# Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Rules 1996, Article 5: Notification of children’s hearings and provision of documents to chairman and members, relevant persons etc.


(1) Subject to the 1996 Regulations, where the Principal Reporter arranges any children’s hearing, he shall wherever practicable at least seven days before the date of the hearing notify the chairman and members of the time and place of the hearing and, subject as aforesaid, as soon as reasonably practicable but not later than three days before the date of the hearing, he shall give to each of them a copy of any of the following documents as are relevant to the case of a child to be considered at the hearing:–
(a) a report of a local authority on the child and his social background;
(b) the statement of the grounds for the referral of the case to the children’s hearing prepared under rule 18;
(c) any judicial remit or reference or any reference by a local authority;
(d) any supervision requirement to which the child is subject;
(e) any report prepared by any safeguarder appointed in the case;
(f) any views of the child given in writing to the Principal Reporter by virtue of rule 15(4).
(2) If the Principal Reporter has obtained any information (including any views of the child given orally to the Principal Reporter by virtue of rule 15) or any document, other than a document mentioned in paragraph (1) which is material to the consideration of the case of a child at any children’s hearing, he shall make that information or copies of that document available to the chairman and members of the children’s hearing before the hearing.
(3) Where the Principal Reporter gives a copy of any document to the chairman and members of the children’s hearing under paragraph (1), or makes available to them information or any document or copy thereof under paragraph (2), he shall at the same time give a copy of the document or, as the case may be, make available the information or a copy of the document, to–
(a) each relevant person in relation to the child, whose case is to be considered at the children’s hearing; and
(b) any father of the child whose case is to be considered at the children’s hearing who is living with the mother of the child where both the father and the mother are parents of the child as defined in section 15(1) of the Act,
except that where a children’s hearing is arranged to continue consideration of the case of the child by virtue of section 69(2) of the Act, this obligation of the Principal Reporter shall apply only in respect of any information or document which has not already been made available to the person concerned.
(4) The chairman and members of children’s hearings shall keep securely in their custody any documents made available to them under this rule and, except as otherwise provided in rules 20(4) and 22(4), they shall not cause or permit any information contained in the documents or otherwise disclosed during the hearing to be made known to any person.
(5) Immediately after the conclusion of a children’s hearing the chairman and members shall return to the Principal Reporter any documents which have been made available to them under this rule.
(6) Any information or document which the Principal Reporter makes available under this rule to the chairman and members of any children’s hearing shall also be made available, if requested, to any member of the Scottish Committee of the Council on Tribunals who is attending that hearing and the Council on Tribunals shall be required to return all papers to the Principal Reporter at the end of the hearing.
(7) Any information or document which the Principal Reporter makes available under this rule to the chairman and members of any children’s hearing shall also be made available, if requested, to any member of the Children’s Panel Advisory Committee or to any member of a sub-committee of the Advisory Committee who has given notice of his intention to attend that hearing as an observer. Any person provided with papers under this rule shall not cause or permit any information contained in the said documents or otherwise disclosed during the hearing to be made known to any person and shall return to the Principal Reporter at the end of the hearing any document which has been made available to him.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/3261/article/5 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/childrens-hearings-scotland-rules-1996/article-5
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.