SCOTLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Ciara Wilson, Gillian Crandles and Lauren McDonach, Turcan Connell
No such order is required in respect of a child concerned in exclusion order proceedings by virtue of Section 44 of the Children Scotland Act 1995. Likewise, Section 182 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 makes provision for a child involved in a children’s hearing or other proceedings under the Act. In both cases, the relevant sections simply provide that any publication that could identify such a child is prohibited. Similarly, adoption and permanence proceedings are heard and determined in private in accord - ance with Section 109 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, unless the court decides otherwise. Again, where a judgment is produced, this will ordinarily be anonymised so that the parties, and the child(ren), cannot be identified. Unless specifically excluded by statute, mem - bers of the media may be permitted to attend proceedings that are closed to the public (Sloan v B 1991 SC 412). They may utilise live text-based communications while within a courtroom, but they are nevertheless expected to adhere to the reporting restrictions noted above. Photography is not permitted within court buildings without prior judicial approval and similarly electronic devices may not be used with the exception of solicitors, who may use them for the purposes of proceedings only. Where the relevant reporting restrictions do not automatically apply by operation of statute (as set out earlier), parties may prevail upon the court’s general discretion in terms of the Con - tempt of Court Act 1981 – Section 11 of which empowers the court to prohibit publication of a name or a matter in connection with the pro - ceedings. Any such order must, however, be sent to any interested person, which will include
the press, and must be published on the Scot - tish Courts and Tribunals website. This may have the unintended consequence of drawing their attention to an action that might have otherwise proceeded unnoticed. Where a judge exercises their discretion to impose reporting restrictions, they must first make an interim order that specifies why they are making the order. They must thereafter allow any interested person the opportunity to make rep - resentations before making a final determination on the matter. Once an order has been made, it remains open to any person aggrieved by such an order to apply for its revocation or variation. There is also scope for the relaxation of reporting restrictions in relation to children’s hearings and other proceedings under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, where to do so would be in the interests of justice. Anonymising Proceedings See the discussion in the preceding paragraphs. 2.9 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanisms Outside the Court Process There is a strong and established culture of extrajudicial negotiations being used to achieve settlement between parties, with the court action then being limited to that of a change of status alone and all financial matters dealt with con - tractually in advance. Mediation, arbitration and collaborative law are all available. Mandated ADR Methods There is scope for the court to order parties to attend mediation – it is rarely used, less so suc - cessfully, and there is no penalty for non-com - pliance.
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