Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy

Governance, Monitoring and Evaluation

Good governance will ensure processes are in place for implementing the actions in the Strategy and is crucial to success. A clear structure of Governance, with Ministerial and Government engagement at the top, and with clearly identified and accountable leads nationally, and locally (through Community Planning Partnerships), is proposed (Figure 1 below). In addition mechanisms to provide independent scrutiny of progress, and to monitor and evaluate activity will be established.

Government

As set out on the previous page, the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy covers many complex areas and exists in a landscape of a large number of policies, legislation and guidance across Government. It is, therefore, important that, at the national level, the Strategy compliments existing policy and practice and the actions are used to strengthen current plans and approaches for young people.

In order to help achieve this there will be Cross-Ministerial engagement for the Strategy from:

• Minister for Children and Young People
• Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages
• Minister for Public Health
• Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health

Figure 1: Governance and engagement overview for the pregnancy and parenthood in young people Strategy

National Lead for Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People

The Scottish Government's National Lead for the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy will provide national strategic leadership in the implementation of the Strategy. The National Lead will be responsible for the overall delivery of the Strategy, engaging with local and national organisations, ensuring the consideration of up to date evidence and policy, monitoring and reacting to progress and enabling sharing of experience and best practice across Scotland. The Lead will provide the national link across Scotland as well as providing advice and updates to Ministers and an annual progress report to Ministers, the Scottish Parliament and the Independent Advisory Group on progress, both locally and nationally.

Community Planning Partnerships

The actions set out in the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy cover areas which can be most influenced by the Scottish Government in partnership with others from across the public sector. Community Planning Partnerships (CPP) in particular have a key role to play, with the Scottish Government providing support, advice and policy direction and linking with young people directly. CPP will be expected to identify an accountable person to take on responsibility for ensuring the delivery of their responsibilities under this Strategy.

Independent Advisory Group for the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy

In addition to the organisations and individuals involved within the Governance structure for the Strategy, there will also be an Independent Advisory Group (IAG). This will consist of individuals from across sectors and organisations who may have a role in delivering the Strategy, an academic interest and/or have an interest in decreasing inequality in young people. This group will champion the Strategy and encourage work in this area. The Group will also receive the annual progress report from the National Lead on the progress of the Strategy and may respond with their views on the implementation progress of the Strategy, highlighting issues that they may feel requires Ministerial attention. The English Teenage Pregnancy Strategy had a similar group which was described as a particular key strength of the English Strategy.

Evaluation and Monitoring

A national Evaluation and Monitoring Group (EMG) has also been established to assess how well the Strategy is being implemented and whether its outcomes are being met over time. Led by the National Lead and SG Health Analytical Service Division, the EMG will help to develop a monitoring and evaluation plan for the first five years of the strategy. It will take account of the recommendations of the an evaluability assessment. Monitoring and evaluation outputs will support the formal annual process of reporting to Ministers and the Scottish Parliament.

Further guidance for the Strategy around reporting will be published by the National Lead in 2017.