National flood resilience strategy: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment
Child rights and wellbeing impact assessment (CRWIA) for the National Flood Resilience Strategy.
Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) for the National Flood Resilience Strategy
Disclaimer
This document is a point in time assessment of the likely effects of the above-named proposal on the rights and wellbeing of children and young people. This impact assessment should be read in conjunction with other impact assessments prepared for this proposal.
Scottish Government acknowledge the importance of monitoring and evaluating the impact of strategic decisions and legislation on children's rights and wellbeing. Any information gathered during implementation of the legislation or strategic decision to which the impact assessment relates, will be used to inform future determinations of impact. Any new strategic decision or new legislation (including amending legislation) would be subject to a new CRWIA in line with the legislative requirements.
Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment Template
1. Brief Summary
Type of proposal:
Decision of a strategic nature relating to the rights and wellbeing of children.
Name the proposal, and describe its overall aims and intended purpose.
Resilience refers to the ability to withstand and recover quickly from difficulty, sickness, or other challenges. Flood resilience includes understanding how to manage flood risk, being prepared during and after a flood, and learning from real-life emergency situations.
The Scottish Government committed to consulting on a new flooding strategy in the 2022-23 Programme for Government.
The Strategy, part of Scotland's National Adaptation Plan and our wider Just Transition commitments, focuses on what we need to do to make our communities
more flood resilient over the coming decades. This will benefit future generations, ensuring that the children of today and tomorrow inherit (receive/ take ownership of) safer, more resilient places.
It sets out our guiding principles and the key changes required to put flood resilience at the heart of the design of our places and our activities.
The purpose of the strategy is to increase flood resilience by making changes to Scotland's approach to managing flood risk, from being reactive to specific flooding issues, to creating flood resilient places and setting out strategic changes that are needed to achieve these aims. This includes building community flood resilience and engaging a wider range of delivery partners, to deliver more diverse range of flood management actions.
The Flood Resilience Strategy (FRS) sets out the changes which are required to create flood resilient places, guided by the three themes of people, places, and processes. The FRS will establish the high-level strategy for improving flood resilience. When developing actions to achieve this, it is expected that stakeholders, including children and young people, will be involved at this stage.
The primary aim of the strategy is to set the direction for a long-term transformational change to the way that we approach flooding in Scotland. It seeks to shift the narrative away from solely focusing on trying to fix all flooding problems, where most resources are directed towards developing large flood protection schemes, towards creating flood resilient places, where resources are spread across a more diverse range of actions and where flood resilience is routinely considered in decisions about a place. It also seeks to set out more explicitly the roles and responsibilities of different entities involved in flooding in Scotland and supporting collaborative working.
The strategy's key themes of people, places, and processes reflect the priorities identified during the programme of engagement with a range of flood risk management stakeholders and communities carried out by the Scottish Government.
The people theme considers ways of informing and engaging with communities and providing the opportunity to contribute to decision making, as well as identifying the support which is required to build community resilience. A Flood Recovery Framework is also under development and will provide clarity and transparency on roles and responsibilities in preparing for, dealing with and recovering from a flooding event. It will also set out the circumstances in which additional national support may be provided to households and businesses. the aim to help communities adapt to a more sustainable arrangement in emergency flooding events where the dealing with flooding events. impacts exceed what could reasonably have been prepared for by communities. Children and young people should be given the opportunity to have a voice in decisions made about their communities. They should be provided with educational material about flooding, flood resilience and their flood exposure, which will equip them to contribute to decisions about their place.
The places theme considers how we can make best use of land to promote flood resilience and ensure that the implications of flooding are considered in any decision-making process associated with land management. In terms of development proposals, we encourage responsible authorities to adopt a placemaking and joined-up approach, that integrates flood resilience considerations into decisions at the planning stage. Children and young people will necessarily be impacted by decisions made about their places and provision should be made to involve them in decision making processes.
The final theme is processes, which considers how we can improve existing flood risk management processes, to deliver a wider range of actions and support delivery partners to engage in more flood resilience actions.
While this CRWIA provides a high-level overview and assesses the potential impacts arising from the strategy, individual responsibility sits with each relevant stakeholder to conduct a CRWIA for each policy, strategy or intervention as a result of the FRS where it is required under the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.
Start date of proposal's development: June 2023
Start date of CRWIA process: November 2023
2. With reference given to the requirements of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, which aspects of the proposal are relevant to/impact upon children's rights?
The Scottish Government in partnership with Sniffer, ClimateXChange and the Scottish Flood Forum, conducted a series of workshops with community representatives, flood practitioners, policymakers and researchers, to help shape the strategy consultation. Over 300 people and organisations took part in this engagement, which included 12 workshops and an online survey, which received 57 responses.
The public consultation for the Strategy, which requested feedback on the proposed approach, guiding principles and three key themes, closed on 13 August 2024 and received 198 responses.
Relevant UNCRC Articles
The relevant Articles impacted by the FRS are:
Article 2 (non-discrimination)
Article 3 (best interests of the child)
Article 4 (implementation of the Convention)
Article 6 (life, survival and development)
Article 12 (respect for the views of the child)
Article 23 (children with a disability)
Article 24 (health and health services)
Article 27 (adequate standard of living)
Children and young people are one of the groups that will be most impacted by flooding. The people theme in the FRS will consider ways of informing and engaging with communities and providing the opportunity to contribute to decision making, as well as identifying the support which is required to build community resilience. All children and young people, regardless of their background, should be given the opportunity to have a voice in decisions made about their communities. They should be provided with educational material about flooding, flood resilience and their flood exposure, which will equip them to contribute to decisions about their place. The places theme in the FRS considers how we can make best use of land to promote flood resilience. Children and young people will necessarily be impacted by decisions made about their living environments and provision should be made to involve them in decision making processes.
3. Please provide a summary of the evidence gathered which will be used to inform your decision-making and the content of the proposal
Evidence from:
- existing research/reports/policy expertise
Data Source - Scotland's wellbeing: national outcomes for disabled people
Summary: Only 53% of young people felt that their perspectives were taken into account by adults. Fewer disabled young adults felt their perspectives were considered (47%) as compared to non-disabled young adults (58%)
Data Source - Children's Parliament Climate Assembly 2021
Summary: In 2021, many children highlighted that they had received little to no education about climate change at school themselves.
Summary: This research identifies those most vulnerable to experiencing negative, long-term impacts of flooding as being children, older people, especially the frail elderly, those living alone and those dealing with pre-existing stressful life events or medical conditions.
Summary: In Scotland certain groups – children, older people, those living alone, with pre-existing chronic illness or disability and stressful life circumstances, place-based occupations, low incomes, rural and remote areas – are all more vulnerable to flooding and to extremes of heat and cold.
The greatest health impacts of flooding in the UK are on mental health. People who experience flooding are at higher risk of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
A small number of Scottish-based studies have investigated the impacts of flooding on people and communities. One of the earliest studies found that flooding impacts directly on both physical and psychological health, with a strong interaction between the two. Similarly, a more recent CREW study demonstrated long-term (>3 years after the flood) negative impacts on physical and emotional wellbeing.
Summary: This social research, conducted using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, noted that some participants reported how difficult it was to maintain family cohesion when children live in hotels or stay with grandparents and schooling suffers. Relationships within the family were also severely tested by living in temporary accommodation and simultaneously dealing with tradesmen in short supply and checking on the quality of their work.
Data Source - Mapping Flood Disadvantage in Scotland 2015: Main Report
Summary: Personal factors affecting the sensitivity of individuals to flooding include age and health. The impacts of floods on health are more likely to be felt by the old, the young, and those with pre-existing health problems.
Flooding has been associated with increased mental health and behavioural problems in children, as well as increases in the incidence of a range of diseases (Ahern et al., 2005; Norris et al., 2002). Cold or damp housing is known to increase the incidence of some minor illnesses and exacerbate the severity of others in children (Marmot Review, 2011). Both older people and children have been found to suffer considerable psychological trauma following flood events (Fernandez et al., 2002; Rygel et al., 2006; Tapsell et al., 2002).
Summary: Children and young people are contradictorily identified in literature as very resilient and uniquely vulnerable. Where flood-affected children and young people are enabled to contribute to decisions about flood resilience, this can enhance their own recovery and resilience. Flood risk management will be more robust and demonstrate greater legitimacy by utilising the perspectives of children and young people.
Though this report is not specific to Scotland, it contains a number of recommendations worth considering:
1. Flood recovery and resilience must be seen as central to government in order to meet the needs of children and young people: this means involving education, health, housing, communities and local government in addition to emergency planning and flood risk management.
2. Flood policy and practice in England and Wales as currently organised, is confusing and over complex, reducing ability to address the recovery and resilience issues identified by children and young people in this project.
3. Where flood-affected children and young people are enabled to contribute their experience to flood risk management, this enhances their own recovery and resilience.
4. All children and young people are citizens in their own right and have a role in flood risk management and a right to help build family and community resilience.
5. Flood risk management will be more robust and demonstrate greater legitimacy by drawing on the perspectives of children and young people.
- consultation/feedback directly from children and young people
For this report the project team also consulted with flood-affected children through workshops and collated a series of recommendations which will be important to consider when drafting the strategy.
Recovery, health and wellbeing
- Recognise that floods cause poverty. Displaced families need help with the extra cost of food, washing clothes and transport.
- Set up groups in schools for children who have been affected by floods, so they can talk and get support.
- Recognise that floods can lead to poor health, such as bad diets if people can't afford health food or don't have the means to prepare it.
- Disabled people need more specialised help before, during and after a flood.
Resilience and flood preparedness
- There should be more grants to help make homes more resilient and help with bureaucratic red tape.
1. Support the development of community flood fund initiatives – to help people who are flooded or may be in the future.
- All families and communities should have a flood plan.
- Flood warnings need to be clearer, so people understand them, and know what to do and when to act.
- Awareness should be raised using different forms of media; information should be put up in the community, as it is for fire safety.
Flood education
- Flood education should be given in all schools, from reception level onwards.
- There should be lessons on emergencies and flooding: how to prepare, understanding priorities when it floods, where to go, survival and first aid. Include 'flood tests' and flood simulation events (similar to fire drills). Develop flood preparation games.
Teachers need training about floods and how they affect children and their education.
The Scottish Government has engaged with the Scottish Youth Parliament via the Climate Policy Engagement Network (CPEN) to seek their engagement and a response to the FRS Consultation. The consultation has also been shared with organisations that work with children and young people via CPEN, encouraging them to fill in the consultation. Additionally we received a response to our consultation from the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland. The FRS will also draw on the outputs from the Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3) consultation, which asked specific questions about children's rights and wellbeing and climate adaptation.
The development of the FRS will be shaped by feedback from the consultation, engagement sessions with the public, local authorities and CPEN members, the literature discussed above, and the responses to the SNAP3 consultation.
4. Further to the evidence described at '3' have you identified any 'gaps' in evidence which may prevent determination of impact? If yes, please provide an explanation of how they will be addressed
Evidence about the specific impacts of flooding on children and young people in the Scottish context is limited, as is evidence about the best ways to engage them as part of their communities when discussing actions for climate adaptation and community resilience. There is also limited evidence about the way that characteristics such as disability, socio-economic disadvantage and ethnic minority status interact with childhood to affect vulnerability to flooding. The flooding team will engage with analytical and research colleagues within Scottish Government to consider future research opportunities to strengthen the evidence base in relation to children's rights and wellbeing and flooding through implementation.
5. Analysis of Evidence
Flooding is Scotland's biggest climate adaptation challenge. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has forecast that by 2100, peak river flows will increase by 56% and peak rainfall intensity by 35-55%[1]. Currently, 284,000 homes are at risk of flooding in Scotland, but this is likely to increase to 394,000 by 2080, based on the current trajectory. According to SEPA's latest National Flood Risk Assessment, flooding costs approximately £260m per year, and this number is likely to increase.
Research identifies children and young people as among the groups most vulnerable to flooding, alongside elderly people, those living alone, and those dealing with pre-existing stressful life events or medical conditions[2]. In the UK, the greatest impact from flooding is on mental health[3], though it can have a wide range of impacts, including short, medium and long-term effects on wellbeing, relationships and physical and mental health[4]. A small number of Scottish-based studies have investigated the impacts of flooding on people and communities. One of the earliest studies found that flooding impacts directly on both physical and psychological health, with a strong interaction between the two[5].
The Scottish Government's 2015 report, Mapping Flood Disadvantage in Scotland, highlighted research indicating that flooding has been associated with increased mental health and behavioural problems in children, that cold or damp houses can increase the incidence of minor illnesses and exacerbate the severity of others in children, and that both older people and children have been found to suffer considerable psychological trauma following flood events[6]. Therefore from the above evidence there is the potential for this strategy to have a positive impact to articles 3 and 24.
It is clear that the impact of flooding on children and young people is significant and complex and therefore that the strategy's long-term aim to create flood resilient places is critical in the face of accelerating climate change. The strategy focuses on effective and meaningful community engagement and will highlight the importance of the voices of children and young people in decisions made about places and flood resilience.
The evidence above also indicates that more work needs to be done to educate children and adults about the growing impacts of climate change and flooding, as well as their flood exposure, to encourage adaptive action[7]. The strategy will highlight examples of good practice in Scottish schools to encourage further progress in education for climate adaptation to positively impact article 29.
As referenced in the Net Zero Public Engagement Strategy, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring engagement and participation of children and young people in our efforts to tackle and adapt to climate change. This includes working towards the incorporation of the UNCRC to the maximum extent possible, as soon as is practicable. As part of this, we need to ensure the policies within our strategies adequately address the increased risks to children and young people by flooding, they should therefore be engaged with how to tackle flood resilience and this has been built into the three themes of the FRS. The FRS sets out a vision for Scotland as a place resilient to the impacts of flooding, benefiting the people of Scotland and upholding the rights of children and young people now and for future generations.
6. What changes (if any) have been made to the proposal as a result of this assessment?
This CRWIA has articulated the high-level themes and proposals that will form the strategy and how children's rights and wellbeing is being considered for these. The FRS has been drafted following the conclusion of the public consultation with detailed recommendations, and the CRWIA reflects how the evidence gathered through this process has affected the development of the FRS.
Contact
Email: Flooding_Mailbox@gov.scot
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