§ Mr. Steeleasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what conclusions the Government have reached regarding the implementation of the recommendations of the committee appointed under the chairmanship of Lord Kilbrandon to examine the law of Scotland relating to juvenile delinquency and juveniles in need of care or protection; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RossThe report has been carefully studied together with observations on it received from interested bodies. The Government have come to the conclusion that there would be substantial advantages in seeking to deal with the prevention and treatment of delinquency in the way recommended by the Committee, and accordingly propose to bring forward legislation in due course for the establishment of juvenile panels in Scotland on the lines recommended by the Committee.
The effective establishment of a system of juvenile panels will require suitably organised support from the social work services, though not necessarily based, as 215W the Kilbrandon Committee recommended, on the education authority.
The Government are at present considering how best the social work services in Scotland may be reorganised in order to provide the comprehensive casework service recommended by the Kilbrandon Committee. I shall, of course, make a further statement on this in due course, when I have had an opportunity for discussion with those concerned with this question.