Disabled young people: National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy Strategic Working Group minutes - March 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Anne Marie Sturrock, Borders College - representing college practitioners
• Beth Kirby, Scottish Government
• Claire Vekic, Colleges Scotland
• Dr Edwin Jesudason, NHS Lothian – representing adult health
• Fergus McMillan, Skills Development Scotland
• Gavin Cobb, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• Gemma Richardson, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• Jenny Miller, Promoting a More Inclusive Society (PAMIS)
• John Urquhart, COSLA
• Julie Cuzen, Scottish Transitions Forum Parent Carer Network
• Marianne Tyler, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (The ALLIANCE)
• Mark Smith, Social Work Scotland 
• Rachel Bell, Scottish Government
• Sam Nicholson, Education Scotland
• Scott Richardson-Read, Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland
• Suzanne Peaker, Scottish Transitions Forum Parent Carer Network
• Tracey Francis, Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland
• Una McFadyen, National Managed Clinical Network – Children with Exceptional Healthcare Needs

Apologies 

• Sara Hampson, Scottish Government
• Marianne Scobie, Glasgow Disability Alliance
• James Fletcher, ARC Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and review of previous meeting minutes and actions

BS welcomed attendees and noted apologies. 
BS outlined the previous meeting’s actions, and today’s meeting agenda and outcomes were shared:

• agree outcomes under each priority
• further develop the engagement plans

Group updates

RB shared the following updates:

• The University of Glasgow is looking for practitioners to take part in interviews for their disability and youth transitions research project. Interested group members should contact Charlotte Pearson, Senior Lecturer for further details.
• The Scottish Government published the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - concluding observations 2023: Scottish Government initial response. Both the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy and the work of the Disabled Children and Young People’s Advisory Group engagement sub-group are mentioned in the report.

RB invited group updates which included: 

• JU noted updates in relation to the ASL project board, and committed to progressing conversations with ADES on the transitions strategy engagement.
• UM will be leaving post as clinical lead of the CEN Network, and shared insights from some young adults in relation to their lived experience of transitioning to adult health services.
• The Scottish Government Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill: consultation is still open, and some group members indicated they have submitted responses. There were also some suggestions this risks adding further complexity to the policy and legislative landscape surrounding transitions.
• SN noted ongoing work between Education Scotland and Skills Development Scotland, part of which is consideration of how transitions are planned for and supported within the Curriculum for Excellence, to ensure all disabled young people have access to preparatory experiences and opportunities which help them to identify – and prepare them to pursue - their future aspirations.
• FM highlighted internal discussions within Skills Development Scotland around possible opportunities to strengthen transitions within careers services. 

Priorities and outcomes

RB recapped on the discussions from the previous two meetings, noting the group agreed to:

• the addition of a sixth priority reflecting the broader landscape of policy and legislation which contributes to improving outcomes for disable young people
• simplifying the language of the priorities

RB shared proposed strategic outcomes for each priority, based on suggestions from members at – and following - the last meeting, and invited reflections which included:

• the need to further look at transitions from the perspective of young people with complex needs
• using language of “person-led” instead of “person-centred”
• training for professionals and practitioners, including support to understand and execute their statutory functions
• the importance of support for families to understand and be able to claim their rights and entitlements, and access to advocacy within this
• making better use of existing data sets and understanding what we actually need; not collecting data unnecessarily
• consideration of including a “named person” or “key person” with co-ordination of support
• difficulties quantifying/measuring the word “feel” within outcome descriptors to ascertain whether the strategy is having its intended impact

Next steps, any other business and close

The group will consider the engagement plans at the next meeting, due to time constraints of this meeting. 

RB noted the next meeting date will be 30 April 2024, clarifying that the May meeting is cancelled and replaced by 25 June 2024.  

Actions

• Officials to share slides with group
• Members encouraged to email suggestions, including offers of support, for engagement activities or events between May-July to DCYPtransitions@gov.scot
• Members with a particular interest in complex needs to contact officials 
• Officials to review the draft outcomes in light of feedback from this group
• Group members to begin to consider possible actions against each priority and its draft outcomes