Justice for children and young people: vision and priorities 2024-26

Annex A

Drivers and Policy Links

The following details some of the key areas affecting children and young people in Scotland and work being undertaken either within the Scottish Government or elsewhere to address the needs of children, young people, their families and wider communities.

Poverty

Tackling Child Poverty is a critical mission for the Scottish Government and Scotland is unique among UK nations in having introduced statutory child poverty targets, which are set out in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. In March 2022 the Scottish Government published the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, “Best Start, Bright Futures”, setting out wide ranging action to reduce child poverty, with a focus on increasing household incomes, reducing the cost of living and ensuring that systems and services work for families at the greatest risk of poverty. Annual progress reports provide updates on the progress made in each year towards the ambitious targets set.

The Scottish Government continues to make significant investment in policies aimed at reducing poverty, with the Scottish Budget 2024-25 including commitments for £6.3 billion in social security benefits and payments, £555.8 million to support the delivery of affordable homes and around £1 billion for high quality Early Learning and Childcare.

This includes investment of £457 million in the Scottish Child Payment, a unique Scottish benefit that supports low-income families in Scotland. More than 327,000 children were benefiting from the payment as of the end of December 2023, with the value of payments increasing in line with inflation to £26.70 per child per week from 1 April 2024.

The Scottish Child Payment is recognised as one of the most important anti-poverty measures that the Scottish Government has introduced. Cumulatively, it is estimated that Scottish Government policies, including the Scottish Child Payment, will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty in 2024-25.

The Promise

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to deliver on its pledge to care experienced people in Scotland by accepting and responding to the care review conclusions. Keeping the Promise requires both immediate action to improve experiences and outcomes for children, young people and their families who are currently in or on the edge of care and also requires 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 work to implement the Promise is underpinned by the incorporation into Scots Law of the UNCRC.

We are committed to creating a structure that can facilitate the re‑design of whole system approaches to care and support.

This begins with embedding the commitments that have already been made to care experienced people into policy and delivery, with significant and intensive work across the entirety of government policy.

The Promise Scotland was set up to support and have oversight to enable the full implementation of the Care Review’s conclusions.

The Promise Scotland published The Plan 21-24 on 31 March 2021, the first of three, 3 year plans. The second Plan 24-30 is due to be published in June 2024. Collectively these plans lay out Scotland’s route-map to implement all of the Independent Care Review by 2030, and Keep The Promise.

The £4m Promise Partnership Fund launched on 1 February 2021. This fund is being administered by the CORRA Foundation on behalf of the Scottish Government. The Promise Scotland helped to shape the process and the Decision Makers Panel were a group with lived experience of Scotland’s care system. The aim of the fund is to help organisations with early intervention and to deliver changes to better support children, young people and families in or on the edges of care.

National Care Service

The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 20 June 2022. The Bill sets out a legal framework for the establishment of the National Care Service (NCS). Further details will be established through co-design and set out in regulations, or through guidance and other documents.

The Bill will require the Scottish Ministers to promote a care service designed to secure improvement in the wellbeing of the people of Scotland. They will be required to do this in accordance with the NCS Principles set out in the Bill.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with stakeholders and people with lived experience to develop proposals for the NCS.

National Social Work Agency

The Scottish Government is committed to establishing a National Social Work Agency (NSWA) and it will provide a single national body with oversight of social work education, training and professional development, and the improvement of social work services. The intention is that the NSWA will be part of the NCS structure. COSLA Leaders have agreed to work with the Scottish Government and key stakeholders on the establishment of the NSWA. Partners and stakeholders are supportive of its establishment and are engaged in its development.

There will be ongoing collaboration with the sector, including frontline social workers, chief social work officers and paraprofessionals, leadership groups, and regulatory and improvement bodies across the health and care system.

The NSWA Advisory Group was established in January 2023 and has representatives from the social work sector and is informing development of the NSWA. The Scottish Government, in partnership with Social Work Scotland and the Scottish Association of Social Workers, jointly leads the Social Work Policy Panel. The Panel is a forum for frontline social workers and collaborates on the design of the NCS and the NSWA.

The NSWA will be part of the national level NCS structure, as social work is integral to a successful NCS. NSWA functions will be integrated with other NCS functions, e.g. workforce planning, to enable national leadership and retain national oversight and to minimise costs.

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 in 2026.

Public Protection

The Public Protection system is an important part of delivering the youth justice vision. ‘Public Protection’ is a term used to describe the many different approaches used to prevent harm to the public and includes child protection, adult support and protection, offender management, violence against women and girls, alcohol, drugs and other substance use and suicide prevention. It requires to be understood as part of a continuum of services and support which spans prevention and early intervention, through to action which addresses high levels of risk or wellbeing need. Individuals and families may need support from several parts of the Public Protection system. There is also recognition that there are additional considerations with regards to 16 and 17 year olds who are in need of care and protection. We are committed to working with our partners to deliver a more coherent and consistent approach to ensure the best possible outcomes for individuals, families and the workforce that supports them.

Scottish Government and the SOLACE Public Protection Group have worked jointly to establish a National Public Protection Leadership Group (NPPLG) which will provide national multi-agency leadership of public protection in Scotland. The NPPLG will have a remit focusing on Children Protection, Adult Support and Protection, Violence Against Women and Girls, MAPPA, Alcohol and Drug related deaths and Suicide Prevention. The Group will also consider public protection interests in other relevant areas such as: Homelessness; Asylum Seekers and Refugees; Human Trafficking; and Missing People.

Equally Safe

Equally Safe 2023 is the Scottish Government and COSLA’s commitment to preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. The strategy aims to address all forms of violence against women and girls, specifically violence, abuse, and exploitation directed at them because of their gender.

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC)

GIRFEC is the Government commitment to providing all children, young people and their families with the right support at the right time. GIRFEC provides a framework which puts the rights and wellbeing of children and young people at the heart of polices and services across all national and local public and third sector organisations which provide support for children and families.

The GIRFEC National Practice Model brings together Scotland’s eight wellbeing indicators for children and young people, My World Triangle and Resilience Matrix to guide practitioners to consider ways in which they can help improve wellbeing for a child or young person, including through support for their family.

National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland

The Scottish Government published national guidance for Child Protection in Scotland in 2021. This was further updated in 2023. The guidance informs the development of local multi-agency child protection procedures, processes and training and supports the care and protection of children across Scotland. The guidance was developed collaboratively with a National Guidance Steering group and involved extensive engagement with stakeholder groups and individuals.

Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE)

We continue to work with operational and Third Sector partners to tackle CSAE and improve our understanding of the interactions with wider youth justice and child welfare objectives - in line with UNCRC obligations and the objectives of the Promise.

Child Criminal Exploitation

Criminal exploitation of a child is where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child into criminal activity for financial or other advantage.

Scotland has a serious organised crime strategy overseen by the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, which aims to reduce the harm caused by serious organised crime by ensuring all partner agencies work together. The strategy has 4 key objectives: to Divert, Deter, Detect and Disrupt serious organised crime. The Divert objective has 3 key priorities, one of which is to divert people on the cusp of serious organised crime, including children and young people. Guidance was developed by the Divert group and published in 2023 to support a shared understanding of criminal exploitation and to help assist with the early identification of those at risk from serious organised crime.

The Scottish Government has also provided dedicated Keep the Promise funding to Action for Children (AfC) and the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) to develop a framework to improve practice in identification and response to criminal exploitation.

Based on the Practitioner Guidance, Education Scotland have developed a professional learning package for local authority strategic safeguarding leads. In addition to raising awareness amongst practitioners, we recognise the need to ensure children and young people also have access to information on the risk and impact of CCE. I Am Me Scotland and Police Scotland, with input from young people and various organisations, including the Scottish Government, have developed the ‘You Are Not alone’ child exploitation awareness toolkit that is aimed at pupils in S1-S3 (11-15 years old).

It is available for free for all schools and police officers in Scotland and is designed to help practitioners identify areas for concerns, whilst providing children and young people with the awareness to help recognise what exploitation is and how abusers can target and manipulate children and young people.

CCE is often linked to other forms of exploitation and we are tackling these risks through our work with a range of stakeholders as part of our Child Trafficking Strategy Group (CTSG). The CTSG is currently supporting the refresh of Scotland’s Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy and Criminal Exploitation which will be delivered later in 2024.

The Lord Advocate’s instructions for non-prosecution of victims of human trafficking of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 has been revised in January 2024 Lord Advocate’s instructions for non-prosecution of victims of human trafficking | COPFS to include strong references to the increase of criminal exploitation in recent years and it also references the Criminal exploitation guidance.

Human Trafficking and Exploitation

In 2017, Scotland’s first Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy was published. The Strategy was built around three action areas with a specific Child Trafficking Strategy Group created. Significant progress has been made over the past 7 years and this is set out within the regular progress reports we have published on Strategy implementation.

Following our first review of the Strategy in 2019/20, a further review was taken forward in 2022/23 and was subsequently published in September 2023. This included a commitment from the Minister for Victims and Community Safety to refresh the existing Strategy. The refresh has commenced and is currently ongoing.

Contextual Safeguarding

Contextual safeguarding, founded on the work of Carlene Firmin, is an approach to understanding and responding to young people’s experiences of significant harm. It has been evolved since 2011 as an approach to inform policy and practice responses to harm that young people experience in contexts and relationships beyond their families.

Contextual safeguarding was designed to enhance responses to abuse and significant harm in extra-familial settings and can add value to various stages of practice including engagement, assessment, planning and intervention as well as prevention.

Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children

Children and young people under the age of 18 who arrive in Scotland without parents or guardians are defined as unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UAS children). Many of the services, which are essential to supporting UAS children to settle into communities, are the responsibility of the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities. This includes health, education and accommodation.

UAS children are the responsibility of the local authority in which they are found and require to be accommodated and supported under section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. They are entitled, as any other child, to the full range of supports that can be made available to children under this and associated legislation and provisions.

The statutory Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service, Guardianship Scotland, launched April 2023 as set out in our Programme for Government 2021 to 2022.

Guardianship Scotland provides specialist support to UAS children, such as:

• Accompanying children and young people when they claim asylum or are trafficked and are cared for by health, education and welfare services.
• Helping a child or young person to be actively involved in decisions that affect their life and to get the help they need, when they need it.
• Supporting professionals working with a child or young person to provide them with expert advice and guidance.

Scottish Child Interview Model

The Scottish Child Interview Model is a new approach to joint investigative interviewing that has been introduced across the country since 2021, providing an improved experience of forensic interviewing for children and young people and contributing to improved care and justice outcomes. It is a national model of practice, with associated Quality Standards, supporting a consistent high-quality approach to joint investigative interviewing across Scotland.

The Scottish Child Interview Model is a trauma informed approach to forensic interviewing, and incorporates an evidence-based interview protocol, combined with enhanced planning, all of which result in capturing best evidence from the children and young people involved.

The needs and rights of every child are held at the centre of the Scottish Child Interview Model, with bespoke interview plans developed by skilled forensic interviewers, in partnership with those who know the child well.

More information about the implementation of this new model of practice can be found here: Joint Investigative Interviews of Child Victims and Witnesses | COSLA

Bairns’ Hoose

Bairns’ Hoose is being developed in Scotland to ensure that children who have been victims and witnesses of abuse or violence, and children under the age of criminal responsibility who have caused harm, receive access to trauma-informed recovery, support and justice in one place.

Bairns’ Hoose is being modelled on “Barnahus”, (derived from the Icelandic word for "children's house"), which is a child-friendly, multidisciplinary and interagency model for responding to child victims and witnesses of violence. The purpose of Barnahus is to offer each child a coordinated and effective child protection and criminal justice response, and to prevent traumatisation and re-traumatisation during investigation and court proceedings. Support and recovery services are built into the response.

Barnahus was first established in 1997 in Iceland and has since been introduced a several countries across Europe.

European Barnahus Quality Standards (also known as the PROMISE standards) were developed by the PROMISE Barnahus network as an international framework for best practice across Europe. Each country implements Barnahus within the context of its own legal, child protection and healthcare systems. The PROMISE standards need to be adapted to each jurisdiction’s systems to fully reflect the governance, approach, and ambition of the model in that country.

In 2023, the Scottish Government introduced a three-phased approach to developing Bairns’ Hoose, beginning with a Pathfinder phase; leading into a pilot phase followed by national roll out.

The Pathfinder phase was launched in Autumn 2023 and will run until March 2027. The purpose of this phase is to develop enough knowledge about how the Bairns’ Hoose Standards (published in May 2023), work in different delivery contexts, to develop a national Bairns’ Hoose model and identify the support required to underpin the pilot phase. A number of Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder Partnerships are currently testing the Bairns’ Hoose Standards within their local contexts.

More information about Bairns’ Hoose can be found here: bairnshoosescotland.com | Providing children and young people across Scotland with access to trauma-informed recovery, support and justice

Children’s Hearings and advocacy

The statutory scheme for children’s advocacy for children’s hearings was introduced in November 2020 and expanded in 2021 to provide brothers and sisters with greater opportunities to participate in their sibling’s hearing.

The Children’s hearings advocacy Expert Reference Group supports the design, delivery and implementation of this service. Funding is provided to deliver a sustainable model of advocacy across Scotland.

Anti-social behaviour/Violence Prevention

The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all antisocial behaviour and our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and positive diversionary activities.

Preventing and addressing antisocial behaviour is being considered through an independently chaired working group being set up by the Scottish Government. Members are looking at the current approach and will make recommendations on what long-term changes can be made to reduce such behaviour and support victims. It is expected that the group will present their conclusions to Ministers by the end of 2024.

The Scottish Government fund violence reduction initiatives such as Medics against violence, No Knives Better Lives and Mentors in Violence Prevention run by Education Scotland.

Vision for Justice

The Vision for Justice outlines the Government’s ambition for a safe, just and resilient Scotland. It was first published in February 2022 with an accompanying one-year delivery plan and a subsequent Three Year Delivery Plan and associated Measurement Framework were published in November 2023. It is important that work undertaken across the Justice Portfolio, and other justice related activity, aligns with the overarching Vision for Justice.

Victims’ Code for Scotland

Section 3B of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014, as inserted by the Victims Rights (Scotland) Regulations 2015, requires the Scottish Ministers to prepare and publish a Victims’ Code for Scotland. This Code clearly and simply sets out the rights of victims, including rights to information, participation, protection and support.

National Strategy for Community Justice

The strategy was updated in 2022 and provides a shared vision to help partners and communities work together effectively to improve community justice outcomes.

Restorative Justice

The Scottish Government remains committed to having Restorative Justice (RJ) services available across Scotland. The Vision is for RJ to be available across Scotland to all those who wish to access it, and at a time that is appropriate to the people and cases involved. RJ in Scotland will always be voluntary for those who wish to take part in it, whether they are the individual or community harmed or someone who has caused harm. We want services to be available at a time that is appropriate to the people and case involved; consistent; evidence-led, trauma informed and of a high standard.

The Scottish Government continues to provide funding for, and work in partnership with, Community Justice Scotland and the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice on delivering this commitment – recognising that the requirements and needs of those accessing the service may differ where young people are involved.

The Restorative Justice Stakeholder Group includes representatives from the National Youth Justice Advisory Group, Scottish Children’s Report Administration (SCRA), and Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS).

Sentencing Guidelines

The Scottish Sentencing Council’s guideline on the sentencing of young people was approved by the High Court of Justiciary in November 2021 and came into effect in January 2022 sentencing young people | Scottish Sentencing Council. It applies to the sentencing of those who are aged 24 or under when convicted of an offence. The guideline takes account of evidence about the factors that contribute to offending by young people especially in terms of self-control and risk taking behaviours and what is effective in reducing reoffending.

It recognises that because a young person’s brain may still be developing, their culpability may be lower than that of an older person for the same, or a similar, offence. This does not affect the court’s consideration of the level of harm caused to any victim, which remains a central part of the sentencing exercise. The guideline requires the court to ensure it has sufficient information to assess a young person’s maturity, including information about psychological trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and speech, language, and communication needs, and to have regard to rehabilitation as a primary consideration. All sentencing options, including custody, remain open to the court under the guideline.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Vision for Young People in Custody

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Vision for Young People in Custody

With its central premise to help young people in custody to prepare for a positive future, continues to guide work at a local and national level. Preparation for incorporation of the UNCRC included the development and implementation of a system of restraints for the management of distressed behaviour in children and young people in custody. Whilst the UNCRC was instrumental in driving this new approach, the new physical interventions are now being considered for use with all people in custody, taking specific account of individual risk factors such as previous trauma, underlying health conditions, neurodiverse conditions and others.

Cashback for Communities

Cashback for Communities is a key Scottish Government programme which reinvests criminal assets recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) in projects that deliver positive futures for young people aged 10 - 25. The programme has strong links to the Vision for Justice and the Divert strand of our Serious Organised Crime Strategy. Up to £20 million has been committed to Phase 6 of the CashBack programme which will run from April 2023 to March 2026. Funding has been awarded to 29 organisations, to deliver a range of personal support, diversionary youth work activities and new opportunities for young people to help them recognise and realise their potential.

The Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland

Through the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, published in May 2023, we are taking a public health approach, focussing on prevention, early and targeted intervention to divert individuals away from violence to help build safer communities for everyone. The Framework includes priority activities being undertaken by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, Medics Against Violence, YouthLink Scotland and Education Scotland offering help working with and supporting young people, families and communities.

Homelessness

In November 2018, the Ending Homelessness Together High Level Action Plan was published jointly with COSLA and sets out our actions in response to the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group’s (HARSAG) recommendations to end homelessness and transform temporary accommodation in Scotland.

Actions include:

• We will develop preventative pathways for the groups at highest risk of rough sleeping and homelessness, including young people and people leaving public institutions. Where pathways have already been developed, such as the SHORE standards (Sustainable Housing on Release for Everyone) for people leaving prison, we will support local authorities and delivery partners in their implementation.
• We will ensure a clear, effective focus on preventing and responding effectively to youth homelessness.

Prison Leavers

The Sustainable Housing on Release for Everyone SHORE STANDARDS.pdf (sps.gov.uk) standards were published on 5 December 2017. The SHORE standards have been developed by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and partners to outline minimum standards for housing advice, information and support for people serving custodial sentences to ensure that the housing needs of individuals are handled in a consistent way across Scotland. The Standards aim to provide a mutually agreed protocol which will detail the multi-agency integration required to secure sustainable housing outcomes. It sets out good practice in the coordination between the SPS and housing providers, and the planning of offenders’ housing needs within custody, so that actions will be taken in a planned manner, reducing the instances of emergency homelessness wherever possible.

Scottish Government Justice and Housing officials are working with SPS, Community Justice Scotland and local authorities in a process to review the implementation of SHORE and to also revise and update the SHORE Standards, which will also consider the potential to develop more specialised guidance for young prisoners.

Young People

The Youth Homelessness Prevention Pathway, developed by members of A Way Home Scotland, the national coalition to end youth homelessness, was published on 22 March 2021. The report includes recommendations which, if implemented can make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring for young people aged 16-25. The Pathway addresses the needs of young people who are most vulnerable to homelessness and includes a section on young people in conflict with the law. The pathway recognises that youth homelessness is more than just a housing issue and calls for change across youth, welfare, health, justice, housing, homelessness and the children and families’ sectors and departments at both a national and local level. The pathway has 16 recommendations across 5 tiers of prevention: universal prevention; targeted prevention; crisis prevention; emergency response; and recovery and housing stability. One of the recommendations states:

• No young person should be discharged from public services (Justice, Health or Care) into homelessness. Systems for discharge planning should be created which take account of housing availability & waiting times and ensure that they have a person to support the transition.

Scottish Government officials are currently working with partners to consider the implementation of the recommendations within the report.

Health

Value based health and care action plan was published October 2023 and sets out the actions to support health and care colleagues practise Realistic Medicine and deliver value based health and care, by focusing on outcomes that matter to people, optimising use of health care and care resources and contributing to a more sustainable health and care system.

Mental Health Strategy

Scottish Government published a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy jointly with COSLA on 29 June 2023. The Strategy is evidence-based, informed by lived experience, and underpinned by equality and human rights. It focuses on outcomes, and is driven by data and intelligence. The scope of the Strategy is wider than our previous work in this space, with an increasing focus on wellbeing and prevention. We have also considered how the Strategy can take account of social factors and inequalities that may impact a person’s mental health and wellbeing. The Strategy’s first Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan were published on 7 November 2023 and they describes the work that we, together with our partners, will undertake over 18 months under each of the Strategy’s 10 priorities. Actions in the Plan cover a wide spectrum, with many being focused on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and families, from maintaining good mental wellbeing, to support in communities, to ensuring specialist services are available whenever needed.

Joint Strategic Board for Child and Family Mental Health

Building on the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board and Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board, the Scottish Government and COSLA have established a new joint strategic board for children’s and family mental health, co-chaired by COSLA and the SG Director for Mental Health. The new Joint Strategic Board (JSB) provides a single structure with oversight of key workstreams and activity across the perinatal period through to young adulthood, in respect of mental health and wellbeing. Membership of the JSB comprises representatives from across local and national Government, third sector, academia and clinical specialties. The JSB is closely aligned to the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and associated Delivery and Workforce Action plans, and linked to its governance structures.

The JSB has four agreed priorities:

1. Crisis supports

2. Prevention

3. Perinatal and early years mental health supports

4. Children, young people and families in vulnerable situations

The JSB’s work will be underpinned by the principles of Getting It Right For Every Child and out commitments in The Promise, as well as being responsive to local needs and systems.

Further to the ongoing work of the Joint Strategic Board to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, the Scottish Government also:

• Continues to support Health Boards in the implementation of the National CAMHS Service Specification criteria and the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. In FY 23/24, we allocated £55.5 million to Health Boards to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all, including CAMHS improvement and neurodevelopmental services. The CAMHS specification sets out that all children and families should receive support and services that are appropriate to their needs. For many children and young people, such support is likely to be community based, and should be easily and quickly accessible.
• provides local authorities with over £15 million per annum to provide community mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and families. In total, over £50 million has been invested since 2020 with a further £15 million committed for 2024/25.
• provides local authorities with an annual investment of £16 million to support counselling services in place through secondary schools. These services are available to all children in Scotland aged 10 years and over.
• funds children and young people’s organisations for a range of online mental health and emotional wellbeing initiatives, such as Young Scot’s Aye Feel hub and Scottish Youth Parliament and Children’s Parliament ‘Mind Yer Time’

Improving the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people will remain a top priority for the Scottish Government, and we will continue to listen to children, young people and their families’ voices and experiences, embedding this into our approaches to build and develop support for their mental health and wellbeing.

Drugs and Alcohol

Scotland’s alcohol and drug strategy ‘Rights, Respect and Recovery’ (RRR) has a specific focus on the needs of children, young people and their families who are affected by alcohol/drug use. Parental/family alcohol and drug use is a commonly recognised adverse childhood experience (ACE), which (without support) can have potential long-term impacts on children’s health and wellbeing into adulthood. Understanding and addressing this impact is crucial to safeguarding children and young people.

There are a range of activities underway to deliver on commitments from the RRR strategy which includes a framework for local partnerships to implement a consistent approach across Scotland to support children, young people and families who are affected by alcohol/drug use as published in December 2021. This framework was developed following consultation with children, young people and families through Ask the Family.

Psychological Trauma and Adversity, including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

The Scottish Government is undertaking work to prevent and mitigate psychological trauma and adversity, including the development of trauma-informed workforces and services, supported by the National Trauma Transformation Programme.

Expert Group on Preventing Sexual Offending Involving Children and Young People

The Scottish Government published the Expert Group’s report in 2020, which contains findings relating to the nature, causes and frequency of harmful sexual behaviour by children towards other children, and sets out 19 proposals for further action. Some of the proposals sit under existing programmes of work, including support to increase the age of referral to the Children’s Reporter. A sub-group of the National Child Protection Leadership Group was established in 2021 to consider and support successful delivery of the remaining proposals, and offer advice, further expert input and oversight.

Developing the Young Workforce: Scotland's Youth Employment Strategy (2014)

Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy sets out how the Scottish Government will implement the recommendations from the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce (DYW), including the commitment to reduce the 2014 level of youth unemployment by 40% by 2021 – a target that was met 4 years early in 2017. Together with ‘Getting it right for every child’ and the Curriculum for Excellence, DYW is the key policy approach through which the Scottish Government is creating excellence and equity in Scottish education.

Education

In schools, the Health and Wellbeing area of the Curriculum for Excellence contains a social wellbeing experience and outcome that explores children’s rights so children and young people may exercise their rights appropriately, responsibility and respectfully. This helps ensure teachers use their professional judgement to deliver relevant and meaningful learning on children’s rights. This, in turn, helps support learning and teaching that is designed to develop learner’s knowledge, skills and resilience so they can keep themselves safe and protect themselves, and to develop an understanding of the World so they can respond to a range of issues and potential risky situations arising throughout their lives.

Additional Support for Learning Action Plan (2020). The joint Scottish Government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) action plan was published in 2020 setting out actions to address recommendations and enhance the experiences of children and young people with additional support needs, this was updated in 2021.

New, children’s rights-based, non-statutory guidance is being developed by the physical intervention working group on the use of physical interventions in schools, including the practices of restraint and seclusion. The guidance aims to increase practitioners’ understanding of children’s rights in relation to practice, promote the use of early intervention, preventative and de-escalation approaches and reduce the misuse of restraint and seclusion in schools. The working group is also developing a standard dataset for recording and monitoring incidents in all local authorities.

Employability

No One Left Behind is Scottish Governments approach to transforming employment support in Scotland. It has a crucial role in achieving our vision for economic transformation and tackling child poverty; and aims to deliver a system that is more tailored and responsive to the needs of people of all ages who want help and support on their journey towards, into and in work - particularly people with health conditions, disabled people and others who are disadvantaged in the labour market.

No One Left Behind is designed to help people prepare for employment, training, education and/or volunteering. Through No One Left Behind, we will deliver an approach to employability that is flexible, person-centred, and integrated and aligned with other key services including health, justice, housing provision and advice services.

Support is offered to individuals regardless of age or background. This includes people with a disability, people with convictions, care-experienced young people, single parents, minority ethnic people, and people living in the most deprived areas in Scotland. This ensures maximum reach and enhances the experience of users facing structural inequalities in the labour market, supporting them to achieve their career aspirations and enter fair sustainable work.

The Young Person’s Guarantee was introduced in November 2020 in direct response to the economic and labour market challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and is a commitment to connect every 16 – 24 year old’s in Scotland to an opportunity through jobs, apprenticeships, further and higher education, training programmes and volunteering.