National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy - External Strategic Working Group: terms of reference

Rationale and purpose

In the 2021 to 2022 Programme for Government, Scottish Ministers committed to delivering a National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy during this parliamentary term to support disabled young people as they make the transition to adult life:

“We will begin work on a new National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy to support disabled young people as they make the transition to adult life, and provide them and those who look after them with joined‑up guidance and support to unlock better educational and employment opportunities and health outcomes”.

This commitment was later reaffirmed as a priority under the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills’ portfolio, in the First Minister’s Policy Prospectus published on 18 April 2023.

The overall purpose of this strategic working group is to bring together organisations who can play a key role in contributing to the development and support the implementation of Scotland’s first National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy for disabled young people.

The strategic working group will act as a forum for members to:

• share expertise and knowledge of key issues that need to be taken account of in improving disabled young people’s experiences of transitions to adulthood, in order to provide advice to the Scottish Government
• share expertise and knowledge of effective practice to support the development of meaningful and realistic actions to improve disabled young people’s experiences of transitions to adulthood, for consideration in the Strategy
• contribute to the design and development of the Strategy and associated work, for example the accompanying impact assessments and the monitoring and evaluation framework
• support the Scottish Government to plan, promote and facilitate stakeholder participation opportunities, to involve a wider range of disabled young people, parent carers and others with a role or interest in transitions in the design and development of the Strategy
• collate, share and discuss stakeholder feedback to inform draft iterations of the Strategy
• work in parallel with other key partners to develop and deliver the Strategy, including the Scottish Government cross-policy working group on transitions and young people’s groups

Group structure

Membership of the strategic working group aims to be representative of the broad and varied life courses of Scotland’s disabled young people as they make the transition to adulthood. As such, it includes representatives of parents and carers; education; employment; social work; child and adult health; local authorities; third sector partners; and other relevant stakeholders with a role or interest in improving disabled young people’s experiences of transitions to adulthood.

Where possible, membership of the group seeks national-level representation, but recognises this may not always be achievable.

It is expected that member organisations will commit to one lead member attending every meeting, with a nominated depute who can attend meetings in the absence of the lead.

From time to time, the strategic working group may call on advice and support from any individual or organisation where specific additional or expert advice is required. This will be fed back to the group for consideration and acknowledged as such.

For the duration of the development of the Strategy, the strategic working group will meet monthly, with proposed meeting dates agreed and shared with members in advance. Agenda items and accompanying papers will be issued to members at least one week in advance of every meeting. As the work progresses, members will be consulted on the frequency of meetings.

A second planned review of the Terms of Reference will be scheduled for December 2024, or to align with the Strategy moving from a development to an implementation phase – whichever is sooner.

A hybrid model will be adopted, with meetings primarily conducted online using Microsoft Teams, with the possibility of some in-person meetings subject to members’ agreement.

Secretariat

The Secretariat will be provided by the Supporting Disabled Children and Young People Unit within Scottish Government, and can be reached at DCYPtransitions@gov.scot. 

The Secretariat will:

• organise the logistics and facilitation of each meeting and inform members of arrangements
• circulate an agenda and other relevant papers at least one week in advance of each meeting
• provide a point of contact for members when required;
• capture the note of the meeting, issue minutes and actions to members following each meeting and follow up any actions which are required
• publish the Terms of Reference, membership of the strategic working group and minutes of each meeting on the Scottish Government’s website, to ensure transparency

Members’ role

Group members are encouraged to take views from and share work with their organisations and relevant wider networks. Where any discussions or Strategy drafts are provided to group members in confidence and marked as such, these should not be provided or discussed externally.

Group members are asked to read any papers circulated in advance of meetings, to enable focused discussion on the content during meetings.

The lead member or their nominated depute where the lead cannot attend, are asked to commit to attending monthly meetings and participating in discussion and work planning. Where neither the lead nor the depute can attend any given meeting, members are asked to send apologies in advance of the meeting to the Secretariat.

If a member can no longer commit to representation on the group, or feels it would be beneficial to feed in via other partners, they should notify the Secretariat as soon as possible.

Where required, members are asked to contribute to progressing actions identified at meetings of the group within their own organisations and stakeholder networks, or other working groups that they sit on.

Members are also asked to support engagement with wider relevant stakeholder groups to ensure their views are considered and reflected in the development of the Strategy.

Members commit to being respectful of the views and opinions of other attendees which, given the broad representation of organisations and services supporting disabled young people, may on occasion, challenge their own views and perceptions.

From 2024, the vision and high-level priorities for the Strategy will have been agreed by the Group, based on the stakeholder feedback collected through engagement on the Statement of Intent, and Group members are asked to work collaboratively to develop the outcomes and actions considered necessary to deliver on these.

Governance and decision making

Until publication and implementation, this is a short-life working group which will collaborate to support the development of the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy.

The strategic working group will be chaired by Scottish Government officials from the Supporting Disabled Children and Young People Unit, who provide leadership for the development of the Strategy. The strategic working group will provide advice and recommend content. Routine updates on the work of the group will be provided by Scottish Government officials to relevant Ministers, including advice on potential actions.

Scottish Ministers will retain overall decision-making capacity in relation to the Strategy.

A record of discussions and decisions are produced from each meeting and, once circulated to group members for comment, are published on the dedicated Scottish Government webpage. 

Timeline

An indicative high-level timeline from 14 March 2023 is outlined as follows, and is subject to ongoing review:

March 2023

The Group will participate in monthly meetings, focusing on developing and testing the vision, aims and priorities of the Strategy within existing stakeholder networks; and collaborating on the initial development of Impact Assessments that accompany the Strategy.

January 2024

The Group will focus on developing the outcomes and actions considered necessary to deliver on the agreed vision and priorities for the Strategy and contribute to the design and development of the formal public consultation, including the consultation questions and engagement plan.

The Group will promote the formal public consultation; collate stakeholder feedback; contribute to any revisions of the Strategy and Impact Assessments following the consultation; contribute to the design of the monitoring and evaluation framework; and promote the launch of the Strategy at publication.

Post-publication

The group will support the implementation and promotion of the Strategy, and its monitoring and evaluation, where appropriate. The purpose and membership of the group will be reviewed at this point to reflect the shift from development to implementation of the Strategy.

Group membership

Members of the group in February 2024: 

• Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland
• Borders College – Representing College Practitioners
• Children in Scotland 
• Children’s Health Scotland
• Colleges Scotland
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• Glasgow Disability Alliance
• ILF Scotland
• National Managed Clinical Network – Children with Exceptional Healthcare Needs
• NHS Lothian (representing adult health)
• Promoting a More Inclusive Society (PAMIS):
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• Scottish Funding Council
• Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum (Staf)
• Scottish Transitions Forum Parent Carer Network
• Skills Development Scotland
• Social Work Scotland
• The Health and Social Care Alliance
• Universities Scotland

Representatives of three disabled young people’s groups are also contributing to this work:

• The Divergent Influencers, working with ARC Scotland
• ILF Young Ambassadors
• The Inclusion Ambassadors, working with Children in Scotland

Remuneration

Members of the strategic working group are invited to participate on a voluntary basis.