UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board minutes: January 2022 - summary

Attendees and apologies

• Michael Chalmers, Chair, Scottish Government
• Michael Cameron, Scottish Housing Regulator
• Laura Caven, CoSLA
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children's Futures
• Ben Farrugia, Social Work Scotland
• Gayle Gorman, Education Scotland
• Juliet Harris, Together
• Louise Hunter, Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland
• Angela Leitch, Public Health Scotland
• Fi McFarlane, The Promise
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate
• Dragan Nastic, UNICEF
• Carol Potter, NHS Fife
• Clare Simpson, Parenting Across Scotland
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People's Commissioner's Scotland
• Teja Bapuram, UNCRC Programme Manager
• Colin Convery, Police Scotland
• Jacqui Dunbar, Together Rights Right Now! Strategic Lead
• Ben Gaston attending to observe the meeting on behalf of SGLD
• Ashleigh Pitcairn, Lord President’s Private Office
• Lesley Sheppard, Deputy Director, Children's Rights, Protection and Justice
• Liz Levy, Joint Unit Head Children’s Rights Unit
• Lauren Sorrell, UNCRC Programme Office Team Leader
• Shona Spence, Bill Legacy Team Leader in Children’s Right Unit. Attending for the first time.
• Natalie Nixon (minute taker) UNCRC Programme Officer         
• Andrew Preston UNCRC Programme Assistant
• Poppy Prior attending to observe the meeting on behalf of SGLD
• Eilidh Walker from Children’s Rights Unit (observing for professional development).

 

Items and actions

What is the Strategic Implementation Board?

The Strategic Implementation Board (or SIB, for short) is a group of people that meet every month.

They support the Government to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) part of Scots law

They put in place support for organisations, children and young people and their families to help ensure that children’s rights are made real.  They discuss if the work  is on track and help to resolve any problems  in trying to make this happen. 

There are people on the SIB from Police, Education, Health, Social Work, children’s rights organisations, and the Scottish Government.

What was discussed at this meeting?

Progress with the Bill

The Scottish Government and the UK Government have been discussing changes to the Bill that incorporate the UNCRC into the law in Scotland.

Members of the SIB thanked officials for their hard work and offered support in progressing the Bill.

Some SIB members spoke about the need to have a timeline for the Bill coming back to the Scottish Parliament.  However, due to the ongoing conversations with the UK Government this is not possible at this stage.  

Some SIB members also spoke of their frustration about this.  They highlighted that it is almost 2 years since the original Bill passed in the Scottish Parliament. 

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Scottish Government is looking at ways to monitor and evaluate the impact of the UNCRC Bill.  A small group of SIB members met to discuss this before the main meeting.  At the main meeting everyone had a chance to speak about their suggestions.  They agreed it the proposals were strong and would help Scotland when reporting to the UN committee of the Rights of the Child. 

Programme update for Public Authorities

The Scottish Government wants to support all Public Authorities to take a Child Rights based approach.  The SIB spoke about how the Government will do this.  Everyone agreed that this is very important work and people offered to help.

Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights)

SIB were shown a presentation by an organisation called Together.  Their vision is for all children and young people growing up in Scotland to have their human rights respected, protected and fulfilled.

The next meeting of the SIB will be held on Tuesday 28 February 2023