Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

4. If a negative impact is assessed for any area of rights or any group of children and young people, can you explain why this is necessary and proportionate? What options have you considered to modify the proposal, or mitigate the impact?

Educational establishments etc.

As noted above, while it is possible that similar restrictions used during the Covid pandemic will result in similar disproportionate impacts on these children, these impacts would need to be balanced against any intended positive impact on the health of children (e.g. during the Covid pandemic, safety guidance for schools and childcare services which generally helped to keep the transmission within settings low), and the mitigating focus on educational continuity.

The Scottish Government would expect similar "recovery" measures to be put in place to support children and young people to overcome any negative educational impacts they may have experienced during a future public health emergency.

These powers would be used as a last resort in a future public health emergency, where a thorough, evidence-based four harms assessment (or equivalent) indicated that it would be in children's best interests to restrict access to educational experiences in the interests of health and wellbeing.

The negative outcomes have to be considered alongside the purpose of these actions and benefits that they delivered. If no action had been taken by the Scottish Government to restrict the spread of Covid, it is likely that high levels of excess deaths would have been more detrimental to society than the effects of actions, such as restricting in-person education and childcare and shifting to remote learning. Increased risk of illness or illness would have had a greater impact on children or families with disabilities (who are at an increased likelihood of being socio-economically disadvantaged) who were more vulnerable to Covid.

It is also likely that some negative impacts, e.g. access to remote learning and effects on pupil attainment, can be mitigated in a future public health emergency through improvements in provision of technology, and through learning from the experience of delivering remote learning during Covid^[2]/^[3].

It is of course not possible to predict when such an emergency will take place though it is reasonable to assume that future governments will be alert to the need to have plans ready to ensure that society has greater resilience, including within the education sector. A decision-making process to establish when restrictions could be safely lifted after lockdown was developed based on a four harms assessment that looked at the scientific evidence underpinning the decisions and included how each decision would impact on society and the economy. Using this type of process in the future would help ensure that the differential impact of measures on children and young people are understood and mitigated as far as possible.

The Scottish Government recognises that in some circumstances it may not be possible to wholly mitigate the impact of the use of regulations on children's rights, and that some decisions will have a negative impact on some UNCRC rights. Any such decisions will need to be balanced with the prevention of health-related harms in the best interests of children and young people.

School consultations

A direction permitting a wholly virtual meeting would only be given where Ministers are satisfied that giving the direction is necessary and proportionate for or in connection with the protection of public health. There will also be an opportunity within any directions that Ministers issue to place specific requirements on such education authorities to take actions to ensure that the local community including children can engage with the consultation effectively, or for example specific groups of children such as those that may experience any difficulty with access as described above. The Scottish Government will also update the statutory guidance which accompanies the 2010 Act so that it reflects the importance of enabling the voice of children and young people to be heard within the context of permitting wholly virtual public meetings.