CHS has today published its Business and Corporate Parenting Plan for 2017/18.

The plan outlines three business outcomes which will be the focus of our work during 2017/18 and which link back to our Corporate Plan 2015-18, which we published in April 2015.

Both the National Convener and Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) as an organisation, are now designated as Corporate Parents.  So for the first time we have embedded corporate parenting activities into each of our core business objectives. This will ensure that the ethos of corporate parenting informs everything that we do on a day to day basis, reflecting how integral it is to our activities.

The three business objectives for 2017/18 are:

• volunteer panel and Area Support Team members are recruited and appointed, in line with agreed competency frameworks, to facilitate all children’s hearings required 
• panel members are well trained to obtain the views of children, and make decisions in the bests interests of children and young people, in accordance with best practice
• our volunteers are well supported to deliver the key contribution they make to the lives of children and young people across Scotland

Within these objectives, we have identified seven key activities which directly link to our Corporate Parenting duties. To make these key activities easier to identify, we have highlighted them in .  

To support the Corporate Parenting Plan, a new website has been launched today aimed at children and young people. The website – http://www.mycorporateparents.co.uk/ – is a joint initiative with the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. The site provides children and young people with a more interactive version of both organisation’s corporate parenting commitments and activities.

CHS does not print its publications to save paper. However, if you require a printed copy or a copy in an alternative format and/or language, please contact us to discuss your needs either by telephone on 0131 244 3696, or by email communications@chs.gsi.gov.uk.