Children and young people's voices matter: progress report - March 2021

Introduction

Our fourth annual meeting of Cabinet members and children and young people was held on 3 March 2020 at Bute House, Edinburgh.

Our fourth annual meeting of Cabinet members and children and young people was held on 3 March 2020 at Bute House, Edinburgh.

Seven Members of the Children's Parliament (MCPs) attended. They were Haris (11), Harry (10), Kelly (12), Kristers (12), Milosz (12), Teeda (10) and Sophie (10).

Seven Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) also attended. They were:

Jack Dudgeon (21, Chair, Eastwood), Josh Kennedy (18, Vice Chair, Renfrewshire North), Liam Fowley (18, Trustee, Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley), Caitie Dundas (17, Trustee, Inverness and Nairn), Revati Campbell (18, Convener of Equalities and Human Rights Committee, Dundee West), Thea Tjolle (17, Convener of External Affairs, UK and International Relations Committee, Cowdenbeath) and Wiktoria Orlika (18, Convener of Culture and Media Committee, Wishaw).

At this meeting MCPs and MSYPs represented children and young people's views from across Scotland and talked about issues that were important to them. Our film about the meeting gives more information.

As you will be aware the first positive case of COVID-19 in Scotland was confirmed on 1 March 2020. As a result many projects were paused, so that we could respond to the pandemic. This also meant we were not able to act on all the issues raised at the meeting at this time. However these issues have not been forgotten, and will be considered when making future policy decisions. We have worked hard to keep in touch with Children's Parliament, Scottish Youth Parliament and other organisations to make sure the voices of children and young people continue to be listened to during this difficult time as we learn and recover from COVID-19.

After the meeting ended, everyone agreed on a set
of actions for the year ahead (as set out on page 6-7). These actions have been taken forward by the Scottish Government. This report covers the main areas of progress on these 13 actions. However, it does not include all the activity that has taken place. We would like to thank all the others who have helped to progress this year's actions but have not been included in this report.

It is fantastic to see so much progress being made in realising children's rights in Scotland over the last few years. A snapshot of progress made on raising awareness of children's rights, incorporating the UNCRC into Scots Law, travel costs for children and young people and bereavement support in schools can be found on pages 18-21.

More information about some of these actions can be found in our recently published Progress Report on 'Progressing the Human Rights of Children in Scotland: An Action Plan 2018 – 2021'. For more information on participation please visit our Decision-making: children and young people's participation webpages.