Wednesday 01 July 2015
The Scrutiny Committee has officially launched the Call for Evidence for its review into the implementation of the Children Law.
The Children (Guernsey and Alderney) Law, 2008 ("the Children Law") came into effect in January 2010. The Committee seeks to review the implementation of the new procedures introduced by the Children Law and whether the desired outcomes have been achieved.
Due to the specialist nature of this review, the Committee appointed an independent expert, Kathleen Marshall, to lead the review. This Call for Evidence is aimed at members of the public and professionals. In particular, seeking information and statistics from professionals; and, from members of the public, information about how the new arrangements have affected their experience as users of services.
It is important to note that the Committee is not able to consider and/ or adjudicate on individual cases, but it is interested in the experience of service users.
Kathleen Marshall will use the evidence collected to inform her report and subsequently the Committee may consider it necessary to hold public hearing sessions to question Kathleen Marshall and the relevant government departments on the report's conclusions and recommendations.
Deputy Robert Jones, Chair of the Scrutiny Committee,said:
"The Committee is pleased that we are now in a position to formally launch the Call for Evidence. The focus of the review is to evaluate whether improved outcomes for children and young people are resulting from the implementation of the new Law".
How to get involved:
Evidence may be submitted by e-mail to a dedicated email address: scrutinyreview@gov.gg
or by letter addressed to Mrs Kathleen Marshall, C/O The Scrutiny Committee Office, Sir Charles Frossard House, PO Box 43, La Charroterie, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1FH.
People may request that their evidence remains confidential to the reviewer. Such evidence should be sent by letter and clearly marked "Private and Confidential" for the attention of
Kathleen Marshall. Individuals should keep their own copies and avoid sending originals as all submissions will be securely destroyed by the independent reviewer at the end of the review.
Respondents to the Call for Evidence will be responsible for ensuring that no information is submitted to the Review in breach of any legal duties or requirements. If in any doubt, respondents should seek independent legal advice on this matter.
Guidance on how best to make a submission is detailed in the Call for Evidence document
The full Terms of Reference for this review can be found on the Scrutiny Committee's website:
Respondents may also request a hard copy of these documents by contacting the Scrutiny Committee Office.
The deadline for all submissions is Monday 10thAugust 2015.
