The future of secure care and the single point of contact (SPOC) for victims in the Children's Hearings System
Questions on secure accommodation definition
Secure accommodation definition - background information
In Scotland, the only services which normally may lawfully deprive a young person of their liberty are those approved by Scottish Ministers and registered with the Care Inspectorate as a secure accommodation service.
Secure accommodation is currently defined in law as accommodation provided for the purpose of restricting the liberty of children.
However, once commenced and implemented, the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 makes a number of legislative changes to the current framework for regulation of secure accommodation services under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”).
In particular, “secure accommodation service” is defined in schedule 12 of the 2010 Act as follows:
6A “secure accommodation service” is a service which -
- provides accommodation in a residential establishment for the purpose of depriving children of their liberty,
- also provides, in such an establishment, appropriate care, education and support -
(i) for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children who are accommodated there, and
(ii) that takes account of the effects of trauma which the children may have experienced,
- is approved by the Scottish Ministers, in accordance with regulations made under section 78A, for those purposes.
In paragraph 6(a), “residential establishment” has the meaning given by section 105(1).
In paragraph 6(b), “appropriate care, education and support” means the kind of care, education and support required to meet the health, educational and other needs of the children.”.
There may be a need for an amended regulatory approach to enable such placements in a legally compliant way, to better meet the needs of children to be placed there.