on funding for child contact centres 114. The Reporter recognises the unique role that child contact centres play in supporting the courts’ handling of family law cases by providing families with a safe environment in which to meet. On this basis, the Reporter is seriously concerned that contact centre facilities are at risk without secure and sustainable funding.

115. The Reporter is astonished that as many as 11 local authorities do not currently provide contact centre facilities in their areas. The Reporter calls on local authorities to ensure that these gaps are filled. The Reporter also calls on the Executive to consider ways in which to make additional funding available to enable the creation of these new services.

116. The Reporter is also concerned by the odd situation that exists whereby the courts, in the exercise of their judicial functions, rely so heavily on a service that is not properly funded. Given that a quarter of all referrals to contact centres come from the courts, the Reporter considers that further work needs to be done by the Executive to recognise and resolve this peculiar situation.

117. Specifically, the Reporter urges the Executive to look at ways in which funding for Scottish contact centres and the Scottish Association for Child Contact Centres (SACCC) can be brought more into line with what comparable services in England and Wales receive. The Reporter calls on the Executive to consider whether core funding for these facilities could be provided, at least in part, from Justice Department funding or through the Scottish Court Service. 83 Eleanor Higgins, Services Manager, Family Mediation Lothian 84 The Secretary to SACCC works for Family Mediation Lothian and provides support for SACCC on a part time basis. 85 Source: SACCC Directory 2005-06 86 Eleanor Higgins, Services Manager, Family Mediation Lothian 87 Mike Reid, Acting Director, FMS

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Family Contact Facilitators (FCFs) 118. In response to concerns raised by a number of MSPs in relation to the difficulties associated with the enforcement of contact orders, the Deputy Minister for Justice announced that a specialist post of contact compliance officer would be created to help resolve disputed contact cases.88 The Reporter met with Executive officials at the beginning of the inquiry who confirmed that the Executive’s intention was to introduce Family Contact Facilitators (FCFs) on a pilot basis later in 2006.89 Officials said that two part-time FCF posts would be created, one in a bespoke family court (possibly Glasgow) and the other in another sheriff court and that each pilot will last for a period of three years. The pilots will be evaluated on how effectively FCFs are in managing family contact cases so that the cases do not become intractable.

119. In addition, the Executive officials informed the Reporter that there were plans to conduct research into contact arrangements and, specifically, on how and where contact breaches occur and the handling of such circumstances by the court.

120. From the evidence received, the Reporter heard the view expressed that the planned introduction of FCFs was to be welcomed. A respondent stated that FCFs should be introduced as a matter of priority and suggested that FCFs should have a range of powers to help parents understand the effect that conflict can have on their children and to encourage them to co-operate with each other, which is in the best interests of their child.90

121. The Reporter recognises the importance of enforcing contact orders as made by the courts and notes the Executive’s plan to implement Family Contact Facilitators on a pilot basis. The Reporter requests a further update from the Executive as to how the plans for these pilots are progressing.

88 Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice, Scottish Parliament Official Report, 15 December 2005, cols. 21892-3. 89 See list of Reporter’s meetings and fact-finding visits, paragraph 14 90 Anonymous written submission

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PART FOUR: PROVISION OF ADULT RELATIONSHIP SUPPORT SERVICES AT LOCAL LEVEL

Introduction and background to local service provision

122. The Reporter undertook to investigate the provision of adult relationship support services in Scotland and the delivery of these services a local level.

123. The Reporter acknowledges that the provision of counselling and family mediation services and contact centres varies across each local authority area. These services are provided by a mixture of local voluntary groups, national bodies and charities, local authorities and family law solicitors. As such, a wide variety of working practices and working relations have grown up across Scotland.

124. From the fact-finding visits and the written evidence received to the inquiry the Reporter has heard a number of issues that have been raised in relation to the delivery of family support services at local level. The Reporter considers that these issues have an impact on the relations between service providers and local authorities and account, to an extent, for the patchiness of service delivery across Scotland.

125. The Reporter considers that there are three main issues that relate to the delivery of local adult relationship support services. These issues are set out below and are discussed in turn in this part of the report.

• There is uncertainty about who has responsibility to provide adult relationship support services and what the Executive’s expectation is in this regard.

• There are frustrations about the use of local authority funding streams

and about how these difficulties should be resolved.

• There is an awareness of the importance of integrated working at local level, but some areas are better developed than others. The Reporter considers some good examples of joint working.

126. On this basis, this part of the report seeks to clarify the role of local authorities in the provision of adult relationship support services; to raise awareness of some of the difficulties experienced by local service providers; and to suggest possible solutions so that adult relationship support services can continue in the future.

Responsibility for the provision of adult relationship support services

127. The Reporter understands that local authorities have a statutory obligation to provide certain targeted services for the protection of children and vulnerable adults. They do not, however, have an obligation to provide counselling or family mediation services or contact centres. The Deputy Minister for Justice has stated that he supports what he terms a mixed economy, whereby there is a range of

24

choices and service delivery agencies including local authorities and voluntary groups.91

128. The Deputy Minister for Education and Young People also highlighted the importance of retaining the services provided by the voluntary sector. The Deputy Minister suggested to the Reporter that the new funding arrangements for local mediation services have been proposed in order to allow a period of stability during which service providers can build relations with local authorities.92

129. In written evidence, Angus Council stated that it agrees that there is a role for both the voluntary and statutory sectors in the provision of family mediation services but considers that the priority that local authorities can give to the voluntary sector needs to be seen in the light of their statutory duties and resource constraints.93

130. Other local authorities expressed uncertainty about their responsibilities to provide adult relationship support services even where they impact upon children as these services often do. For example, Falkirk Council suggested that:

“The responsibility for providing such services is not clear. However, there seems to be an implicit expectation that local authorities will fund an independent service provider.”94

131. Similarly, Moray Council stated that there is an expectation that the local authority should be the main funder of these services.95 Scottish Borders Council referred to family mediation services which it described as an essential service that provides support for families and appeared to suggest that if the service was not available then there would be an expectation that the council should provide something.96

132. North Lanarkshire Council stated that the lack of clarity in terms of responsibility for the provision of adult relationship support services is reflected in the lack of any clear funding stream to local authorities which could facilitate their funding of these services.97 The Reporter understands that a primary characteristic of the Executive’s funding of local authorities through the GAE settlement is that local authorities can decide whether and how they wish to provide for local services, including what funding streams to use for this purpose.

Conclusions on responsibility for provision of adult relationship support services 133. The Reporter understands that whilst local authorities do not have a statutory obligation to provide counselling, family mediation or contact centres, local authorities are required to provide support for children and

91 Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice, Justice 1 Committee Official Report, 9 November 2005, col. 2254 92 Robert Brown MSP, Deputy Minister for Education and Young People indicated in a letter to the Reporter, dated September 2006. 93 Written submission from COSLA 94 Ibid 95 Ibid 96 Ibid 97 Ibid

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families. The Reporter recognises that many of the issues associated with adult relationships impact on children and that adult relationship support services have an important role in providing support not just for adults but also for the wider family.

134. The Reporter is concerned about the gaps in adult relationship support services that exist in some local authority areas. Put simply, the Reporter considers that local authorities should ensure that these services are available.

135. As the Deputy Minister for Education and Young People indicated to the Reporter, he intends to write to local authorities setting out the importance of family support services and to encourage local authorities to continue to utilise and fund these services. The Reporter calls on the Executive to highlight clearly, when it writes to local authorities, the expectation that counselling and family mediation services and contact centres should be available across Scotland and that people should be made aware of them.

136. In recognition of the gaps in service provision, the Reporter calls on the Executive to consider how it will, together with local authorities, promote the start-up of new services to fill gaps in local service provision. The Reporter calls on the Executive to make additional funding available to the national bodies specifically for the purpose of starting up new services in areas where there are considered to be gaps in service delivery.

Local authority funding for adult relationship support services

137. The Reporter has heard evidence in the course of the inquiry about concerns associated with local authority funding of family support services. Some organisations raised concern about local authorities’ use of funding streams for family support services and highlighted the short term nature of these funding packages and the time spent applying for funding as significantly affecting their ability to deliver local services. Some of these issues have been referred to in part three of this report on central government funding.

138. In Grampian, the Reporter heard that despite the local authorities’ particularly good working relationship with the local counselling and mediation services, difficulties still existed in terms of securing funding for these services.98 The officials explained that local counselling and mediation services cross several different departments and, consequently, do not fit into any particular funding stream. The result is that funding for these services is often based on short term packages and is derived from a number of different funding streams. The officials suggested that the counselling and mediation services might find it easier to secure funding and to meet the criteria of existing funding streams if they were to integrate their services within the wider family support service network (i.e. with councils’ statutory service obligations).99

98 See list of Reporter’s meetings and fact-finding visits, paragraph 14. 99 Ibid

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139. In written evidence, several organisations called for a single funding stream to be created for family support services, which would help to secure funding for their services.100

140. Other organisations called for a simplification of the funding process. Family Support North West Dumfries stated that there is too much red tape and bureaucracy in the system and that it would be better to streamline funding.101 Aberlour Child Care Trust suggested that reporting to multiple funding agencies requires a significant amount of time spent in complying with the different requirements of different funders and called for an integrated system, which reduces this bureaucracy and is more efficient.102 Similarly, NCH Scotland suggested that funding streams and their related reporting mechanisms should be simplified.103

141. Children 1st also criticised the numerous and specific nature of funding streams, describing them as a barrier to holistic service provision, which looks at the family as a whole.104 Children 1st stated that:

“Whilst we realise the positive intentions that have led to these funding streams being established, we are greatly concerned that their existence hampers the development of services that meet family need effectively. Further it seems that the creation of a specific funding stream aimed at family support organisations would be the ideal way to ensure future quality service provision.”105

142. As referred to earlier in this report, the Reporter has heard how South Lanarkshire Council provides 100% funding for the local mediation service through its use of CCSF. Indeed, the Deputy Minister for Justice, during consideration of the 2006 Act, praised the excellent way in which South Lanarkshire Council uses CCSF and asked why other councils had not done the same, stating that “we give the money to local government to use as they see fit in local areas; why is it that the arrangement works very well in some areas but not in others?”106

143. The Reporter recognises that South Lanarkshire Council’s Family Support Services manager is a strong advocate for the work of Family Mediation South Lanarkshire and that financial support for the service is prioritised partly on this basis.107 The Reporter understands, however, that there are differing views within South Lanarkshire Council as to which local services should be prioritised within the CCSF allocation and that funding for the mediation and contact centre services could cease in future if the council’s priorities were to change.108

100 Family Mediation Grampian, Couple Counselling Grampian, Family Mediation Tayside & Fife, Family Mediation Central Scotland and South Lanarkshire Family Mediation 101 Written submission from Family Support North West Dumfries 102 Written submission from Aberlour Child Care Trust 103 Written submission from NCH Scotland 104 Written submission from Children 1st 105 Ibid 106 Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice, Scottish Parliament Official Report, 15 December 2005, cols. 21902-3 107 Fact-finding visit to Hamilton, 30 June 2006 108 Ibid

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Conclusions on local authority funding for adult relationship support services 144. The Reporter has already discussed some of the issues relating to central government funding for adult relationship support services and has made a number of recommendations in part three of this report.

145. The Reporter recognises that local authorities have a duty to ensure that the funding that they make available is spent as efficiently as possible. The Reporter is concerned, however, about the frustrations that appear to exist among family support organisations about how they apply for funding and about the short term nature of the resources that local authorities provide. The Reporter is also concerned that family support services should not have to rely on a strong advocate being in post in a particular council in order for funding for family support services to be prioritised.

146. The Reporter considers that there is a need for better communication and partnership working between local service providers and local authorities. The Reporter considers joint working will help to engender a better understanding of the particular issues felt by service providers and local funders. The Reporter urges local authorities and local service providers to work together in this way to develop their own local service frameworks and calls on the Executive to encourage this type of approach when it writes to local authorities.

147. From the results of the mapping exercise and from the fact-finding visits, the Reporter is encouraged by the efforts that some local service providers have made to avoid duplication in their services at a local level.

148. The Reporter recognises that there are good examples of how local services are working together and with local authorities and other local stakeholders to avoid overlaps in service provision. Some of these good examples will be discussed in the next part of the report, which investigates integrated working.

Integrated working at local level

149. In considering the delivery of counselling and family mediation services and contact centres in Scotland, the Reporter has heard evidence throughout the inquiry that reflects the value of a co-ordinated approach among local service providers.

150. The extent of integrated working at a local level is discussed in this part of the report under the following three main headings:

• joint working between family support service providers and local authorities;

• joint working between family support service providers (at national and

local level); and

• joint working between family support service providers and other local stakeholders.

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151. It is clear to the Reporter that the extent of local partnership working varies across Scotland. From the results of the mapping exercise and the fact-finding visits, the Reporter acknowledges that although there are some good models of partnership working, there are some areas where services have not been so well integrated into the local communities. This part of the report looks at some good examples of integrated working and highlights some of the benefits that have been derived from these approaches.

Joint working with local authorities 152. The integration of services is a key message promoted by Parenting Across Scotland (PAS) and its members. In written evidence, PAS stated that there is a link between the quality of the adult relationships and positive outcomes for children.109 PAS suggested that there is a tendency in policy planning and implementation to separate out policy initiatives for adults and for children which results in an adult/child divide in policy.110

153. Family Mediation Lothian indicated that it has begun to experience the beginnings of a broadening of contact with local authorities, in areas such as Children and Families Service Plans, tackling domestic abuse and the resolution of problems experienced by young people from families affected by separation or divorce in terms of behaviour and performance at school.111 Family Mediation Lothian stated that it very much welcomes this wider contact and believes that there are a number of areas where its expertise, service capacity and ability to harness the services of volunteers would do much to support the work of often hard pressed statutory bodies.112

154. Some local authorities also referred to the integration of adult relationship support services with those that they provide on a statutory basis.113 For example, Dundee City Council stated that it is currently promoting the development of an integrated structure in the provision of contact centre services between the social work department and the two voluntary sector providers of these services in the city.114 The local authority has run two seminars and produced an outline of the contact services that are available in Dundee with a view to ensuring that those who make referrals to these services – social work staff, solicitors, sheriffs and other voluntary organisations – are properly informed about them.115

155. Dundee City Council has also developed a strong partnership with NCH Scotland through the Dundee Families Project, which works intensively with families whose behaviour is causing problems for their neighbours and helps them to change.116 The approach taken by the Council and by NCH Scotland has been

109 Written submission from PAS 110 Ibid 111 Written submission from Family Mediation Lothian 112 Ibid 113 Dundee City Council and Inverclyde Council (see written submission from COSLA) 114 Written submission from COSLA 115 Ibid 116 Written submission from NCH Scotland

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incorporated into the UK Government’s Respect Action Plan which aims to reduce anti-social behaviour and has now been replicated in various parts of the UK.117

156. Other local groups outlined how they work together with local authorities through receiving referrals from social work and other council departments. Family Mediation Borders stated that a representative from Scottish Borders Council social work department serves on its Executive Committee as does an elected councillor.118 Family Mediation Borders also indicated that it is in regular contact with council staff in the children and families department and a member of Family Mediation Borders attends social work conferences and other council training events.119

157. In written evidence, Children 1st stated that the services that it provides for children and families would be less helpful and effective if its family support service staff were not involved in the community planning, children’s services planning and policy working groups that exist at local authority level (on the basis that the greatest proportion of referrals to Children 1st services is derived from local authority education and social work departments).120

Joint working between service providers 158. Joint partnership working between local service providers is also an important aspect of local service integration. The Reporter has heard how joint working between local service providers is fairly well developed in some areas and that most local groups cross-refer clients to other services where that is appropriate.

159. The Executive has encouraged joint working between local services, as reflected through the various funding incentives it has provided for these services and the national bodies. The Executive has also indicated to the Reporter that it supports mergers taking place between the various family support service organisations.121

160. The Reporter heard the strong message from service providers themselves about the benefit of joint working, both at national and local levels. The Reporter understands that mergers are currently underway between Family Mediation Scotland and Relate Scotland and that Scottish Marriage Care and Stepfamily Scotland are working up plans for the sharing of resources and infrastructure.

161. As they describe in written evidence, some local groups have taken the initiative to develop their own joint working practices, which has led in some cases to formal mergers and the creation of ‘one-stop-shops’.

162. For example, Family Mediation Grampian and Couple Counselling Grampian have agreed to merge and share the same management infrastructure as well as office space in Peterhead and Elgin. During the fact-finding visit to the region, the

117 Robert McGeachy, Head of Policy, NCH Scotland 118 Written submission from Family Mediation Borders 119 Ibid 120 Written submission from Children 1st 121 Robert Brown MSP, Deputy Minister for Education and Young People indicated in a letter to the Reporter, dated September 2006.

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Reporter heard how the counselling service had been increased as a result of joint working, through employing the same office staff for taking appointment bookings for both the family mediation and couple counselling services. Previously, due to lack of office cover, counselling enquiries had to be re-routed to voicemail for half the week.122

163. In written evidence, Family Mediation Borders also described how it has been working more closely with Couple Counselling Borders and has plans in place for the mediation service to provide Couple Counselling Borders with a reception and administrative service.123 Family Mediation Borders says that this will give the public a one-door approach to both services and there will be one advertised telephone number and address.124

164. Elsewhere, Family Mediation Tayside & Fife and Couple Counselling Tayside are said to be discussing the advantages of a merger and the subsequent creation of a one-stop-shop, single entry point service.125 Family Mediation Dumfries & Galloway and Couple Counselling Dumfries & Galloway are also considering merger agreements, the benefits of which it is stated will lead to greater efficiency that will in turn allow additional services to be provided for the same money.126

165. The Reporter also heard from Family Mediation Grampian that the sharing of offices has made it easier to arrange cross-referrals between the mediation and counselling services and has assisted them in the sharing of information and advice.127

166. In addition to these local joint working initiatives, the Reporter has also heard about partnership working on a more strategic level in the West of Scotland (the former Strathclyde region) and in Grampian.

167. The Family Support Partnership West (FSPW) project in the West of Scotland was set up by three local providers of adult relationship support services in the West of Scotland, namely SMC, Glasgow Marriage Counselling Service (GMCS) and Family Mediation West.128 The project’s aim was to help the organisations to find ways in which to improve their collective working practices and, ultimately, to increase the effectiveness of the services that they provide. The project sought to respond to concerns about overlap amongst the three service providers and the project included a local mapping exercise which was designed to identify any areas of duplication.

168. The initiative culminated in a day-long conference, which included case studies and workshops showing the different approaches and techniques that each organisation applies. Funding for the project was provided through the Executive’s Change Programme, which included funding for a publicity and awareness raising campaign.

122 Elizabeth Wallace, Manager, Family Mediation Grampian & Couple Counselling Grampian 123 Written submission from Family Mediation Borders 124 Ibid 125 Written submission from Family Mediation Tayside & Fife 126 Written submission from Family Mediation Dumfries & Galloway 127 Elizabeth Wallace, Manager, Family Mediation Grampian and Couple Counselling Grampian 128 The Reporter met Liz Izat, SMC, Alex Hunter, GMCS and Charlie Irvine, Family Mediation West.

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169. Discussions during the conference showed that the project had successfully brought together the three local organisations and had provided an important opportunity for local volunteers from across the West of Scotland to get to know one another and to create a culture of co-operation between the organisations.

170. The Reporter notes that SMC, Family Mediation Grampian and Couple Counselling Grampian are also working in partnership to conduct a local mapping exercise in the Grampian area and that another mapping exercise is planned for the Ayrshire area later in the year.

Joint working with other local stakeholders 171. The Reporter recognises the work that local service providers have undertaken to develop co-operative working initiatives and considers that local mapping exercises are an important first step in this process. The Reporter considers that such joint working between service providers has in some cases inspired partnership working between service providers and other local stakeholders, such as with solicitors, courts and schools.

172. Family Mediation Grampian has developed close working ties with local solicitors in Aberdeen, who provide free legal advice sessions for clients that are mediating. The Reporter heard that it is common for legal and financial disputes to be intertwined with disputes over child contact arrangements.129

173. The Reporter also heard from sheriffs about the vital role that family solicitors play in the court process in supporting the sheriff and by encouraging mediation and discussion between both parties.130 In written evidence, Sheriff Davidson referred to the role of parties’ solicitors as the most important in family law cases.131

174. On the fact-finding visit to Grampian, the Reporter met some of the solicitors that work in partnership with Family Mediation Grampian and heard how they are promoting the concept of collaborative family law.132 Collaborative family law is a new dispute resolution model in which both solicitors work together with each of their clients to find a compromise position, which is in everyone’s best interests, with the aim of avoiding a court action.133

175. The Reporter also heard concerns raised by a number of sheriffs that, in their view, solicitors can sometimes take an overly confrontational stance in the handling family law cases.134 The Reporter understands that where there is a dispute, family law cases can be extremely emotional and difficult cases for those involved and that it is important for solutions to be found that are in the best interests of the family as a whole and not just the individual clients/ parents. On this basis, the Reporter welcomes the work of the Scottish Collaborative

129 Elizabeth Wallace, Manager, Family Mediation Grampian and Couple Counselling Grampian 130 See list of Reporter’s meetings and fact-finding visits, paragraph 14. 131 Written submission from Sheriff R A Davidson 132 Scottish Collaborative Family Law Group, see: http://www.scflg.co.uk/. 133 On the fact-finding visit to Grampian, the Reporter met Anne Cassidy, Duthie Ward Solicitors and Anne McTaggart, McIntosh McTaggart Solicitors. 134 See list of Reporter’s meetings with sheriffs, paragraph 14.

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Family Law Group and of the local group in Grampian and encourages its uptake by other family lawyers in Scotland.

176. The Reporter also met with workers of the SMC’s REACT project in Easterhouse, who have established close connections with a number of local schools in the area, particularly Lochend Community High School.135 The REACT project delivers weekly counselling and workshop sessions for pupils on relationship matters. The Reporter heard how REACT also provides parenting support for young parents and has found that the close connection with Lochend High School has helped the project to be able to target those who need access to its services the most. In written evidence, the Deputy Head of Lochend Community High School strongly endorses the work that REACT does by engaging with the pupils and providing them with a beneficial support service.136

Conclusions on integrated working at local level 177. The Reporter welcomes the proposed mergers between the national bodies and their plans to share resources. The Reporter recognises the important and influential role of the national bodies and urges them to encourage integration at a local level through holding joint events for local service providers, which focus on partnership working and the sharing of best practice.

178. The Reporter welcomes the joint working initiatives that have been undertaken by some local counselling and family mediation groups and considers that this integration is vital in helping to create, with the engagement of local authorities, effective local service frameworks.

179. The Reporter recognises that joint working initiatives can be time consuming and resource intensive and that this can potentially take resources away from the task of delivering local services. The Reporter considers, however, that the work done by local service providers to examine the joint delivery of services and to achieve integration will inevitably lead to benefits and costs savings. The Reporter recommends, therefore, that joint partnership working is worthwhile and should be encouraged wherever possible.

180. In particular, the Reporter considers that local mapping exercises that evaluate local service provision are the first step in the process of developing a co-ordinated local approach to services for families. The Reporter urges mapping exercises to be undertaken in every area.

181. The Reporter considers that mapping exercises should be directed by the national bodies and calls for the Executive to make further funding available for this purpose by extending the Change Programme for a further three-year period.

135 On the fact-finding visit to REACT project at Easterhouse, the Reporter met Mary Toner, Chief Executive, SMC, Maureen Hally, Service Development Manager, SMC, together with the REACT team – Sonia Scott, Relationship Education Co-ordinator, Laura Gordon, Young Parents Development Worker and Kirsty O’Donnell, Youth Worker. 136 Written submission from Anne Hood, Depute Head, Lochend Community High School

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PART FIVE: SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The Reporter’s inquiry has focused on the provision of adult relationship support services – counselling and family mediation services and contact centre provision.

The Reporter recognises, however, that there is a wide range of family support services that exist beyond the scope of the inquiry and which provide support and assistance, in a range of circumstances, to adults, children, young people and families.

The Reporter acknowledges that further work is required in relation to the provision of family support services and in particular children’s services.

Are there any gaps in service provision?

In terms of counselling and family mediation services and contact centre provision in Scotland, the Reporter’s mapping exercise has confirmed that there is a patchiness of service delivery.

The Reporter is, however, encouraged by the partnership working that local services have shown and considers that this co-operation has helped to avoid overlaps between local services. The Reporter recognises that there is much less duplication in adult relationship support services at a local level than it had been thought might be the case.

The mapping exercise has highlighted that there is a lack of support services for adults which provide a ‘preventative’ role. The Reporter considers that the lack of such preventative services is a serious failing and would like to see more thought given by the Executive and national service providers to their provision.

What are the main issues relating to the provision of these services?

Funding issues The Reporter welcomes the Executive’s change in policy to postpone until 2007-08 the transfer to GAE of funding for local mediation services, and then to ring fence this funding until 2009-10.

The Reporter is, however, still concerned about what will happen when funding is transferred to GAE and about how the Executive will divide the money that it currently provides for ten local mediation services among all 14 regional services.

The Reporter urges the Executive to guarantee that current budgetary allocations for local mediation services will not be reduced.

In recognition of the fact that the Executive’s intention to secure funding for local mediation services does not similarly protect local counselling services, the Reporter urges the Executive to convey to local authorities the particular importance of counselling services.

The Reporter recognises the unique role that child contact centres play in supporting the courts’ handling of family law cases by providing families with a safe environment in which to meet. The Reporter is seriously concerned that

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contact centre facilities are not provided in some local authority areas in Scotland and those that exist are at risk without secure and sustainable funding.

The Reporter calls on local authorities to ensure that these gaps are filled. The Reporter also calls on the Executive to consider ways in which to make additional funding available to enable the creation of these new services. In particular, the Reporter urges the Executive to look at ways in which funding for Scottish contact centres and the Scottish Association for Child Contact Centres (SACCC) can be brought more into line with what comparable services in England and Wales receive. The Reporter calls on the Executive to consider whether core funding for these facilities could be provided, at least in part, from Justice Department funding or through the Scottish Court Service.

The Reporter recognises the importance of enforcing contact orders as made by the courts and notes the Executive’s plan to implement Family Contact Facilitators on a pilot basis. The Reporter requests a further update from the Executive as to how the plans for these pilots are progressing.

Responsibility for the provision of services at local level The Reporter understands that whilst local authorities do not have a statutory obligation to provide counselling or family mediation or contact centres, local authorities are required to provide support for children and families. The Reporter recognises that many of the issues associated with adult relationships impact on children and that adult relationship support services have an important role in providing support not just for adults but also for the wider family.

The Reporter is concerned about the gaps in adult relationship support services that exist in some local authority areas. Put simply, the Reporter considers that local authorities should ensure that these services are available.

In recognition of the gaps in service provision, the Reporter calls on the Executive to consider how it will, together with local authorities, promote the start-up of new services to fill gaps in local service provision. The Reporter calls on the Executive to make additional funding available to the national bodies specifically for the purpose of starting up new services in areas where there is considered to be gaps in service delivery.

Local authority funding for services The Reporter recognises that local authorities have a duty to ensure that the funding that they make available is spent as efficiently as possible. The Reporter is concerned, however, about the frustrations that appear to exist among family support organisations about how they apply for funding and about the short term nature of the resources that local authorities provide. The Reporter is also concerned that family support services should not have to rely on a strong advocate being in post in a particular council in order for funding for family support services to be prioritised.

The Reporter considers that there is a need for better communication and partnership working between local service providers and local authorities. The Reporter considers joint working will help to engender a better understanding of the particular issues felt by service providers and local funders. The Reporter

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36

urges local authorities and local service providers to work together in this way to develop their own local service frameworks and calls on the Executive to encourage this type of approach when it writes to local authorities.

From the results of the mapping exercise and from the fact-finding visits, the Reporter is encouraged by the efforts that some local service providers have made to avoid duplication in their services at a local level.

Integrated working at local level The Reporter welcomes the work of the Scottish Collaborative Family Law Group and of the local group in Grampian and encourages its uptake by other family lawyers in Scotland.

The Reporter welcomes the proposed mergers between the national bodies and their plans to share resources. The Reporter recognises the important and influential role of the national bodies and urges them to encourage integration at a local level through holding joint events for local service providers, which focus on partnership working and the sharing of best practice.

The Reporter welcomes the joint working initiatives that have been undertaken by some local counselling and family mediation groups and considers that this integration is vital in helping to create, with the engagement of local authorities, effective local service frameworks.

The Reporter recognises that joint working initiatives can be time consuming and resource intensive and that this can potentially take resources away from the task of delivering local services. The Reporter considers, however, that the work done by local service providers to examine the joint delivery of services and to achieve integration will inevitably lead to benefits and costs savings. The Reporter recommends, therefore, that joint partnership working should be encouraged wherever possible.

In particular, the Reporter considers that local mapping exercises that evaluate local service provision are the first step in the process of developing a co-ordinated local approach to services for families. The Reporter urges mapping exercises to be undertaken in every area.

The Reporter considers that mapping exercises should be directed by the national bodies and calls for the Executive to make further funding available for this purpose by extending the Change Programme for a further three-year period.

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Aberdeen City FM Grampian SMC CC Grampian Aberdeen Children’s Society

FM Grampian FM Grampian 7 Children’s Society Family Contact Centre (Voluntary Service Aberdeen)

Aberdeen Counselling & Information Service

SMC Aberdeen Counselling & Information Service

Fersands Family Centre

Seaton Family Centre

Richmondhill House

Printfield Community Project

St Machar Parent Support Project

St Machar Parent Support Project

Aberdeenshire FM Grampian CC Grampian (Peterhead, Banff, Stonehaven, Huntly)

One to One Counselling Service Deeside (Banchory)

Peterhead Family Centre

FM Grampian (Peterhead)

Banff Contact Centre (FM Grampian)

Peterhead Family Centre

Fraserburgh Family Centre (FM Grampian)

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Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Peterhead Family Centre (FM Grampian)

Angus FM Tayside & Fife

CC Tayside (Arbroath, Montrose)

Child and Family Centre (Arbroath)

FM Tayside & Fife

Child and Family Centre, Arbroath (FM Tayside & Fife)

The Web Project (Forfar)

Argyll & Bute FM Argyll & Bute

SMC CC Argyll (Oban, Appin, The Isle of Mull, Campbelltown, Lochgilphead

Lorn Counselling Service

Dalintober Millknowe Community Flat (Campbeltown)

FM Argyll & Bute (Oban)

1 (Oban) Oban Contact Centre (FM Argyll & Bute)

SMC (Oban) Parent Network in Argyll

Soroba Young Families

Clackmannanshire Alloa Family Centre

CC Central (Alloa)

Tullibody Family Project (NCH Scotland)

Alloa Family Centre

FM Central Alloa Family Centre (FM Central)

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Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Counselling & FM Western Isles

Counselling & FM Western Isles

Counselling & FM Western Isles (Stornoway)

Western Isles Contact Centre, Stornoway (Counselling & FM Western Isles)

Dumfries & Galloway

FM Dumfries & Galloway

CC Dumfries & Galloway (Dumfries, castle Douglas, Stranraer, Annan, Kirkconnel)

FM Dumfries & Galloway

FM Dumfries & Galloway (Dumfries)

Upper Nithsdale Family Project (NCH Scotland)

Dumfries & Galloway Family Mediation Service (NCH Scotland)

You are not alone – Family Support Group (Stranraer)

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Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Dundee City FM Tayside & Fife

SMC CC Tayside Mains Child and Family Centre

FM Tayside & Fife

FM Tayside & Fife

2 Dundee Contact Centre (FM Tayside & Fife)

The 101 Project (One Parent Families Scotland)

SMC Dundee Counselling Support Group

Bruce Street Support Centre

Dundee Contact Centre (One Parent Families Scotland)

Charleston Family Support Centre

Kirton Child and Family Centre

Woodlea Childrens Centre

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Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

The 101 Project (One Parent Families Scotland)

Dundee Community Family Support Project

East Ayrshire FM West (Ayrshire)

CC Ayrshire (Kilmarnock)

FM West (Ayrshire)

Avenue Project (Kilmarnock)

FM West (Ayrshire) (Kilmarnock)

Contact Centre, Kilmarnock (FM West (Ayrshire))

SMC (Kilmarnock)

East Dunbartonshire

CC Glasgow (Milngavie)

East Lothian Changes Community Health Project (Musselburgh)

Parents 4 Parents (Changes Community Health Project)

Olivebank Contact Centre (FM Lothian)

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Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Connections Counselling Service (Dunbar)

First Step Community Project (Musselburgh)

East Renfrewshire

Edinburgh City FM Lothian SMC CC Lothian SMC

Broomhouse Counselling Service

FM Lothian FM Lothian 8 George Street Contact Centre (FM Lothian)

One Parent Families Scotland

Gingerbread Edinburgh & Lothian Project Ltd

Dosti Muslim Group

Granton Contact Centre (FM Lothian)

Gorgie/Dalry Health All Round

FSU Scotland Viewforth Contact Centre (FM Lothian)

Link Up Womens Support Centre

One Parents Families Scotland

42

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

North East Edinburgh Counselling Service

Pilton Reach Out Stress Centre

Number 21 Counselling & Arts Therapies Service

YWCA Lochend

Pilton Community Health Project

YWCA Roundabout Centre

Falkirk Maddiston Family Centre

SMC CC Central (Falkirk)

Crossline Langlees Family Centre (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

FM Central 3 (Falkirk, Denny)

Falkirk Contact Centre (FM Central)

SMC (Falkirk) Maddiston Family Centre

Fife FM Tayside & Fife

SMC CC Fife (Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, St Andrews, Leven)

Fife Christian Counselling Centre

Victoria Project FM Tayside & Fife

The Cottage Family Centre, Kirkcaldy (Kirkcaldy East Community Resource Centre)

43

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Fife Gingerbread

SMC (Lochgelly)

Broom Community Flat

(Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Broom Community Flat

Abuse Not (for survivors of sexual abuse)

Fife Gingerbread

The Cottage Family Centre

The Cottage Family Centre

Woodlands Family Centre

Broom Community Flat

The Point Woodlands Family Centre

Glasgow FM West Glasgow Marriage Counselling Service

FM West Greater Easterhouse Family Forum

FM West 5 Glasgow Contact Centre (FM West)

San Jai Chinese Project (NCH Scotland)

SMC (iGreater Easterhouse)

Possilpark The Ring Project

Hamiltonhill Family Learning Centre

Glasgow Contact Centre (Renfield St Stephen's Church Centre)

44

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Greater Easterhouse Family Forum

Tom Allan Counselling Centre

Maryhill Community Health Project

Hamiltonhill Family Learning Centre

One Plus: One Parent Families

Maryhill Community Health Project

Parents & Their Children's Hopes (PATCH)

One Plus: One Parent Families

Parents & Their Children's Hopes (PATCH)

Stepping Stones for Families (Easterhouse)

45

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Highland FM Highland Marriage Counselling Highland (Inverness, Dumnadrochit, Wick, Thurso, Lochaber)

Family First FM Highland (Inverness)

4 (Inverness)

SMC (Inverness)

Inverclyde Inverclyde Counselling Service (for alcohol related problems)

Kelburn/ Woodhall Resource Centre

2 (Greenock)

Inverclyde Family Contact Centre, Greenock (Inverclyde Family Contact Centre)

Midlothian CC Lothian (Dalkeith)

Midlothian Sure Start

Midlothian Sure Start

Moray FM Grampian CC Grampian (Elgin)

FM Grampian (Elgin)

1 (Forres) Elgin Contact Centre (FM Grampian)

North Ayrshire CC Ayrshire (Saltcoats)

SMC (Kilwinning, Saltcoats)

46

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

North Lanarkshire SMC CC Lanarkshire (Motherwell)

SMC (Motherwell)

Orkney FM Orkney CC Orkney (Kirkwall)

FM Orkney (Kirkwall)

FM Orkney

Perth & Kinross FM Tayside & Fife

CC Tayside (Perth, Kinross, Pitlochry)

FM Tayside & Fife

1 (Perth)

Renfrewshire SMC SMC (Paisley) 2 (Paisley) Paisley Contact Centre (The Wynd Centre)

Scottish Borders CC Borders (Galashiels, Peebles, Kelso, Coldstream, Eyemouth, Duns)

Pastoral Foundation

FM Borders (Peebles)

Eyemouth Family Centre (FM Borders)

Galashiels Contact Centre (FM Borders)

Hawick Family Contact

47

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Centre

Kelso Family Support Centre

Shetland CC Shetland (Lerwick)

FM Shetland (Yell)

South Ayrshire CC Ayrshire (Ayr)

1 (Ayr) Riverside Church, Ayr (FM West (Ayrshire))

Counselling Ayrshire

SMC South Lanarkshire FM South

Lanarkshire CC Lanarkshire

(Hamilton) Lone Parent

Support Project FM South Lanarkshire (Hamilton)

4 (Hamilton, East Kilbride)

Burnbank Family Contact Centre (FM South Lanarkshire)

SMC (East Kilbride)

Hamilton Contact Centre (St Mary's Episcopal Church)

Stirling FM Central CC Central (Stirling)

FM Central FM Central (Stirling)

Stirling Contact

48

Table 1: Provision of adult relationship services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information and advice

Relationship preparation

Couple counselling

Counselling for adults (individual)

Adults groups/ classes

Family mediation

Family law mediators (CALM)

Contact Centres

Centre (FM Central)

Greenhill Community Resource Centre

SMC (Stirling) Greenhill Community Resource Centre

Stirling Family Support Centre

Stirling Family Support Service

West Dunbartonshire

CC Glasgow (Dumbarton)

Dalmuir Gingerbread

Stepping Stones for Families (Paisley)

West Lothian FM Lothian SMC CC Lothian (Livingston, Dedridge)

FM Lothian FM Lothian (Whitburn)

Eliburn Contact Centre, Livingston (FM Lothian)

SMC Whitburn Contact Centre (FM Lothian)

49

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Aberdeen City Fersands

Family Centre

Aberdeen Children’s Society

FM Grampian Aberdeen Children’s Society Fersands Family Centre

Aberdeen Children’s Society

Home-Start in Aberdeen

Aberdeen Families Project (NCH Scotland)

Maastrick Young Peoples Project

Corrieneuchin (aimed at survivors of abuse - Children 1st)

Mastrick Young People’s Project Printfield Community Project

Fersands Family Centre Befriend a Child Volunteer Scheme

Primrosehill Family Centre (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

St Machar Parent Support Project

Tilly Youth Project

Printfield Community Project

Aberdeen Family Support Project

National Parenting Development Project (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Tilly Youth Project

Torry Youth Project

Tilly Youth Project Sure Start Outreach (Richmondhill House)

Abuse Recovery Services (Children 1st)

Torry Youth Project

Torry Youth Project Intensive family support for children with disabilities

50

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Aberdeen Family Support Project

Richmondhill House

Deeside Family Centre

Quarry Family Centre

Ashgrove Family Centre

Seaton Family Centre

Tillydrone Library Williamson

Family Centre Aberdeenshire Banchory

Youth Advice Centre

Peterhead Family Centre

Peterhead Family Centre

Childcare@home Aberdeenshire (One Parent Families Scotland)

Home-Start Deveron

Fraserburgh Families Service (Children 1st – aimed at families affected by substance abuse)

51

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Corrieneuchin

(Children 1st - aimed at survivors of abuse)

Fraserburgh Families Service (Children 1st)

Home-Start Garioch

Corrieneuchin (Abuse Recovery Services -Children 1st)

Peterhead Family Centre

Home-Start Kincardine

Fraserburgh Family Centre

Home-Start North East Aberdeenshire

Peterhead Family Centre

Angus No 1 for Youth Forfar

FM Tayside & Fife

Child and Family Centre

Child and Family Centre Home-Start Angus

The Web Project (aimed at those at risk of substance abuse)

Argyll and Bute Kintyre Youth Enquiry Service

Dalintober Millknowe Community Flat Soroba Young Families

Children’s Befriending Scheme Argyll & Bute

Mid Argyll Youth Project

Home-Start Lorn

Help (Argyll & Bute) Ltd

52

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Clackmannan-

shire Alloa Family Centre

Tullibody Family Project (NCH Scotland)

Tullibody Family Project (NCH Scotland)

Tullibody Family Project (NCH Scotland)

Aberlour Childcare Trust (Unit 2 Project)

Alloa Family Centre Home-Start Clackmannanshire

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Counselling & FM Western Isles

Western Isles Child and Family Support Service (NCH Scotland) Dumfries and

Galloway Youth Enquiry Service (YES)

FM Dumfries & Galloway

Quarriers Childcare Project

Dumfries and Galloway Befriending Project

Oasis Youth Centre

Upper Nithsdale Family Project (NCH Scotland)

Upper Nithsdale Family Project (NCH Scotland)

Dundee City Kirkton Community Centre Youth Enquiry Service

FM Tayside & Fife

Bruce Street Support Centre

Mains Child and Family Centre

Dundee Families Project (NCH Scotland)

Dundee Families Project (NCH Scotland)

53

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Eighteen and

Under (aimed at survivors of abuse)

Highwayman Youth & Community Centre

Kirton Child and Family Centre

Bruce Street Support Centre

Dundee Family Support Service

Highwayman Youth & Community Centre

Kids Unlimited

Bruce Street Support Centre

Home-Start Dundee

(Children 1st)

The WEB Dundee

Kirton Child and Family Centre

Charleston Family Support Centre

Kirton Child and Family Centre

Residential rehabilitation unit providing parenting support (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Kirton Community Centre Youth Enquiry Service

Douglas Child and Family Centre

The 101 Project (One Parent Families Scotland)

Barnardos SPACE Project

Woodlea Childrens Centre

Barnardos Polepark Family Service

Childcare @Home Dundee (NCH Scotland)

Ardler Family Support Centre

Dundee Community Family Support Project

Bruce Street Support Centre

54

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Kirton Child and Family

Centre Mains Child and

Family Centre Under 12s Project Whitfield Child &

Family Centre East Ayrshire FM West

(Ayrshire) Avenue Project Home-Start East

Ayrshire

East Dunbartonshire Family Service

East Dunbartonshire

Project 101 Replies Youth Information Project

East Dunbartonshire Young Persons Befriending Scheme

(NCH Scotland)

East Lothian Children and Young People’s Rights Service

Richmond’s Hope

Bridges Project

First Step Community Project

First Step Community Project

Olivebank Children’s Centre

Bridges Project

(aimed at those who have experienced a bereavement)

Olivebank Children’s Centre

Home-Start East Lothian

Intensive family support for children with disabilities (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

55

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Carefree

Kids Advice and Information Centre

YMCA Roundabout Centre

Young Families Outreach Project (Children 1st)

Parents 4 Parents (Changes Community Health Project)

Richmond’s Hope

East Renfrewshire

Children 1st East Renfrewshire Family Support Services (aimed at families affected by substance abuse)

Edinburgh City Canongate Youth Project

FM Lothian FM Lothian First Hand Bfriends Bedrock Project

Community Health and Advice Initiative (Family

Richmond’s Hope

Dosti Muslim Group

FSU Scotland Pal-a-Parent Edinburgh Family Support Team (Children 1st)

56

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Support Team)

Crew 2000 (drug misuse issues)

(for children suffering a bereavement)

First Hand Gingerbread Edinburgh & Lothian Project Ltd

(Community Health and Advice Initiative)

Residential rehabilitation unit providing parenting support (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Families Outside (for families of prisoners)

FSU Scotland

Play Action Team First Hand FSU Scotland

Family Advice & Information Resource (for people with learning disabilities)

Stepping Stones North Edinburgh

YWCA Roundabout Centre

FSU Scotland Horizons

Gingerbread Edinburgh & Lothian Project Ltd

The Ripple Project

Wester Hailes Youth Agency

Home-Start Edinburgh South Central

Greendykes Child and Family Centre

57

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Parents

Enquiry Scotland

The Sunflower Garden Project

Home-Start Leith (NE Edinburgh)

Gilmerton Child and Family Centre

Wester Hailes Youth Agency

Craigmillar Child and Family Centre

Viewforth Child and Family Centre

Hailesland Child and Family Centre

Sighthill Child and Family Centre

Stenhouse Child and Family Centre

Pilrig Child and Family Centre

Victoria Park Child and Family Centre

Granton Child and Family Centre

58

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Parkway Child

and Family Centre

West Pilton Child and Family Centre

Falkirk Langlees Family Centre (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Home-Start Denny (Bonnybridge and Banknock)

CLASP (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Maddiston Family Centre, Falkirk

Fife Broom Community Flat

FM Tayside & Fife

The Cottage Family Centre

Fife Gingerbread Family Matters (Barnardos)

The Cottage Family Centre

Broom Community Flat The Cottage Family Centre

Intensive family support for children with disabilities (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

The Point Victoria Project Home-Start Dunfermline

Fife Abuse Recovery Project (Children 1st)

59

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) (Aberlour Child Care

Trust) Home-Start East Fife

Home-Start Glenrothes

Home-Start Kirkcaldy

Home-Start Levenmouth

Home-Start Lochgelly

Glasgow FM West SMC (REACT)

Ruchill Family Support Project (NCH Scotland)

Home-Start Glasgow North West

Children and Families Service

SMC (REACT)

Quarriers Family Resource Centre

Greater Easterhouse Family Forum

Young Person’s Befriending Service

(Abuse Recovery Services - Children 1st)

Quarriers Family Resource Centre

Home-Start Glasgow South

Directions Project (Children 1st)

Parents & Their Children's Hopes (PATCH)

Possilpark The Ring Project

Residential rehabilitation unit providing parenting support (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

60

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Notre Dame Centre

Hamiltonhill Family Learning Centre

Maryhill Children & Young Person’s Befriending Scheme

One Plus: One Parent Families

Possilpark The Ring Project

Maryhill Community Health Project

Highland FM Highland National Counselling Service Kyle & Lochalsh

Family First Alness and Dingwall Families Project (NCH Scotland)

Home-Start Caithness

Killen Family Resource Centre (Abuse Recovery Services - Children 1st)

Home-Start Ross & Cromarty

Lochaber Families Project (NCH Scotland)

Inverness Family Support Service (NCH Scotland)

Family Resource Centre

61

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Inverclyde

Midlothian Midlothian Young Peoples Advice Service

Midlothian Sure Start

Moray Children and Young People’s Rights Service (Children 1st)

Cooper Park (aimed at survivors of abuse – Children 1st)

FM Grampian

Moray Family Support Service (NCH Scotland)

Youth Inclusion Service (Children 1st)

National Parenting Development Project (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Cooper Park (Abuse Recovery Services – Children 1st)

Intensive family support for children with disabilities (Aberlour Child

62

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Care Trust)

North Ayrshire Directions Project, Irvine (Children 1st)

North Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire Sitter Service

Orkney Home-Start Orkney

Perth and Kinross

Youth Enquiry Service (YES)

FM Tayside & Fife

PACT Project, Perth (NCH Scotland)

Renfrewshire Childcare@home Renfrewshire

Scottish Borders

Penumbra Youth Project

Penumbra Youth Project

FM Borders Gala Youth Project Befriending Scheme

Ettrick Family Resource Centre

Gate Youth Project

Ettrick Abuse Recovery Service (Children 1st)

63

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Penumbra

Youth Project

Intensive family support for children with disabilities (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

Shetland Shetland Youth Information Service

South Ayrshire Barnardo’s South Ayrshire Families

Barnardo’s South Ayrshire Families

South Ayrshire Befriending Project

Directions Project, Ayr (Children 1st)

Barnardo’s South Ayrshire Families

Intensive family support for children with disabilities (Aberlour Child Care Trust)

South Lanarkshire

Hamilton Information Project for Youth

Hamilton Information Project for Youth

East Kilbride Befriending Project

64

Table 2: Provision of children’s and parenting services in Scotland

65

Local authority Signposting, information

& advice

Counselling for children

& young people

Family group conferencing/

family systemic therapy

Children’s & young peoples’ groups/ classes

Childcare & early education services

(including parent and children groups)

Outreach & befriending

services

Services for families with

complex needs (including supported

accommodation) Stirling Greenhill

Community Resource Centre

Greenhill Community Resource Centre

Family Support and Community Childcare

Aberlour Childcare Trust (Unit 2 Project)

Aberlour Childcare Trust (Unit 2 Project)

Home-Start Stirling

Stirling Family Support Service

Family Support and Community Childcare

West Dunbartonshire

Clydebank Family Centre

West Lothian FM Lothian FM Lothian Home-Start West Lothian

Chill Out Zone (Children 1st)

Fig. 1: Provision of child contact centres in Scotland

8

3 2 214

1

5 10 9

617730

161819 12 15

1331 1420 23 22 322829

11 24 26

2725

NB: contact centres that provide facilities for supervised contact are shown in bold (see paragraph 47).

66

Table 3: Provision of child Contact Centres in Scotland

Table 3: Provision of child contact centres in Scotland No. Name / location / managing

organisation No. Name / location / managing

organisation 1 Children’s Society Family Contact

Centre (Voluntary Service Aberdeen) 17 The Cottage Family Centre, Kirkcaldy

(Kirkcaldy East Community Resource Centre)

2 Banff Contact Centre (FM Grampian) 18 Glasgow Contact Centre (FM West) 3 Fraserburgh Family Centre (FM

Grampian) 19 Glasgow Contact Centre (Renfield St

Stephen's Church Centre) 4 Peterhead Family Centre (FM

Grampian) 20 Inverclyde Family Contact Centre,

Greenock (Inverclyde Family Contact Centre)

5 Child and Family Centre, Arbroath (FM Tayside & Fife)

21 Elgin Contact Centre (FM Grampian)

6 Oban Contact Centre (FM Argyll & Bute) 22 Paisley Contact Centre (The Wynd Centre)

7 Alloa Family Centre (FM Central) 23 Eyemouth Family Centre (FM Borders) 8 Western Isles Contact Centre,

Stornoway (Counselling & FM Western Isles)

24 Galashiels Contact Centre (FM Borders)

9 Dundee Contact Centre (FM Tayside & Fife)

25 Hawick Family Contact Centre

10 Dundee Contact Centre (One Parent Families Scotland) (S)

26 Kelso Family Support Centre

11 Contact Centre, Kilmarnock (FM West (Ayrshire))

27 Riverside Church, Ayr (FM West (Ayrshire))

12 Olivebank Contact Centre (FM Lothian) (S)

28 Burnbank Family Contact Centre (FM South Lanarkshire)

13 George Street Contact Centre (FM Lothian) (S)

39 Hamilton Contact Centre (St Mary's Episcopal Church) Stirling Contact Centre (FM Central) (S) 14 Granton Contact Centre (FM Lothian) 30

15 Viewforth Contact Centre (FM Lothian) 31 Eliburn Contact Centre, Livingston (FM Lothian) (S)

16 Falkirk Contact Centre (FM Central) 32 Whitburn Contact Centre (FM Lothian) (S)

NB: contact centres that provide facilities for supervised contact are shown with “(S)” (see paragraph 47).

67

Paper for information