UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board Minutes January 2025

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Andrew Watson, Director for Children and Families
• Brian Taylor, Deputy Director Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice
• Lucinda Rivers, UNICEF UK
• Juliet Harris, Together: Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights
• Amy Woodhouse, Parenting Across Scotland
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYCPS)
• Kay Tisdall (Deputising for Jennifer Davidson), Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Rachel Grant (Deputising for Nicola Anderson) – Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate
• Norma Ruettiman, Care and Learning Alliance
• Clare Wilson, Social Work Scotland
• Maxine Jolly, (Deputising for David Gregory)Education Scotland
• Eleanor Kerr, Health Improvement Scotland
• Elaine Tomlinson, Police Scotland

Scottish Government supporting officials 

• Dean Snape, UNCRC Project Manager, Children’s Rights Unit (secretariat)
• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant, Children’s Rights Unit (secretariat)
• Liz Levy, Joint Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit
• Gita Sharkey, Joint Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit
• Lyndsey Saki, Embedding Children’s Rights in Public Services Programme Lead, Children’s Rights Unit
• Kavita Chetty, Deputy Director Human Rights Division

Guests

• Alison Reid, Chief Executive of Clan Childlaw (attended to present at item 5)
• Julia Donnelly, Clan Childlaw (attended to present at item 5)
• Aqeel Ahmed, Improvement and Innovation Programme Manager, Children’s Rights Unit (attended to present at item 4)

Apologies

• Chloe Riddell, The Promise
• Laura Caven, COSLA
• Nicola Anderson, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
• Joe Smith, Right Reporting and Monitoring Programme Lead, SG Children’s Rights Unit
• Paul Gorman, Empowering Children and Young People Programme Lead, SG Children’s Rights Unit
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Future’s
• David Gregory, Education Scotland

Items and actions

Item 1: Welcome and apologies 

Apologies were given for those not in attendance. Members were advised that Alison Reid (AR) & Julia Donnelly (JD) from CLAN Childlaw would be joining the meeting to present at item 5.

Item 2: Minutes and actions from previous meeting 

The minutes of the last meeting were circulated on 5 December 2024 with no amendment requests received. There were two new actions raised at the November meeting and one outstanding from a previous meeting. All actions have now been closed as detailed within the action tracker circulated to members on 21 January 2025.

Item 3: Programme Highlight Report 

The Programme Highlight Report was shared with members on 21 January 2025. Members had been asked to consider this report ahead of the meeting.  There were no questions from members on the report.

Kay Tisdall highlighted in the chat that the University of Edinburgh have just been awarded a grant ‘Embedding children’s rights in professional programmes’. This will support them to work across 4 qualifying programmes in the University (education, social work, clinical psychology, and medicine) to strengthen understanding of how to take a children’s rights approach. The grant runs from January 2025 until July 2026.

Item 4: Support for public authorities

Lyndsey Saki (LS) provided an update on the UNCRC implementation project grants to the Improvement Service (IS) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and shared future intentions for this work, subject to funding in the next financial year. Aqeel Ahmed (AA) updated members on the Child Rights Regulation and Improvement working group and the direct support to the 14 public authorities listed in the UNCRC Act  that are not covered by the NES and IS projects.

Craig Morris (CM), commended LS and AA for their update, recognising it as the result of years of dedicated work. As a long-standing board member, he acknowledged the significant progress made and the broad impact of the work across Scotland. He emphasised the importance of prioritising and targeting actions towards groups of children most at risk of not having their rights met. He welcomed the discussion on moving into this space and ensuring that efforts are directed where they are most needed. LS noted that the Child Rights Regulation and Improvement working group is a useful space to have those conversations due to the reach of regulators on the group and the scope of information available to members.

AA added an intelligence gathering exercise was run with regulators to ask if they had identified children whose rights are most at risk. This was to prompt regulators to think about these groups and begin to consider what resource needs to be put in place to support them.

ACTION: LS & AA to produce a short paper on the support provided to public authorities to date by IS and NES

Item 5: Support to the UNCRC programme provided by CLAN Childlaw as part of their SG grant funding.

AR and JD joined the meeting to provide an overview of CLAN Childlaw’s work in advancing children’s rights in Scotland. AR highlighted that The Theory of Change for Making Children’s Rights Real emphasises the need for: children to know their rights; a strong legal framework; and access to justice. Clan Childlaw provides direct legal representation while using the law strategically to drive wider change, and has gained global recognition for its work.

Clan Childlaw have developed a unique model which includes: increasing legal knowledge through training; a helpline; direct representation, and using insights to influence policy and law. The organisation continues to strengthen children’s access to justice.

Clan Childlaw has four focus areas: the right to be heard; the right to be a child; the right to a family; and the right to a home. Clan’s training and helpline, have supported 786 practitioners and handled 570 cases in the last three years. JD emphasised that for rights to be meaningful, children must be able to challenge breaches and seek legal remedies, which is Clan Childlaw’s core mission.

Maxine Jolly asked in the chat function about access to Clan Childlaw’s support in remote rural areas. JD confirmed that Clan Childlaw work with children all across Scotland and can provide outreach support where required.

Item 6: Methodology and focus of Together’s State of Children’s Rights Report 2024 and ‘take-away’ messages for SIB members 

AW invited Juliet Harris (JH) to provide members with a quick update regarding the focus and methodology of Together’s State of Children’s Rights Report 2024. The 2024 report marks a significant milestone as the first since the UNCRC Act commenced. This year, it adopted a new approach, telling the story of children’s rights through their own words, artwork, and creative expressions. Over 280 children and young people contributed from across Scotland, covering a wide range of experiences.

The methodology was designed around the UN’s nine requirements for children’s participation, with early consultation from 14 member organisations working with some groups of children who may be more at risk of not having their rights met. Various creative methods were used, including play diaries for babies, youth-led documentaries, time capsule projects, and guided community tours. Participation barriers were addressed through an access fund, and children were given control over how their stories were used.

JH noted that key findings highlighted both positive and concerning experiences. While many children feel safe at home, supported by relationships and nature, others expressed frustration over rights not being upheld in practice. Some were unaware of their rights, while others, despite learning about them, didn’t feel they were taken seriously by decision-makers. Concerns were raised about funding cuts affecting youth services and the gap between law and lived experiences.

The report identifies strategic priorities for UNCRC implementation, including:

• Ensuring laws, policies, and practices are fully UNCRC-compliant.
• Raising awareness of children’s rights among adults and children.
• Embedding children’s rights in budgeting decisions.
• Creating child friendly complaints systems and safe environments for speaking up.
• Ensuring meaningful, ongoing participation of children in decision-making, beyond tokenistic engagement.

JH informed members that these priorities will inform Together’s Rights on Track campaign and ongoing monitoring of the Concluding Observations. Collaboration with CLAN Child Law will help member organisations use legal mechanisms to uphold children’s rights. JH will provide further recommendations for next steps to the Board in due course.

Item 7: Terms of Reference / Future of SIB

Liz Levy (LL) summarised feedback from CALA on the questions put to members about their involvement in SIB. (This was the only subsequent response received since the discussion on this at the last meeting.) LL then set out proposals for streamlining SIBs contribution to sharpen the focus on strategic oversight of the programme of work to embed children's rights.

She noted that SIB's programme oversight function will now be shaped by the process of finalising and reviewing the Children’s Rights Scheme and by some of the commitments that is likely to include. There will also be some programme assurance activities for the Board, such as: reviewing the programme risk register; helping to ensure our UNCRC programme grant funding is well focused; and making sure that we are engaging with children and young people on the content of our programme. 

The Children’s Rights Unit (CRU) will update the existing Terms of Reference (ToRs) to reflect what is required from the Board at this stage in the programme. They will also write to all existing SIB members inviting them to express an interest in being part of a more focused SIB. LL noted the importance of ensuring that SIB membership is still focused on organisations with a key role to play in the oversight of our UNCRC programme. That would include key partners in the children's rights sector and some duty bearers under the UNCRC Act.

Members will be asked to consider whether their needs could be met by membership of the other groups in place to support the work of the CRU. To ensure that relevant parties are kept informed, The Programme Highlight report could also be shared with these other groups.

It was agreed that the frequency of SIB could be reduced to quarterly but maintain some flexibility to schedule meetings on key programme decisions. There was general agreement to this proposal by members.

ACTION: CRU to issue updated ToRs to members and seek views on proposed amendments. Members will be also asked to express interest in future membership of the Board.

It was agreed that views would be taken by correspondence and that the Board would meet again as a more focused, streamlined Board in April to review the near final Children’s Rights Scheme.

A.O.B.

Gina Wilson provided a brief update on a recent High Court’s decision on the application of the UNCRC compatibility duty. This was a case in which the CYPCS had intervened. There is a link to the judgment on the CYPCS website along with their summary of the implications, which includes that all future decisions to prosecute children must be made in a way that is compatible with the UNCRC requirements in the UNCRC Act.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 25 March 2025.