Question reference: S4W-25232
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 2 April 2015
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Current status: Answered by Fiona McLeod on 6 May 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recourse is available to a member of the public who is concerned that the convener of a child protection committee (a) appears to lack knowledge of key legislation and (b) might be being unduly influenced by a local authority.
Answer
Child protection committee chairs are either independent chairs who are under a contractual arrangement with a local authority, health board or Police Scotland, or direct employees of those agencies.
It is therefore open to members of the public who have concerns about the child protection committee chair to complain to the relevant agency. Any complaints or concerns must be addressed by that agency. All local agencies must have a complaints procedure in place which they are legally bound to follow and will provide details on request.
If complainants are unsatisfied with the outcome of that process they can contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman which is the independent agency for dealing with complaints against public bodies in Scotland. However, they must have completed the local agencies complaint procedure before the Ombudsman will consider their case.