Health And Social Services And Social Security Adjudications Act 1983

[F18E+W+SIn section 42 of that Act (application from reporter to sheriff for findings)—

(a)in subsection (6) at the beginning there shall be inserted the words “Subject to subsection (6A) of this section,”;

(b)after subsection (6) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(6A)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2)(c) of this section, where, in the course of the proceedings before the sheriff, the child and his parent accept any of the grounds in respect of which the application has been made, the sheriff may dispense with the hearing of evidence relating to that ground unless he is satisfied that in all the circumstances such evidence should be heard, and deem that ground to have been established for the purposes of this section.”; and

(c)in subsection (7) at the end there shall be added the words—

“except that where any of the grounds for the referral are accepted by the child’s parent, whether or not accepted by the child, then, notwithstanding subsection (6A) of this section, the sheriff may dispense with the hearing of evidence relating to that ground if he is satisfied that in all the circumstances it would be reasonable to do so.”]