§ Mr. McCartneyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the figures for each year to the latest convenient date, since the introduction of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, of (a) the total number of cases brought before the children's panels by the reporters, (b) the number of referrals from the children's panels to the sheriffs, and (c) the number of referrals on which the sheriffs declared that the grounds of the applications were established, breaking down these figures in respect of the various areas covered by the relevant sections of the Act.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThe latest figures available are those from the start of the system on 15th April 1971 to 31st December 1971.
The total number of children referred to children's hearings in that period was 5,393.
The information readily available about referrals to the sheriff by children's hearings relates only to the acceptance by children appearing before hearings of the grounds for referral to the hearing alleging certain offences, such as crimes against the person, housebreaking, theft and breach of the peace or the subsequent establishment of the grounds before the sheriff. Out of 5,544 such offences the grounds were accepted in 4,829. In 287 the grounds were established by the sheriff. In the remaining 428 the cases were either dropped by the hearing when the grounds were not accepted or subsequently abandond by the reporter, or the grounds were not established before the sheriff.