Consultation on the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy

Making the policy links

This Strategy links to the Government's National Outcomes^[14] for young people, namely;

• Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
• Our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed.
• We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk

The Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy covers many complex areas that are influenced by a large number of policies, legislation and guidance across the Scottish Government. It is, therefore, important that the Strategy compliments existing policy and practice. The supporting document Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Policy Mapping^[15] sets out the policies, legislation and guidance that impact directly in this area. The Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework (2015) currently includes actions for pregnancy in young people therefore this strategy aims to build on these commitments. An update is planned in 2015 for the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework and will still include actions for unintended pregnancy - i.e. in older women.

The Getting it Right For Every Child (GIRFEC)^[16] approach and the introduction of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014^[17] are key foundations that are core to young people achieving positive wellbeing, now and in the future. Enabling young people to have equality of opportunity and the ability to achieve their aspirations and ambitions is central to this. In terms of this particular Strategy, this means providing young men and women with the knowledge, tools and skills they require to consider where parenthood lies in their future plans.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government's Looked After Children's Strategy^[18] reaffirms our commitment to improving outcomes for looked after children and lays out our vision for achieving this. At the heart of the strategy is the importance of relationships for our looked after children and young people. For children and young people the quality of relationships with carers, their birth families, social workers, other trusted adults and corporate parents is fundamental to their ability to develop and thrive. We have identified three priority areas of work that are necessary if we are to achieve our aims. These are early engagement, early permanence and improving the quality of care. Taken together, and underpinned by the conditions for success outlined in the document, they provide a coherent approach to improving outcomes for looked after children.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 introduced a new framework of corporate parenting duties and responsibilities for public bodies listed in Schedule 4 This includes local authorities, Health Boards, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Scottish Police Authorities, the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, Education Scotland and Scottish Prison Service (as Executive Agencies under Scottish Ministers). These new duties commenced on 1 April and place a duty on Corporate Parents to assess the needs, promote the interests, and provide opportunities to promote the wellbeing of looked after children and care leavers currently up to age 26. All Corporate Parents, must collaborate with each other consider how best they will work in partnership, within organisations and with other Corporate Parents, to ensure children and young people overcome barriers and live a life they feel in control over. All Corporate Parents will be required to develop and publish a plan of how they are going to meet their corporate parenting duties and the Act also introduces a new reporting and accountability structure, with national progress on improving outcomes reported by Scottish Ministers to the Parliament every three years beginning in 2018.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 puts in place arrangements for integrating health and social care, in order to improve outcomes for patients, service users, carers and their families. The Act requires Health Boards and Local Authorities to work together effectively to deliver quality, sustainable care services. Key features of the Act are national outcomes for health and wellbeing, which will apply jointly and equally to the NHS and Local Authorities and Integrated Joint Boards. The Integration Joint Board is responsible for the strategic planning of the functions delegated to it and for ensuring the delivery of those functions through the directions issued by it under section 25 of the Act. The Integration Joint Board will also have an operational role as described in the locally agreed operational arrangements set out within the integration scheme in Section 4 of the Act.