Routine protective measures in schools, early learning and childcare (ELC) settings and daycare of children's services: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

6. How have you consulted with relevant stakeholders, including involving children and young people in the development of the policy/measure?

Stakeholder engagement has been integral to developing and implementing policies and informing this impact assessment. We have drawn on significant work by The Scottish Youth Parliament, YouthLink Scotland, and Young Scot to understand the views of children and young people. We have undertaken a number of engagement sessions with partners and stakeholders over recent weeks, including webinars where clinicians and public health experts undertook Q&A sessions.

The development of the policy has also benefited from taking into account the views and experiences of children and young people by drawing from surveys and reports such as the lockdown lowdown and the education recovery youth panel. Themes reported in the findings of these surveys and through other consultations include:

• support for decisions regarding the education and ELC sectors to be aligned with those elsewhere.
• Concern about removal of the asymptomatic testing programme.
• Mixed views on recommended cleaning instructions.
• Some anxiety about the implications of this move for those people on the highest risk list.

Members of the Education Recovery Youth Panel children and young people were previously invited to comment during the development of earlier versions of the Reducing Risks in Schools guidance and MSYP, as members of CERG, have also contributed to the Routine Protective Measures guidance. In addition, the Scottish Youth Parliament and National Parenting Forum of Scotland, have independently and as members of CERG, contributed views and acted as conduits for the perspectives and views of children and young people in developing the guidance on Routine Protective Measures. Many of the issues outlined above are still considered a priority but panel members and those consulted were especially keen to ensure the direction of travel set out in guidance was effectively communicated to children, young people and their families.

For early learning and childcare aged children (age 0-5) there has been limited direct engagement with children due to the very young age of many of the children affected. However, the '15 Stories' project conducted by Children's Parliament was commissioned to record and reflect on how families with children under the age of 8 have experienced during the initial phases of the pandemic. This highlighted the importance of keeping early learning and childcare and schools, and parks and play areas open, the need for an improved model for learning from home and to ensure adequate support is available for parents. Engagement throughout the pandemic and respective lockdowns had also been undertaken with parents and carers of ELC-aged children. Consideration has also been given to the experiences of children and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We consider that while significant analysis of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has already taken place and we have a good understanding now of how restriction impacted children's rights and wellbeing, further work is ongoing to monitor the impact of the remainder of the pandemic and longer term impacts. Therefore, the Scottish Government will continue to monitor new evidence as it emerges to refine and enhance our analysis.