Developing a universal definition of 'care experience': consultation

Consultation Purpose and Process

What is the consultation about and who is it for?

The purpose of this consultation is to seek your views on the need for a universal definition of ‘care experience’ and what the potential impacts of this could be.

The Promise tells us that while it is not a legal term, ‘care experience’ is a term that has a special and different meaning for many of the people who identify with it. This includes infants, children and young people, and adults who may choose to identify as ‘care experienced’. Reasons for this could include that they feel it describes the situation that they have grown up in, or that this describes an understanding of their personal identity. However, not everyone who could identify as ‘care experienced’ will choose to do so for a number of reasons, including that for some people it may feel like a stigmatising term.

The Promise also tells us that a universal definition of ‘care experience’ will help to normalise care as more people can understand and relate to it. In Scotland, there are a number of rights and entitlements that are designed to support people with experience of care as children, young people and adults. The Promise explains that there must be a more universal, commonly understood definition so that everyone can understand these rights and entitlements fully.

In response to our commitment to keep The Promise, The Scottish Government Keeping the Promise Implementation Plan set out the cross-Government actions and policies that will be taken to bring about the transformational change required to keep the Promise by 2030. This includes a commitment to work with partners across Scotland, including The Promise Scotland, to develop a universal and inclusive definition of ‘care experience’ so that more people can understand and identify with it.

This consultation is part of a wider package of consultation and engagement taking place in 2024 on areas of work being progressed to keep the Promise. This includes a number of public consultations:

• 'Moving on' from care into adulthood - (opened 11 July 2024) : this consultation is about ensuring that young people leaving care and moving into adulthood have the right scaffolding of support available to ensure they thrive.
• Children's Hearings Redesign - (opened 20 July 2024) : this consultation is part of a series of steps to ensure that Scotland’s children’s hearings system can be redesigned to build on its strengths so that it can deliver the best possible experience to the children and families in need of its support. It focusses on areas which may require changes to the law.

• Consideration of the future of fostering and a new strategic approach: planned launch in Autumn 2024.

Why does Scottish Government consult?

Consultation is an essential part of the policymaking process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinions and gain your expertise on an area of work. You can find all of our consultations online: Scottish Government consultations.

Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision-making process, alongside a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of our findings. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review;
• inform the development of a particular policy;
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals; and
• be used to shape legislation as it develops.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and complaints. These should be directed to the relevant public body.

Responding to the consultation

The consultation will run for 12 weeks and will remain open for responses until 8 January 2025.

In order to respond, please use the Scottish Government’s consultation hub Citizen Space, which can be accessed online Developing a Universal Definition of ‘Care Experience’. There are no restrictions on who can respond to the consultation.

A series of in-person and online events will be held to provide the opportunity for you to share your views as part of a wider discussion. Further information on upcoming events and how to be part of these will be shared at a later date.

If you are unable to or choose not to respond using the consultation hub, please complete the Respondent Information Form included in this document and send your responses and consultation questions to keepingthepromiseconsultations@gov.scot

Handling your response

If you respond using the consultation hub, you will be directed to the ‘About You’ page. Before submitting your response please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, if you are content for your response to be published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will still take account of your views in our analysis but we will not publish your response, quote anything that you have said or list your name. We will regard your response as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under that Act for information relating to responses made in this consultation exercise.

Next steps after you have submitted your consultation response

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, checks will be undertaken to ensure the responses do not contain potentially defamatory material, information which could potentially identify the respondent or raise any other data protection concerns. After this process is complete the responses will be made available to the public on the Scottish Government’s consultation hub. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email. An independent analysis of the responses will then be carried out and a report on the analysis will be published once the consultation closes.

Impact Assessment

A Data Protection Impact Assessment has been prepared for this consultation.