Children Act 1975

HC Deb 24 January 1983 vol 35 c315W

Mr. Foulkes

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he plans to implement section 66 of the Children Act 1975.

Mr. John MacKay

Implementation of section 66, which provides for the appointment of a person to represent the interests of a child in children's hearings proceedings and in certain consequential cases before the sheriff court, has cost implications for local authorities. Since the exact costs are not known, my Department is about to carry out a short survey to establish in how many cases such a representative might be appointed and what costs would be involved. When the findings of this survey are available, I intend to have further consultations with the interests concerned.