Introduction

A very warm welcome to all of our delegates today.

The Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland agree that police custody is not a suitable place of safety for children.

Last year, 3730 children and young people were arrested and taken to a police station. 1473 of these were younger children and whilst 1395 were subsequently released from police custody at the conclusion of enquiries, 78 were held in police cells to appear before the courts. Of the 2257 older children brought into custody to enable further enquiries, 1767 were released at the conclusion of enquiries and 490 were held in police cells to appear before the courts.

Whilst this number is reducing, it is still higher than we would like.

If charged with a crime, a child or young person is only ever held in police custody as a last resort because there is no other suitable place of safety available.

At today’s roundtable event, the SPA and Police Scotland are bringing together key stakeholders to discuss how agencies can work together to keep people safe while reducing the impact of children being held in police custody.

The timing of this event was chosen to coincide with the United Nations World Children’s Day on Sunday 20 November 2022.

We very much hope you enjoy today, and look forward to working with you in this key area in the future.

Martyn Evans, Chair of the SPA
Malcolm Graham, Deputy Chief Constable, Police Scotland
Michelle Miller, SPA Board Member and former Chief Social Work Officer (Event Moderator)