UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 - part 3: statutory guidance

6. Policy intention of children's rights reports under section 18 of the Act

Reporting requirements are an important mechanism in ensuring that children's rights are given full effect in practice. The reports produced in fulfilment of the section 18 duty of the Act will provide evidence of the contribution of listed authorities in Scotland to ensuring that children's rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. As such, these reports will help evidence how the listed authorities realise the shared ambition of making Scotland the best place to grow up.

It is the intention of Scottish Government that the children's rights reports, as prepared by listed authorities under the requirements in section 18, are made public. In addition, section 18 (5) of the Act requires a copy of the report to be sent to Scottish Ministers as soon as practicable after publishing.

Submission of reports provides the Scottish Government an opportunity to capture learning and share good practice examples. This will support ongoing quality improvement and innovation in relation to child rights based practice and compliance with the UNCRC requirements.

Scrutiny of, observation and comment on the reports is also intended to come from children and young people themselves, families, practitioners, the wider community, public bodies and civil society. Listed authorities may find it helpful to give consideration of how, or if, they intend to respond formally and publicly to feedback or scrutiny. For example, this could include an ongoing programme of dialogue through local youth forums or published questions and answers.

Scottish Ministers are required to contribute (approximately every 5 years) to the UK Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child^[3] and, because there is a very strict word limit on the contribution from Scotland, may also continue to publish their own separate report for stakeholders. Separate to the section 18 duty, Scottish Government may use material from individual reports (prepared under the section 18 duty) to help populate its own contribution to the UK response to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. As part of this process of utilising evidence from different sources, the Scottish Government may cite and illustrate activity within the reports prepared by listed authorities. Permission will be sought for specific mentions of activity relating to an authority and full acknowledgment will be given for their role.