Scottish Government

Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 24 October 2008.

Please use the consultation questionnaire provided at Annex B or clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

Our on-line questionnaire is available on the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations (look for the consultation title among the list of "current" consultations. The on-line questionnaire is located at the top of the contents page.

Alternatively, please post your response to:

Please remember to include the Respondent Information Form ( Annex A). You can use this Respondent Information Form or print off a copy from the Scottish Government Website. The form to be used is located at the top of the contents page of our consultation.

If you wish to respond by E-mail, our address is chbillteam@scotland.gsi.gov.uk. Please remember to include the Respondent Information Form, which can be accessed on-line. The form to be returned with the email is located at the top of the contents page

If you have any queries please contact Gaynor Davenport on 0131-244-1583 or Eleanor Manson on 0131-244-5092.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public so it is important that we receive your completed Respondent Information Form together with your consultation response as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library by 24 November 2008 and on the Scottish Government consultation web pages by 24 November 2008. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SG Library on 0131 244 4556. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next ?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the Children's Hearings system. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by late December 2008. This will be followed by a draft Children's Hearings Bill and further consultation on the key provisions of the draft Bill in early 2009.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to Gaynor Davenport or Eleanor Manson at:

or by e-mail to chbillteam@scotland.gsi.gov.uk