Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill

Overview

The Education, Children and Young People Committee is seeking views on the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill.

Those views will inform the Committee’s scrutiny.

The call for views and analysis:

• aim to help the Committee understand the reasons people have for either supporting or opposing the Bill
• aim to help the Committee understand how people would like to see the Bill amended

About this call for views

The Bill as introduced changes the services and support provided to people in the children's care system, or who have ever had experience of that system. Those changes include:

• giving people who left the care system before their 16th birthday the right to apply for aftercare
• requiring Scottish Ministers to ensure care-experienced people have access to advocacy services
• requiring Scottish Ministers to publish guidance which promotes understanding of “care” and “care experience”
• giving Scottish Ministers powers to limit the profits that can be made from children’s residential care
• requiring fostering services to register as charities
• giving Scottish Ministers the power to create a register of foster carers
• making changes to the children’s hearings system.

Read more background information the Bill’s webpage

Who we would like to hear from

We welcome responses from a wide range of individuals and organisations, including, but not limited to:

• anyone who is care-experienced
• parents/carers/foster carers/kinship carers/adoptive parents
• anyone with experience of the Children’s Hearings System (including children, young people, adults, Panel Members and staff)
• anyone with experience of delivering services to care-experienced people
• advocacy groups
• rights-based organisations
• anyone with an interest in Children’s Services Planning
• any other stakeholders with an interest in the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill

How to contribute

Please answer the call for views by completing the submission form below.

You don’t have to answer all the questions.

If you would prefer to send in a statement which does not cover any of the questions, please get in touch with the Committee at ecyp.committee@parliament.scot.

Questions in the call for views

Analysis

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) will prepare a summary and analysis of responses received.

Confidentiality and publication of responses

Please let us know if you wish your response to remain confidential. You can also ask for your submission to be anonymised.

We aim to publish all the submissions we receive. The only exceptions are where submissions are made on a “confidential” or “not for publication” basis.

For further information about this process, please contact the Clerks to the Committee via ecyp.committee@parliament.scot.

How to submit your views

Please submit your views using the online submission form, linked to below.

We welcome written views in English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language. 

The call for views closes on 15 August 2025.