Crofting - national development plan: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment - screening report

National Development Plan for Crofting CRWIA Stage 1

Screening - key questions

1. Name the policy, and describe its overall aims.

National Development Plan for Crofting

The Scottish Government has a PfG Commitment to produce a National Development Plan for Crofting. The Plan will set the long-term strategic direction for crofting - highlighting the core elements necessary to ensure that crofting remains at the heart of our rural and remote rural communities.

The Plan will capture how the Scottish Government and wider stakeholders are supporting crofting. It will also help inform the future support packages for crofting. The Plan will focus on collaborative working and will build on the recognition that there already exists a wide range of grants and support available to crofters.

2. What aspects of the policy/measure will affect children and young people up to the age of 18?

(The Articles of the UNCRC and the child wellbeing indicators under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 apply to all children and young people up to the age of 18, including non-citizen and undocumented children and young people. )

The National Development Plan is only applicable to the crofting system, which exists in certain parts of Scotland, including the Highlands and Islands, Moray, Arran, Bute, Greater and Little Cumbrae.

The National Development Plan may have some indirect, positive impact on children and young people where their parent or guardian is a crofter or the young person is a crofter.

Approximately 10% of the Highlands and Islands population live in a crofting household. The Crofting Commission's Annual Report 2019/20 indicates that only 0.1% of crofters are under 21 years old. Therefore it is expected that the number of children who could potentially be affected by the National Development Plan, whether directly as the croft tenant or indirectly as the child of a crofter, will be relatively small.

The Plan will capture how the Scottish Government and wider stakeholders are already supporting crofting. Young people aged 16 years or older are eligible to apply for the grant support schemes referenced within the Plan, provided they are a registered crofter.

Young crofters, or the children of crofters, who are successful in receiving support under any of the schemes referenced within the National Development Plan are expected to be affected in a positive way, whether that be through improvements to the family croft business (resulting from Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme funding) or improved accommodation (resulting from Croft House Grant funding).

3. What likely impact - direct or indirect - will the policy/measure have on children and young people?

('Direct' impact refers to policies/measures where children and young people are directly affected by the proposed changes, e.g. in early years, education, child protection or looked after children (children in care). 'Indirect' impact refers to policies/measures that are not directly aimed at children but will have an impact on them. Examples include: welfare reforms, parental leave, housing supply, or local transport schemes. )

As the policy measure will be promoting and expanding existing schemes and support, there will be no impact, either direct or indirect, on children and young people. As to any new policies that are proposed, these may require their own independent impact assessments should they come to fruition.

4. Which groups of children and young people will be affected?

(Under the UNCRC, 'children' can refer to: individual children, groups of children, or children in general. Some groups of children will relate to the groups with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010: disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation. 'Groups' can also refer to children by age band or setting, or those who are eligible for special protection or assistance: e.g. preschool children, children in hospital, children in rural areas, looked after children, young people who offend, victims of abuse or exploitation, child migrants, or children living in poverty.)

It is not expected that groups of children with any of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 will be particularly affected by the National Development Plan for Crofting. However given the crofting system is generally found to be in rural and remote rural areas, the classification of 'children in rural areas' is relevant for consideration.

Children in rural areas are more likely to be affected by the Plan than any other classification, however, it will only be in a beneficial way, by making parents more aware of the grants and support that are available to crofters.

5. Will this require a CRWIA?

The National Development Plan will have an indirect impact on those children whose parent or guardian is successful in receiving support under the various schemes highlighted in the Plan, and any positive changes to the local natural environment. However, given the lack of direct impacts and the small number of children and young people under the age of 18 who will be indirectly affected by this Plan, it is considered that a full CRWIA will not be required.

CRWIA Declaration

We do not consider that the National Development Plan requires a Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment.

It is unlikely that a child or young person would be directly involved in applying for grant support (though a crofter aged 16-18 years old would be eligible to apply), however, it is likely that a number of beneficiaries of the various schemes highlighted in the Plan will have children. These children will benefit from the existing range of grants and support available to their crofting parents/guardians.

CRWIA required:

CRWIA not required: X

Authorisation

Policy lead: Aileen Rore, Crofting Policy Advisor, Agricultural Policy Division

Date: 1 September 2020

Deputy Director or equivalent: John Kerr, Deputy Director for Agricultural and Rural Policy, Agricultural Policy Division

Date: 2/9/2020