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A decade of care: A corporate parenting update from Scottish Ministers 2021 - 2024

Third report on corporate parenting by Scottish Ministers. In this report, we set out how Scottish Ministers have fulfilled their duties as a corporate parent from 2021 to 2024, to support and improve outcomes for children and young people with care experience.


3: Scottish Ministers – corporate parenting activities

Scottish Ministers have particular responsibilities with regard to setting the legislative, strategic and policy frameworks within which they and other corporate parents deliver their duties. This includes the Scottish Government’s policy and delivery activity, its actions as an employer, its support to other organisations, its funding to public and other bodies to take forward priorities and public sector reform. These responsibilities span the broader policy context for children and young people in Scotland, along with their families and carers, as well as more specifically the current care system and support for care experienced children and young people, and care leavers.

This chapter sets out examples of the corporate parenting activities of the Scottish Government and Executive Agencies[2], providing examples of specific activities through which Scottish Ministers have delivered their corporate parenting duties. Many of the activities described have been delivered in partnership with other corporate parents.

Policies which support care experienced colleagues

Civil Service Care Leaver Internships

The Scottish Government and Executive Agencies have participated in the Civil Service Care Leaver Internship Scheme since 2019. This programme supports people to undertake an 18-month paid internship within the Civil Service to develop and enhance their skills and experience. Since 2021, the Scottish Government has supported 31 care experienced interns to reach their potential and is looking forward to welcoming our next cohort in 2025.

The Scottish Government collaborates regularly with other UK Government Civil Service departments to discuss the continuous improvement of the programme and how care experienced interns, and their line managers can be best supported before, during and after internships. This includes ensuring line managers are given appropriate training, for example in trauma-informed practice and how to support the development of a person earlier in their career.

We work with Who Cares Scotland? to promote the internships across Scotland, and it has supported the Scottish Government by providing appropriate training to interns and their line managers. We regularly gather feedback from both current and alumni care-experienced interns to support our continuous improvement and evaluation.

Support for foster and kinship carers

A range of support is currently available to foster and kinship carers working for the Scottish Government, including flexible working, up to 5 days paid special leave per year, as well as up to 5 days paid carers leave if eligible. We also offer 27-weeks enhanced contractual adoption pay for staff who are fostering to adopt.

We are currently developing a formal foster and kinship leave policy to provide all employees who are foster, and kinship carers dedicated leave which will support their roles as carers. We will also work with other corporate parents and employers across Scotland to assist them in supporting their foster and kinship carers.

Peer support at work

Social Security Scotland established a Corporate Parenting Champions Group. One of the first pieces of change the Group introduced was recognising care experience as a protected characteristic in the workplace.

Based on feedback from care experienced colleagues around re-traumatisation and retelling of stories, the Group introduced an ‘employee passport’. This means that care experienced colleagues can have a sensitive discussion with their line manager about the support they need to sustain their employment, and do not have to repeat these conversations when progressing throughout the organisation.

Keeping The Promise

The Scottish Government’s Promise Implementation Plan identifies a broad range of actions and commitments which span across policies and portfolios. This includes immediate actions to improve experiences and outcomes for children, young people, adults and their families who are currently in or on the edge of care; and action over the longer term to improve the level of support for families from birth through to adulthood to significantly reduce the numbers of families coming into the care system.

The Promise Implementation Plan sets commitments and activities against key themes of:

  • Keeping Families Together Through Whole Family Support and Support for our care experienced children, young people and adults
  • A Good Childhood for our children and young people
  • Creating the right scaffolding
  • Building capacity

Scottish Government activity to keep The Promise underpins our corporate parenting activities. As such, the accompanying report, Keeping The Promise to our children, young people and families: progress update 2024, can be read alongside of our 3-year corporate parenting report, in particular parts 2 (32 – 74) and 7 (102 – 184), which provide updates on progress against the Scottish Government’s Promise Implementation Plan.

Fulfilling our corporate parenting duties

Short summaries of some of the activities set out from parts 2 and 7, along with some other examples, are laid out below under the six corporate parenting responsibilities Alert, Assess, Promote, Opportunities, Access and Improve. Each activity is set out under one corporate parenting responsibility, to demonstrate the breadth of activity undertaken, however, many activities can demonstrate more than one responsibility. Where more information on each activity can be found in the accompanying report, the relevant page numbers are referenced.

Throughout the examples, we demonstrate how we have fulfilled the duty to collaborate with other corporate parents. We also describe how the voices of children and young people with experience of care and care leavers have contributed to policy development.

Alert

It is the duty of every corporate parent to be alert to matters which, or which might, adversely affect the wellbeing of children and young people.

The Scottish Government has been alert to matters affecting the wellbeing of children and young people via a number of different of routes, such as:

  • Including the voice of young people with care experience throughout policy development.
  • Undertaking Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments when taking strategic policy decisions.
  • Carrying out public consultations on key policy and legislative developments.
  • Improving data collection and analysis to support better reporting of issues facing care experienced children and young people.
  • Using research to help inform practice, e.g. reducing preventable child deaths.

The National Hub for Child Death Reviews

The National Hub for Child Death Reviews has been in place since October 2021 and conducts reviews into the deaths of all live born children up to the date of their 18th birthday, or 26th birthday for care leavers who are in receipt of aftercare or continuing care at the time of their death.

The Hub’s focus is to use evidence to inform practice to reduce the number of child and young people’s deaths in Scotland and to report annually on its findings. In March 2024, the first Data Overview Report from the National Hub for Reviewing and Learning from the Deaths of Children and Young People was published. This report draws together an overview of national child death data with the learning from child death reviews carried out by NHS board and local authorities. It covers the period 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023.

The Scottish Government will work with partners in the National Hub to implement the 5 recommendations and share learning to reduce the number of preventable deaths and harm of children and young people.

The Promise Story of Progress

The Promise Story of Progress is a shared approach to understanding progress towards keeping The Promise, developed jointly with COSLA, The Promise Scotland and other stakeholders. One element is The Promise Progress Framework, which shows key outcomes and indicators designed to serve as a supportive learning tool for all those with a responsibility for keeping The Promise and create a shared understanding of where progress is being made nationally.

There are two further elements of this work, which look behind national level statistics at progress being made at an organisational level, and whether change is being felt by the care experienced community. The Scottish Government, COSLA and The Promise Scotland will jointly publish an update to this work before the end of 2024. (Page 79)

Children and Young People Participation Framework Agreement

Launched in January 2024, the Children and Young People’s Participation Framework Agreement (The Framework) was developed as part of the UNCRC implementation programme to respond to the growing need for children and young people’s participation in decision making and policy design across Scottish Government. The Framework aims to support engagement that is inclusive, and addresses barriers faced by those under-represented in decision-making processes.

The Framework is categorised into four lots, one of which is made up specifically of contractors who can facilitate and support engagement with children and young people who are in care, on the edge of care or are care leavers. (Page 77)

Child rights and wellbeing impact assessments

A child rights and wellbeing impact assessment (CRWIA) is a process, tool and publication to ensure Scottish Ministers give due consideration to the potential impact on children’s rights and their wellbeing during the process of developing new legislation or taking significant strategic decisions. Section 17 of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 makes it a legal requirement for Scottish Ministers to prepare and publish CRWIAs for all Bills, most Scottish Statutory Instruments (except commencement SSIs) and decisions of a strategic nature relating to the rights and wellbeing of children. The Scottish Government publishes CRWIAs on its website at Child rights and wellbeing impact assessments: list.

Scottish Government encourages use of CRWIAs as a good practice approach on a non-legislative basis for all corporate parents and other partners. This is done by making available example CRWIA guidance and templates.

Young People Transitioning from Care into Adulthood

Care Leaver Payment

One of the fifteen overarching key commitments in our Promise Implementation Plan was “We will invest £10 million per annum through our Care Experience Grant: a new £200 annual grant for 16-25 year olds with care experience.” The Care Experience Grant is now known as the Care Leaver Payment, to better reflect the intention of the payment to support young people as they move on from care and transition into adulthood. Following consultation, the approach to support has changed to focus on a one-off payment of £2000 which forms part of a broader package of support.

To further consider the best way to deliver the payment, a ‘Discovery’ phase was undertaken with the Social Security Programme, running from July to October 2023 and consisted of user research with care leavers, consideration of delivery vehicles, business processes, and the legislative and policy landscape. The outputs informed the public consultation on the Care Leaver Payment which closed on 26 January 2024. Independent analysis of consultation responses was published on 18 June 2024. (Pages 33, 63, 64, 170)

Transitions into Adulthood

The themes which emerged from the Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum’s ‘100 days of listening’ exercise which concluded in February 2024, informed the ‘Moving On’ from care into adulthood consultation which ran from 11 July 2024 to 3 October 2024. The consultation focused on the support package required to best support our young people to flourish as they move on from care. An independent analysis of the consultation responses and associated engagement sessions is underway, and findings will be published by the end of 2024.

The consultation and its findings, along with other work such as the Moving On Change Programme and Care Inspectorate Thematic Review of support for young people leaving care, provides a robust evidence base which will improve our understanding of the issues being faced to people with care experience, their families and carers, and the workforce; and will help to identify and agree on potential solutions.

We published updated Guidance on Continuing Care in July 2024 to make it more accessible, particularly for young people who are about to leave care. This guidance will help young people understand their rights and the supports they can access. (Page 64)

Information Sharing

The Scottish Government committed to working with The Promise Scotland to develop a blueprint for the creation and control of, and access to, information about care experienced people which will empower people to decide who and when key information about them is made available.

Initial research from The Promise Scotland into work underway to improve information sharing and identify gaps and barriers was completed in 2023. The Data for Children Collaborative was initiated, supported by The Promise Scotland and Scottish Government, with the initial challenge question published in January 2024: “What concrete actions can we take to overcome the barriers to sharing data and information relating to care experienced children, across public sector agencies and organisations in Scotland?”.

A working group, including members from York St John University, Scottish Prevention Hub, the Information Commissioner’s Office, The Promise Scotland and Scottish Government was set up in March 2024. Following project planning and development, the project launched in October 2024 and will run for around 12 months. (Pages 37 and 175)

Suicide Prevention

Scotland’s 3-year Suicide Prevention Action Plan Creating Hope Together: suicide prevention action plan 2022 to 2025 (jointly owned by the Scottish Government and COSLA) contains our commitment to work with The Promise Scotland to engage with people with care experience to better understand what action is needed to embed suicide prevention activity in our support to children and young people in care, and care leavers.

As part of our data improvement work, we are putting in place a multi-agency suicide review and learning system including capturing information about adults with care experience.

We are also undertaking research with our Academic Advisory Group around effective interventions for children and young people, to gain a better understanding of ‘help seeking’ and ‘help giving’ for this group. (Pages 53 and 54)

Self-harm

The Scottish Government published a dedicated self-harm strategy and action plan with COSLA in late 2023. The strategy has been shaped at every step by people with lived experience of self-harm and those who support them.

As evidence suggests that children and young people, including care experienced young people, are at higher risk of self-harm, our action plan prioritises working with key partners to provide effective and compassionate support for them. We have worked with Promise Leads across Scotland to ensure this information is shared with care experienced young people and their family and carers. (Pages 53, 54)

Assess

It is the duty of every corporate parent to assess the needs of those children and young people for services and support it provides.

To ensure that the Scottish Government supports and improves the wellbeing of the care experienced community, we assess and understand their needs by:

  • Co-designing policy initiatives with children and young people and the workforce, for example in violence reduction initiatives and alcohol and drugs.
  • Collating and analysing data across Scotland to assess and prioritise needs and support
  • Working with local partners to collect new data to better understand issues.
  • Working collaboratively with other organisations, including other corporate parents, in working groups and stakeholder groups to inform policy and legislative decisions and the development of strategies.
  • Reviewing local Children’s Services Plans to help understand local needs, priorities and responses.
  • Commissioning and undertaking policy evaluations.

Children’s Services Planning

Children’s Services Planning is Scotland’s legislative approach to collaborative local strategic planning and delivery of services and support, to improve wellbeing outcomes for children, young people and families and duties are set out in Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. This requires services and support to be planned and delivered in a way which delivers on national and local priorities and meets the statutory aims of Children’s Services Planning. Corporate Parenting Plans can be incorporated into the wider Children’s Services Plan.

Each 3-year Children’s Services Plan (Plan) is based on a joint strategic needs assessment which identifies the needs of all children, young people and families living in that area, as well as a focus on those with specific types of need, including care experience. A Plan must also show how partners support transitions for young people as they move between children’s and adult services. A Plan must then identify a number of manageable and measurable priorities. The recent statutory review of 2023-2026 children’s services plans highlighted that 15 Children’s Services Planning Partnerships areas included The Promise as a strategic priority. All plans referenced improving and supporting outcomes for children and families with experience of care.

Children’s Services Reform

The future structure and approach to children’s services across Scotland is central to how we ensure consistency in provision and response. To inform this, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS) were commissioned to carry out independent research to help us answer the question ‘What is needed to ensure that children, young people and families get the help they need, when they need it?’

The research, which began in September 2022 and completed with a concluding summary report in December 2023, is clear about the challenges facing children, young people and families and those supporting them across Scotland. It has provided considerable insight into care systems both in Scotland and internationally, and a solid evidence base is offered for improvement that can be made without, or alongside, structural changes.

Findings have been reinforced through engagement with children, young people and families. Several themes for improvement have been identified from the research findings and an exercise is underway to identify and map any ongoing work which will address these. Our ambition is to create a simplified system where the impact on the workforce is a key consideration in the development and delivery of policy and improvement initiatives. (Page 69)

Children’s Hearings Redesign

As part of the Scottish Government’s fifteen key commitments in its Promise Implementation Plan, we have begun the redesign of the Children’s Hearings System. The Hearings System Working Group was established by The Promise Scotland in the summer of 2021 to consider the redesign of the current Children’s Hearings System, independent of the Scottish Government. Chaired by Sheriff David Mackie, members included Children’s Hearings Scotland, The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration and The Promise Scotland. The Group published its final report in May 2023 and the Scottish Government published its response to the Hearings System Working Group’s report on 21 December 2023.

A Children’s Hearings Redesign Board has been established, consisting of senior leadership from the key statutory organisations responsible for the delivery of the Children’s Hearings system. This board is responsible for the governance and oversight of all non-legislative aspects of redesign.

The group met for the first time in January 2024 and is progressing work to develop plans and priorities across 2024 and 2025. A public consultation on legislative aspects of Children’s Hearings Redesign was launched on 26 July 2024. (Pages 36, 37, 168, 172)

Education Scotland - Promise in Education Framework

Work is ongoing with partners, including Education Scotland, COSLA, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) and CELCIS to develop a ‘Promise in Education’ Framework, which outlines a range of measures that can be used by corporate parents and other partners at a national level. Measures include attendance, exclusions, staying on rates, attainment, and positive destinations. The Framework also identifies further measures which local authorities can use for their own improvement planning.

During May and June 2024 the Framework was tested and evaluated by a small number of local authorities identified through the ADES Promise Group. The feedback given by local authorities will inform further refining and development of the Framework. (Pages 46, 126 and 127)

National Lifelong Advocacy Service for People and Families with Care Experience

The Scottish Government supported The Promise Scotland to scope a national lifelong advocacy service for people and families with care experience. The Promise Scotland engaged with advocacy providers to develop a series of recommendations on how a lifelong advocacy service might work. Who Cares? Scotland have undertaken a review of their learning from providing an advocacy service and shared findings in a separate report.

The Scottish Government welcomes, and is considering, the recommendations in both reports, and they are informing wider activity on advocacy provision including the implementation of the UNCRC and the Children’s Hearings Advocacy National Practice Model. To support this the Scottish Government is facilitating a series of workshops with advocacy providers to further inform our understanding of the potential practical impacts and resource requirements. (Pages 38, 168 and 182)

Children’s Hearings Advocacy

In November 2020, the Scottish Government launched a national advocacy service to support children and young people who may need independent, expert advocacy support to reinforce their rights when they are involved in a Children’s Hearing. Since 2020, this has twice been extended; to support the proper participation of the brothers and sisters of referred children in 2021 and to support non-Scottish children subject to placement in Scotland under Deprivation of Liberty Orders in 2022.

An external evaluation of the efficacy of the children’s hearings advocacy provision was procured in January 2024. Research Scotland have produced a report on the impact of the learning from the national Children’s Hearings Advocacy Scheme since its introduction in November 2020, to March 2024. The research included views from 21 children and young people, 8 foster carers, 30 advocacy workers and more than 180 stakeholder survey returns from Panel Members, Reporters, social workers, children’s solicitors and safeguarders. (Page 168)

Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019 Review

The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019 placed a duty on Ministers to review the operation of the Act with a view to considering any future age of criminal responsibility within 3 years of commencement (17 December 2021). The Promise requires Scotland to aim for the age of criminal responsibility in line with the most progressive global governments, alongside efforts to prevent criminalisation of all children by 2030.

An Advisory Group, which includes young people, was established to support Ministers with the review. A report is due to be presented to Scottish Ministers in December 2024 and includes operational learning and experience from implementation of the legislation. As part of the Data & Research subgroup, a young person developed and led a survey of children and young people, seeking their views of the age of criminal responsibility.

In December 2023, officials participated in a workshop with children and young people from the Scottish Youth Parliament to discuss the challenges and opportunities from raising the age of criminal responsibility, and how the role of the Children’s Hearings System could be shared in society to promote confidence within communities.(Page 169)

Keeping Brothers and Sisters Together And Connected

The introduction of legislation in 2021 was a vital step in recognising the importance of siblings relationships and keeping brothers and sisters together and connected. The Scottish Government published National Practice Guidance in 2021 to support implementation of the legislation.

To establish a national picture of the extent to which brothers and sisters are placed together, it was agreed that from 2023 the information that local authorities collect and report to the Scottish Government would include four new siblings data categories, to understand the extent to which children are placed together with their siblings in care. (Pages 60, 61,147, 153, 161 and 162)

Violence Reduction

The Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland was published in May 2023. Implementation of the Framework includes an action plan with specific activities to intervene earlier to prevent and reduce harm from violence, including for people who have been, or are at risk of becoming, care experienced.

During 2023-24, 18 of the 213 Police Scotland Youth Volunteers registered were from a care experienced background, and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has been working with North Lanarkshire Council to deliver a programme to specifically support care experienced individuals, with Care Navigators being recruited to provide help to care experienced people with multiple issues to help improve their outcomes and steer them away from violence and its harm. (Pages 55 and 145)

Whole Family Approach to Drug & Alcohol Support

The Scottish Government’s annual investment of £3.5 million supports a whole family approach to drug and alcohol services across 23 projects. Additional funding, such as the £3 million Children and Families Fund administered through the Corra Foundation, is in place to improve support for children, young people and families impacted by drug use.

We are working with Public Health Scotland to develop a National Consensus Statement for reducing harms in young people affected by substances which will be published in Spring 2025, as well as developing National Standards for young people affected by substance use due to be published early 2025. The working group includes members who work with young people with care experience. We recently engaged young people in a co-design process, to further develop the standards of support for young people with problematic drug or alcohol us this included young people with care experience. (Page 109)

Forestry and Land Scotland

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is an Executive Agency. Their main role is to look after and manage Scotland’s National Forests and Land on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

A Strategy Assessment Framework was developed as a tool to ensure that all required assessments, legislative requirements and corporate considerations are taken account of in the development of policies, plans, programmes and strategies, including corporate parenting.

FLS has facilitated events for care experienced children and young people, plus supporting organisations, to visit forests. This has also included volunteer days where they are involved in learning environmental activities.

Promote

It is the duty of every corporate parent to promote the interests of those children and young people.

The Scottish Government has taken action to promote the interests of care experienced children and young people and care leavers. Activities, legislative changes and policies include:

  • Delivering the system changes required to shift investment towards early intervention and prevention activities, including through the Whole Family Wellbeing fund.
  • Keeping children out of the criminal justice system and ending the detention of 16 and 17 year olds in Young Offender Institutions.
  • Providing and promoting services to kinship carers, foster and adoptive parents and their families when children become looked after.
  • Considering our language on care experience, tackling stigma and shifting public attitudes.
  • Funding a range of organisations to take forward projects to improve the wellbeing of those with care experience.

The Promise Partnership Fund

The Promise Partnership Fund, launched in February 2021 and which runs to 2025, is a transformational change fund for organisations to begin to take steps towards implementing The Promise. Criteria for funding rounds are set by an Advisory Group and applications are assessed by a Decision Maker’s Panel which includes members with lived experience of the care system.

The fund provides £4 million each year and has supported over 100 organisations (third sector organisations, local authorities, including Health and Social Care Partnerships, NHS Boards, Universities and Police Scotland) across Scotland across five funding rounds, with specific focus on:

  • Supporting the care sector to change internal infrastructure and culture.
  • Organisations who are leading the way with change.
  • Supporting change to help ensure that brothers and sisters stay together and connected.
  • Relationships/Moving On and Youth Justice.
  • Workforce/Supportive School Structures/Youth Justice Rights.

A number of the projects involve collaboration across sectors. The Scottish Government will work with the Corra Foundation to carry out a comprehensive review of the fund, including impact. (Pages 35, 42, 50, 71, 72, 73, 103 and 104)

Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) and Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learners (CYPFAL) Third Sector Funds

Through our CYPFEI & ALEC and CYPFAL third sector funds we are providing 137 organisations with around £18 million of annual core funding until March 2025 to support keeping The Promise, tackling child poverty, providing family support, implementing Children’s Rights and promoting positive mental and physical health and wellbeing. The most recent progress report (October 2023 - March 2024) showed that 1.3 million people across Scotland were directly supported as a result of this funding.(Pages 42, 104, 152)

Who Cares? Scotland

The Scottish Government has continued to fund Who Cares? Scotland, a national independent membership organisation for care experienced people, supporting them to have their voices heard.

This includes annual grant funding (£116,000 in 2024) to provide a helpline to advise and support care experienced people. It also includes funding (£180,000 in 2024) to provide training for corporate parents to support them to fulfil their corporate parenting duties. More information on the support provided to corporate parents and their Corporate Parenting Awards is available at Chapter 4.

Bairns’ Hoose

The Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder phase was launched October 2023 with the announcement of six Pathfinders and four Affiliate partnerships. The aims of the Pathfinder phase are for partnerships to trial and test the Bairns’ Hoose Standards within each operational and geographical context; learn what works and identify challenges; and produce knowledge about the methods, practices and resources required for implementation.

This will be used to inform the development of a national Bairns’ Hoose Blueprint which will underpin the incremental roll-out phase from 2027. A full evaluation will take place during the first two years of the incremental rollout phase. The Scottish Government has, to date, supported this with an almost £10 million investment.

Our Children and Young People Participation and Engagement Plan sets out our approach to participation and engagement, to make sure that Bairns’ Hoose services best reflect the lived experience and views of children and young people, and families, who have experienced trauma. We are working with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, who will support partnerships to ensure the voice of children and young people is represented. (Pages 57, 58 and 154)

The Scottish Child Interview Model

The Scottish Government is continuing to support the implementation of the national roll out of the Scottish Child Interview Model for Joint Investigative Interviews as part of the Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder Phase. It aims to secure the child’s best evidence at the earliest opportunity and minimise retraumatising them. It is now live in all policing divisions and in 30 local authorities, with the majority of children now able to access it.

The Scottish Government has provided grant funding to the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice to evaluate the impact of the Scottish Child Interview Model, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. (Pages 56 and 152)

Health Assessment

Work continues to ensure that eligible children with care experience receive a health assessment within 28 days of the Health Board being notified. This includes work across health services to identify who is best placed to carry out these assessments, and to refresh the guidance to support implementation.

We have continued to engage with Health Boards and Health & Social Care Partnerships with a view to identifying opportunities for improving health assessment delivery and the health outcomes of children with care experience. (Pages 44 and 121)

Family Nurse Partnership programme and Health Visiting

Scotland’s Universal Health Visiting Pathway offers support to all of Scotland’s young families from pre-birth until a child starts school. Where additional input is required, the pathway provides a gateway to other levels of Health Visiting provision and referrals to more specialised healthcare services.

For young, first-time parents, the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme is provided from pre-birth, until their child reaches two. Up to 4,000 families per year are supported by the FNP programme, and over 13,100 families have benefitted since it began in 2010.

We are working with NHS Boards to widen the eligibility criteria. In 2022, we committed to extending the eligibility of FNP to care experienced first-time mothers up to age 25, and all first-time mothers aged 21 and under, where capacity allows. (Page 44)

The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme

As part of our Promise Implementation Plan, we committed to invest £500 million over the lifetime of this Parliament to support the development of holistic, whole family support services.

The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme (WFWF) aims to enable and support the system change required at local Children’s Services Planning Partnership level to deliver holistic family support so that families can access the help they need, where and when needed.

This is a transition fund, focused on delivering the system changes required to shift investment towards early intervention and prevention activities. Since 2022, we have invested over £110 million in a programme of activity to support the transformation of family support services. This has included:

  • Our £32 million multi-year commitment to funding CSPPs to transform holistic family support in their local areas, based on local assessment of need
  • Providing national support for local delivery - to support the development and sharing of learning across CSPPs and beyond
  • Taking a cross Scottish Government approach to system change which is supporting 12 projects across Scottish Government policy areas to help progress the aims of the Programme (Pages 32, 33, 41, 81 and 85)

Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Delivery Plan

In November 2023, The Scottish Government published the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Delivery Plan (2023-25). One of the priorities is to reduce the risk of poor mental health and wellbeing in adult life by promoting the importance of good relationships and trauma informed approaches from the earliest years of life, taking account where relevant adverse childhood experiences.

The Delivery Plan commits to funding the enhancement of crisis and distress services, including trauma-informed support, for children and young people, giving particular consideration to the needs of children and young people with care experience or on the edges of care. (Pages 54, 108, 111, 112)

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Service Specification outlines provisions young people and their families can expect from the NHS.

The Transition Care Plan (TCP) Guidance, describes the standards required in the planning of good transitions for young people moving from CAMHS to Adult Mental Health Services.

This approach allows flexibility for those aged 18-25, who are more at risk of adversity during transitions, such as those in care, to continue their care and treatment with CAMHS where this is in their best interests rather than automatic transfer to adult services. (Page 113)

Scottish Prison Service (SPS)

Corporate parenting strategy

In developing its corporate parenting strategy, SPS listened to young people to ensure their needs, views and experiences were incorporated or informed the priorities for SPS moving forward.

Young People’s Strategy Group

The SPS Young People’s Strategy Group, which includes members from the Scottish Government, oversees the actions to implement the Vision for Young People in Custody 2021. This has included:

  • Providing support to end the placement of children in SPS custody.
  • Developing a new physical interventions framework.
  • Working with and caring for young people and women with emphasis on trauma informed care.
  • Training on trauma informed care and mental health care for young people.
  • Undertaking self-evaluation to find out about young people and women’s wellbeing and the transition from Young Offender Institutions to the adult estate.

Toolbox Talk

SPS has initiated Toolbox Talk sessions with establishment staff on their corporate parenting responsibilities. A review and update of their recruit training package was carried out, which will further promote the interests of care leavers.

SPS have initiated changes to their record keeping systems to ensure identification of those with care experience are identified upon entering custody. The process has been developed with feedback from young people, which will assist in providing the best information to young people entering custody on their rights and entitlements. (Pages 35, 55, 62, 150, 151, 152, 153)

Each and Every Child Initiative

The Scottish Government continues to fund and promote the Each and Every Child Initiative to create a fresh and inspiring narrative of care to shift public attitudes and tackle stigma.

Since January 2020, Each and Every Child has been approached by over 130 organisations across Scotland to deliver bespoke training based on Framing Care Experience and the framing toolkit, with more than 1700 practitioners, civil servants and third sector staff being trained in Each and Every Child. (Pages 60, 159)

The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024

In March 2021, the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, a landmark piece of legislation which would incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law to the maximum extent possible within the powers of the Scottish Parliament, signalling a revolution in children’s rights in Scotland.

The Bill could not receive Royal Assent due to a referral to the Supreme Court. An amended Bill was approved by the Scottish Parliament in December 2023. The Bill received Royal Assent in January 2024 and is now the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024. Duties under the Act were fully commenced by 16 July 2024. ‘The UNCRC Act provides legal protection for children’s rights that was not previously available in Scotland, and is not available in any other part of the UK.’ (Page 180)

The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024

The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act received Royal Assent on 4 June 2024. The associated Bill, was introduced in December 2022, and approved by the Scottish Parliament in April 2024. The Act will enable improvements to youth justice, secure care, aspects of the children’s hearings system, victims’ services and the criminal justice system for young people. (Page 180)

Ending the detention of 16- and 17-year-olds in Young Offender Institutions

In our Promise Implementation Plan we committed to ending the placement of 16 and 17 year olds in young offenders institutions, fund care based alternatives to custody and consult on new legislation in Spring 2022.

The Scottish Government’s Whole System Approach to preventing offending by children and young people, rolled out since 2011, remains that children should be kept out of the criminal justice system, wherever possible and appropriate. Regulations to end the detention of under 18s in Young Offender Institutions came into force on 28 August 2024. In line with The Promise, under 18s will now be detained in alternative settings, such as secure accommodation. Those aged under 18 who were detained in a Young Offender Institution before 28 August 2024 safely transitioned to new settings by 31 August 2024. (Pages 34, 55, 56, 62, 150, 151 and 166)

Housing and homelessness

We continue to work with COSLA and third sector partners to deliver our ‘Ending Homelessness Together’ action plan. We will also continue to ensure people under 26 years old who have previously been in the care of a local authority are exempt from Council Tax.

Housing First is an important element of rapid rehousing. It provides settled accommodation with intensive support for people who require it. There are a number of local authorities in Scotland operating Housing First for youth programmes, which are targeted at care leavers to ensure they get the person-centred support needed to maintain their tenancies.

The ‘Improving Care Leavers Housing Pathways’ was published in November 2019 and it makes a critical contribution to delivering the commitments made within The Promise. The Care Leavers Pathway sets out sensible, evidence based next steps to ensure corporate parents act on their legal and moral duties to prevent care leavers experiencing homelessness, at the point of leaving care and later, by fully implementing existing policy and legislative frameworks. (Pages 64, 65, 106, 170 and 171)

Opportunities

It is the duty of every corporate parent to seek to provide those children and young people with opportunities to participate in activities designed to promote their wellbeing.

The Scottish Government is improving the wellbeing of children and young people with care experience by:

  • Providing targeted funding to local authorities to improve the educational outcomes and experiences for children and young people with care experience.
  • Recognising through awards educational establishments that support the educational experience and outcomes of learners with care experience.
  • Supporting schools to maximise attendance and engagement.
  • Funding employability and Modern apprenticeship programmes to help create greater equity and opportunity for young people with care experience.
  • Providing opportunities to engage with nature.

Closing the gap between the educational outcomes of children with care experience and all children is a key part of how we keep The Promise. The Scottish Government and Education Scotland have worked collaboratively with a range of organisations to support staff in education settings to improve outcomes for care experienced children and young people.

The Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP) Fund

The Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP) Fund is a targeted resource provided to local authorities to improve the educational outcomes and experiences for children and young people with care experience. In 2023/24, £10.5 million was provided to local authorities through the Fund, and over £60 million provided since it was launched in 2018. This funding has supported progress in areas such as attainment, attendance, engagement and exclusions; including through the expansion of the Virtual Schools and Head Teacher Network, delivery of a range of mentoring programmes, improvements in tracking and monitoring of the educational progress and outcomes of care experienced children and young people, and the introduction of a wide range of tailored and targeted supports in educational settings. (Pages 47 and 132)

Exclusions and Virtual School Head Teachers and Care Experienced Teams Network

The Promise called for an end to the exclusion of children and young people with care experience. The Scottish Government’s position continues to be that exclusion should be a last resort where there is no appropriate alternative. Local authorities continue to be encouraged to focus on promoting positive relationships and behaviour and employing preventative approaches which reduce the need to consider exclusion, as set out in the national guidance on exclusion ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2.

Scotland’s Virtual School Head Teachers and care experienced teams network (VSHT) supports and connects those working in Virtual School Head Teacher roles, to share good practice and drive progress towards better educational experiences for all children and young people with care experience. The network has an Exclusions working group, supported through our funding for CELCIS and Attainment Advisers from Education Scotland. (Page 49)

Keeping The Promise Award (in education)

Education Scotland have co-developed, with Promise Leads from the West Partnership, a Keeping The Promise Award Programme for individual practitioners and educational establishments. The full Award requires establishments and local authorities to provide evidence of the impact of any changes they have made to support the educational experience and outcomes for care experienced learners. Keeping The Promise Award resources are published on the Education Scotland website. (Page 48)

‘Intandem’ mentoring programme

The Scottish Government funds the intandem mentoring programme with £750,000 each year to provide mentoring support to children and young people with care experience. The eligibility for intandem has been extended to include children and young people in kinship care and those at risk of becoming subject to a Compulsory Supervision Order. The funding also supports intandem’s Youth Participation Platform ‘InVoice’. (Page 122)

Guaranteed offer of an undergraduate place

To support learning, people with care experience who meet the minimum entry requirements are guaranteed an offer of a place on undergraduate courses at Scottish universities. (Page 132)

Scottish Forestry

Scottish Forestry is the Executive Agency responsible for forestry policy, support and regulation in Scotland.

Outdoor and Woodland Learning (OWL) Scotland is supported by Scottish Forestry and is dedicated to increasing opportunities for outdoor learning in and around woodlands. It supports practitioners to engage young people in outdoor learning and connect their broader learning with the world around them. OWL Scotland funded a Separated Siblings special play sessions project run by South Highland OWL group in 2022.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Scottish Forestry collaborated with the Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare forum (STAF) on the Seeds for Change project, driven by a steering group called ‘The Catalysts’ who were all young people over 16 years old with experience of the care or justice system.

Together they explored how safe nurturing environments and healthy relationships could resolve trauma, and from these discussions, created supportive resources for care leavers and their support workers. The group developed an indoor plant starter kit ‘Seeds for Change’, which brought nature indoors to the homes of care leavers and carers. Scottish Forestry supported with the design and delivery of the kits and provided 6 ‘woodlands’ based sessions in summer 2021, attended by 18 young people supported through STAF.

Social Security Scotland

In 2023, Social Security Scotland launched a tech internship for care experienced applicants which had been advocated by a member of their Champions group. The internship included training for the role as well as financial support, mentoring and external training.

Modern Apprenticeships

Scottish Government funding towards Modern Apprentices is weighted towards young people, particularly the 16-19 age group, with enhanced funding contributions for those with care experience up to age 29.

This acknowledges that young people with care experience may have a longer transition into work and may require additional support from their training provider to complete their apprenticeship. Uptake of the number of care experienced Modern Apprentices (MA) can be monitored through the official Modern Apprenticeship Statistics which are published quarterly by Skills Development Scotland. (Pages 52 and 132)

Developing the Young Workforce (DYW)

Developing the Young Workforce facilitates the engagement between employers and schools to support young people, including those with care experience, to transition into the world of work.

DYW implemented around 300 DYW School Coordinators across all 32 Local Authorities. DYW School Coordinators bring together tailored, individual support for young people with the needs of employers and work collaboratively across a range of delivery partners.

DYW’s third sector partners provide targeted provision for young people facing additional barriers by offering work-based learning, work inspiration and mentoring. (Pages 51 and 138)

Discovering Your Potential and Our Future Now

The Scottish Government provides funding for the Our Future Now employability programme, managed by Inspiring Scotland. This programme helps young people aged 14-25 who face barriers work towards a positive destination.

The Our Future Now programme provides funding for 12 third sector organisations who have provided support for 4500 young people across Scotland.

The Scottish Government also provides funding for the Discovering Your Potential employability programme which is a partnership between Action for Children, Barnardo’s and the Prince’s Trust and supports care leavers to achieve positive destinations.

Funding of £900,000 was provided in 2024 to provide an intensive support programme for 143 care experienced young people and a positive transitions programme for 297 young people who have left school or are at risk of leaving school without a positive destination. (Pages 51 and 138)

Access

It is the duty of every corporate parent to take such action as it considers appropriate to help those children and young people to access opportunities; make use of services, and access support, which it provides.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that children and young people with care experience not only have opportunities to improve their wellbeing, but receive financial and wider support to help them access and sustain those opportunities by:

  • Offering financial support through bursaries, grants and loans as well as support and advice to enable care experienced people to access higher and further education and sustain their place.
  • Supporting kinship and foster carers, including the new Scottish Recommended Allowance.
  • Supporting access to childcare.

Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme

The Scottish Government have worked in partnership with the National Entitlement Card Programme Office, Young Scot and a range of other stakeholders to design and deliver the scheme. More than 170 million free bus journeys have been made by children and young people in Scotland since 2021.

The scheme aims to encourage more sustainable travel and tackle issues related to transport poverty allowing all children and young people to enjoy access to social, education, employment, and leisure opportunities regardless of their circumstances, including being care experienced.

Policy development for concessionary travel was informed by consultation, which included seeking the views of young people and organisations that supported care experienced children and young people.

The Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) for kinship and foster carers

In August 2023 the new Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) was announced. This means that all foster and kinship carers across Scotland will receive at least a standard national allowance to help care for the children and young people they look after.

Funded by an additional £16 million from the Scottish Government, the new SRA has benefitted more than 9,000 children. This marks the first time a set rate, which all local authorities must pay, has been introduced across Scotland. (Pages 34, 66 and 107)

PATHways programme

Since 2022-23, we have provided funding to Adoption UK Scotland for the PATHways programme (formerly known as Therapeutic Education Support Services in Adoption – TESSA). In 2023-24, we provided funding to support the expansion of the programme to kinship and permanent fostering families, in addition to adoptive families.

We will continue to invest in the PATHways programme in 2024-25 to allow adoptive families, kinship and permanent fostering families to benefit from therapeutic support and a peer support parenting group; and will improve the existing Scottish Government website so that all caregivers and prospective caregivers can access information at a national level. (Page 66)

Early Learning and Childcare

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 ensures children in care are able to access funded early learning and childcare from age two.

Since August 2021, the provision of funded early learning and childcare for two-year olds has been extended to include children of parents with care experience. Importantly, once a child qualifies for early learning and childcare, they remain qualified.

Building on what we have learned from the 1140 programme for all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds, our work to develop future funded offers of early learning and childcare will be strongly aligned to our approach to Whole Family Wellbeing and Holistic Family Support. (Pages 45 and 121)

Hub for Success - The Promise Partnership fund

Supported by Napier University and hosted by the University of Edinburgh, the Hub offers people with care experience impartial, one-to-one support to help people get in, stay in, or return to education. The Hub for Success received grant funding through The Promise Partnership fund to support the establishment of a Strategic Lead Manager role for one year to push forward the development and consolidation of the hub model. They are now working to expand collaboration between colleges, universities and local authorities outwith the current regional model for Hub for Success. (Page 50)

Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) – application support

Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) administers financial support to Scottish-domiciled students studying a course of Higher education within the UK.

Students are asked to provide evidence of their care experience once, regardless of the number of times that they have applied for funding. A bespoke form has been developed, created with stakeholders who support students with care experience, to ensure a trauma informed approach to evidencing eligibility.

Applications are routed through a specialist team who have undertaken trauma-informed practice training. Access to the Care Experienced Bursary is not restricted by age and so SAAS have ensured that the supporting documentation asked for is reflective of the historical types of care which some students may have experienced during their lifetime.

The SAAS website has a dedicated section for care experienced students and those who support them which provides information on funding, the application process and additional help and advice. SAAS run bespoke application workshops to help care experienced students apply for funding and work with schools, colleges, universities and third sector organisations across Scotland. (Page 51)

Care Experienced Bursary

The Care Experienced Bursary is a non-income assessed, non-repayable grant available to eligible Scottish domiciled students in full-time further or Higher education, who have experienced care as a child. It is designed to help learners with experience enter and remain in education.

Colleges and universities in Scotland are corporate parents under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and we work closely with them so that they are able to advise care experienced young people on how to access the Care Experienced Bursary and any other support available to them.

Since 2021, students in Higher education who were in receipt of the Care Experienced Bursary were able receive their student support payments over 12 months or over term time (usually 9 months) to help budget over summer. In 2023, the Care Experienced Bursary was increased from £8,100 to £9,000 for care experienced students in both further and Higher education.

In 2023/24, £17.7 million was awarded to students in Higher education via the Care Experienced Bursary, benefiting 2,105 full time students. For students in further education, the most recently available data from 2022/23 showed that 3,887 students received the Care Experienced Bursary at a cost of £23.3 million. (Pages 49-51 and 132)

Summer Accommodation Grant

A Summer Accommodation Grant is available to eligible students who are care experienced. in Higher education who need help with their accommodation costs during the summer period. For Summer 2024, changes were made to the grant to make it a flat-rate. This means students know in advance what funding they will receive, making it more transparent and easier to understand. (Page 133)

Scottish Mentoring & Leadership Programme – MCR Pathways

The Scottish Mentoring & Leadership Programme was established as a partnership programme with The Hunter Foundation aimed at supporting young people on the edges of care to enhance their confidence, wellbeing, attainment and positive destinations.

The programme was announced by Ministers in March 2021 and committed £19.4 million of funding alongside up to £7.5 million from The Hunter Foundation for a multi-year programme from 2021/22 to 2026/27.

The Scottish Government continue to support the MCR Pathways element of the programme. The programme is currently reaching 3,000 young people, including young people with care experience or on the edges of care. (Page 130)

Independent Review of Community Learning and Development provision

In December 2023, the Scottish Government announced an Independent Review of Community Learning and Development provision across Scotland. The review report Learning: For All. For Life. was published in July 2024 and sets out the impact of Community Learning across Scotland and provides 20 recommendations. These recommendations are currently being considered by Scottish Government and COSLA. (Pages 52, 125 and 139)

Disclosure Scotland

Disclosure Scotland worked with Education Scotland to develop specific guidance for disclosure for educational practitioners to help them support care experienced people.

Disclosure Scotland also worked with Who Cares? Scotland to produce written ‘top tips’ guidance on Disclosure Scotland services and to produce video guidance to help understanding of the formal consideration process. These are available in the Who Cares? Scotland Resource Library.

Accountant in Bankruptcy

Accountant in Bankruptcy have worked with Barnardo’s Works West of Scotland in March 2024 to help deliver the UK Government’s Multiply campaign aimed to help improve adult numeracy for young people 16+ and care-experienced individuals.

Since beginning the programme, Accountancy in Bankruptcy has met with two groups of young people to help them understand financial situations they may encounter, how to budget appropriately and the consequences of debt.

Improve

It is the duty of every corporate parent to take such other action as it considers appropriate for the purposes of improving the way in which it exercises its functions in relation to those children and young people.

We are improving the systems and services that support children and young people with care experience and care leavers by:

  • Investing in our social care workforce.
  • Embedding trauma informed practice across services in Scotland.
  • Improving experiences of secure care through the implementation of legislation, pathways and standards.
  • Keeping children out of the criminal justice system and promoting the use of the Whole System Approach.
  • Promoting Scottish Government ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) policy and practice guidance materials.
  • Supporting The Promise Collective to align the improvement work underway across the system.

National Trauma Transformation Programme

As part of the National Trauma Transformation Programme, we continue to rollout ‘Transforming Connections’, a tailored ‘Trauma-Skilled’ level training and coaching package, to people who work alongside children and young people with care experience in priority sectors of the Children and Families workforce, including school nurses, health visitors and secure and residential care providers. The development of a trauma training resource to support alternative caregivers (including adoptive parents, and kinship and foster carers) provide trauma-informed care for their children and young people is being explored.

The Trauma Responsive Social Work Services Programme has developed a workplan with partners that aims to embed trauma responsive practice into social work services across Scotland. (Pages 79 and 178)

Youth Justice Vision, 2024-2026

The Youth Justice Vision, 2024-2026, was published in June 2024. The vision represents a shared foundation between the Scottish Government and partners to continue to support the agenda to keep children out of the criminal justice system and promote the use of the Whole System Approach. (Pages 63, 165 and 166)

Secure accommodation

The Reimagining Secure Care Project

In 2022, as part of wider work to keep The Promise and embed the principles of the United Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), we commissioned the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice to undertake the ‘reimagining secure care’ project to understand what is required to support secure care services to meet the needs of all children who are deprived of their liberty in the future.

The Scottish Government, COSLA and Social Work Scotland were represented on the project’s Governance Group. An interim report was published in December 2023 and the final report was published in September 2024. The report sets out options and opportunities which suggest ways of transforming secure care, and other forms of care, in Scotland by describing an integrated model of care. We will now take the time necessary to carefully consider and appraise the options in the report with secure care providers - and wider stakeholders - with a formal Government response expected in Spring 2025. (Pages 63 and 165)

Restraint

We continue to work with secure accommodation providers and partners to ensure restraint in such settings is only used as a last resort and for the shortest time possible. The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice are supporting implementation of the secure care pathway and standards, which were published in 2020 and include standards around reducing the use of restraint.

The Care Inspectorate carried out a review of implementation of those standards and published their findings in late September 2023. Further consideration of the findings will be undertaken.

The UNCRC Concluding Observations include a range of recommendations about monitoring and restricting the use of restraint and seclusion. We published our initial response to the UN Committee recommendations in March 2024 and are developing our approach to advancing these over the next reporting cycle. (Pages 34-35, 61-62, 166-167)

Secure Care Pathway and Standards

Our partners at the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice are leading work to support local authorities and secure care providers to fully implement the Secure Care Pathway and Standards published in October 2020.

The standards apply to all children in secure care, including those who are placed in to secure accommodation in Scotland from elsewhere in the UK. Resources developed include a self-evaluation, learning and improvement template; a half-day workshop to raise awareness of the Pathways and Standards; and a website with resources and case studies.

The Cyrenians Keeping Families Together project received continued funding through the Scottish Government’s Cashback for Communities to support children in secure accommodation and their families, offering practical support, mediation and conflict resolution workshops until 2026. (Pages 160 and 163)

The Promise Collective

The Promise Collective was established in 2022 with an aim to align the improvement work underway across the system. A key element of this is to connect and provide a route for joint working and ambition by linking research and evidence to practice and policy. The group is co-chaired by The Promise Scotland, COSLA and The Scottish Government.

Initial membership widened from CELCIS, Who Cares? Scotland and the Improvement Service to include the Care Inspectorate, Public Health Scotland, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, to embed The Promise aims into improvement work across all public agencies.

The Promise Collective allows organisations to come together to connect corporate parenting duties and activities; share information and best practice to support improvement; and identifying opportunities for collaboration. (Pages 39 and 96)

The Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation of Social Care in Scotland (IRISR)

The Promise is clear that if Scotland is to shift its practice to support, prioritise and nurture relationships, then we must shift our accountability structures. The Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation of Social Care in Scotland (IRISR), chaired by Dame Sue Bruce, considered how regulation and inspection of social care support and linked services can ensure a human rights-based approach that delivers improved outcomes for people.

The IRISR Recommendation Report was published in September 2023. The Scottish Government response, accepting all 38 recommendations, was published in March 2024, recognising that significant amounts of work are already underway that will in part or fully address a number of the recommendations. We have established a programme of work that will enable us to track progress for current and future work, to progress the recommendations. (Pages 39 and 173)

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC)

In September 2022 the Scottish Government published a series of ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) policy and practice guidance materials, including guidance on using the National Practice Model, information sharing, and statutory guidance on the Assessment of Wellbeing.

In October 2023, The Scottish Government published the GIRFEC Child’s Plan Practice Statement to communicate the roles and responsibilities of practitioners involved with the development and monitoring of a non-statutory GIRFEC Child’s Plan. (Page 117)

Child Protection

The National Guidance for Child Protection was published in 2021 and updated in 2023. This guidance places children and young people’s experience, needs, wishes and feelings at the centre of decision-making, builds on strengths as well as addressing risk and focuses on working in partnership with families and communities.

In September 2021, a National Child Protection Guidance Implementation Group, chaired by the Deputy Social Work Advisor was established. The Group met for two years to provide strategic oversight and offer support to local areas as they implemented the 2021 Guidance.

The Group concluded in September 2023 after overseeing a range of work including:

  • publication of an NHS Public Protection Accountability and Assurance Framework
  • development of NHS Education for Scotland eLearning resources to support health professionals
  • establishment of a National Learning and Development Co-ordinator post for two years.

An approach to monitoring and evaluating implementation of the Guidance up to September 2023 was developed. A self-evaluation exercise was completed by all 31 of Scotland’s Child Protection Committees (CPCs). Findings were published by CELCIS in March 2024 highlighting significant progress by local areas despite challenging circumstances, including progress in aligning local child protection processes with GIRFEC and The Promise. (Pages 33 and 59)

In March 2024, a national framework for learning and development in child protection was published which supports multi-agency training. Iriss were commissioned to develop a resource which compares child protection and adult support and protection processes for 16 and 17 year olds as part of this work to help practitioners’ decision-making. (Pages 33 and 59)

National Social Work Agency

The National Social Work Agency (NSWA) will lead the social work profession. It will work in partnership to ensure a skilled, supported and sustainable workforce for Scotland. In partnership, it will provide leadership and oversight of social work education, improvement and implementation approaches, national workforce planning and professional development opportunities.

Corporate parenting responsibilities are central to the role of social workers – they assess, support and advocate on behalf of people, enabling them to get the services they need to live the life they choose.

The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill accompanying Policy Memorandum, sets out the intention to establish a National Social Work Agency by the end of the parliamentary term.(Pages 17, 36 and 174)

In Summary

The Scottish Government’s efforts towards delivering on our commitments to keep The Promise has set the context for much of the activity for this reporting period. A wide range of activities have been set out above, from policy, legislation, funding and guidance to quantitative and qualitative data collection, demonstrating how we remain alert to and assess the needs of children and young people with care experience to understand the barriers they face, to improve access to opportunities and benefits and to improve the services provided to the care experienced community.

Throughout, we have shown how we are working in collaboration with other corporate parents and wider partners in Scotland through stakeholder groups, consultations and shared programmes. Fundamental to informing and driving forward policy change and improvement, has been the care experienced community who we have engaged with and listened to throughout policy development.

Contact

Email: Looked_After_Children@gov.scot

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