The Legislative and Regulatory Framework
Author: Norrie, K.
Professor Norrie has provided the Inquiry with a Report which describes the legislative and regulatory framework governing children in care in Scotland from 1900 to date. In particular, the Report:
- Traces the primary and secondary legislation regulating the care of children over this time period.
- Identifies the legal obligations that individuals or public bodies were, and are currently, under.
- Assesses how comprehensive and effective these measures are.
Professor Norrie’s Report traces the legislation and regulatory framework relating to the care of children in institutional settings. It also assesses how comprehensive or effective that framework was, although it does not try to identify any particular instances where the legal duties described were or are not being met. Rather, the main focus of the Report is an assessment of the potential effectiveness of the regulatory regimes as existed at the time. While some of the material covered has already been explored in Chapter 2 of the Historical Abuse Systemic Review, published by the Scottish Government in 2007, Professor Norrie’s Report is wider than that chapter. It deals with matters before and after the time period covered in that previous Report and provides an assessment of the legislative material.