The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2021

The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (“the Act”) received Royal Assent on 1 October 2020. Sections 32, 33 and 35 came into force the following day.

These Regulations bring into force the following provisions of the Act on 25 October 2021 for the purposes mentioned below.

Section 7(3) and (4) (register of solicitors for section 22B of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004) are commenced for all purposes. These are technical provisions about the making of regulations under section 7(2) (which is not yet commenced). Section 22B of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004 is inserted by section 4(5) of the Act (which is not yet commenced).

Section 9 (establishment of register for child welfare reporters) and section 17(1) and (3) (curators ad litem) are commenced only for the purpose of making regulations.

Section 10(1) and (3) (regulation of provision of contact services) are commenced for all purposes, but they only insert into the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 a new section 101C which itself consists of a power to make regulations about the provision of contact services.