UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board minutes: March 2023

Attendees and apologies

Members of the Board

• Michael Chalmers (Chair), Director for Children and Families
• Ashleigh Pitcairn on behalf of Kay McCorquodale, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
• Ben Farrugia, Social Work Scotland
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate
• Dragan Nastic, UNICEF UK
• Eleanor Kerr, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Gayle Gorman, Education Scotland
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYCPS)
• Kay Tisdall, The Observatory for Children’s Human Rights Scotland on behalf of Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Laura Pasternak, Coalition of Care and Support Providers (CCPS)
• Margaret Gibb, Parenting Across Scotland
• Margo Williamson, Angus Council representing SOLACE
• Norma Ruettimann, Care and Learning Alliance (CALA)
• Rebekah Cameron-Berry, on behalf of Laura Caven, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

Members of Scottish Government

• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant
• Anna Munro, SGLD
• Carola Eyber, Children’s Rights Reporting and Monitoring Lead
• Caroline McMenemy, Senior Policy Officer
• Dean Snape, UNCRC Project Manager
• Gita Sharkey, Joint Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit
• Lesleyann Russell, Improvement and Innovation Manager
• Liz Levy, Joint Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit
• Lyndsey Saki, Embedding Children’s Rights in Public Services Programme Lead
• Paul Gorman, Empowered Children and Young People Lead
• Rachel Nicholson, SGLD
• Shona Spence, UNCRC Bill Lead
• Eilidh Walker, UNCRC Programme Assistant (minutes)

Guests

• Selwyn McCausland, Barnardo’s

Apologies, members of the Board

• Chloe Riddell, The Promise Scotland
• ACC Gary Ritchie, Police Scotland
• Gayle Devlin, Social Security Scotland
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Juliet Harris, Together Scotland

Apologies, Scottish Government officials

Ian Donaldson, Deputy Director for Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

Michael Chalmers (MC) welcomed the Board, including Margo Williamson the new SOLACE representative and guest Selwyn McCausland from Barnardo’s. Apologies were given on behalf of those who couldn’t attend.

Minutes and actions from last meeting

Dean Snape (DS) advised members that minutes from the previous meeting were circulated on 7 March 2023. No amendment requests have been received from members. Minutes have since been published on the group page.

DS advised there were two outstanding actions and two ongoing actions from previous meetings as follows:

Outstanding

Laura Caven (LC) to share timeline of national policy and legislative changes that link to children’s rights. Rebekah Cameron-Berry (RCB) to follow this up to provide an update.

RCB to speak to colleagues at COSLA about inviting the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) to speak at a future meeting of the Children and Young People’s Board. RCB confirmed that COSLA are keen to do this, and plan to follow up with SYP directly to organise this.

Ongoing

Liz Levy (LL) to contact Gayle Gorman (GG) for relevant academic contacts with whom she could explore interest in a research project on the extent to which children’s rights are shaping policy decisions. Carola Eyber (CE) had been in touch with GG after action tracker issued.

Children’s Rights Unit (CRU) to develop a risk register for the drivers in the Theory of Change for Making Rights Real, starting with one branch and bringing that back to SIB to consider its value before progressing further. CRU are exploring what support the Observatory for Children’s Rights (The Observatory) can provide with this.

Kay Tisdall (KT) noted that The Observatory has received some funds from the Royal Society of Edinburgh to set up a Children's Rights Research Network. They will be mapping research expertise, which will include education.

Update on the Bill

On the two year anniversary of the Bill being passed by the Scottish Parliament, Ms Haughey wrote to the lead Committee - the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee - to provide an update on the Scottish Government’s (SG) engagement with the UK Government (UKG).

SG have made clear to UKG that the intention is to move towards reconsideration of the Bill soon. SG have asked that if UKG have any new and material concerns about these revised amendments, they advise of these. SG are awaiting further views and are actively discussing a reasonable timescale for receipt of those views.

Assuming that UKG take the opportunity to give their views and do not express any new and material concerns, it is the hope to be able to make progress towards Reconsideration Stage ahead of summer recess.

Ms Haughey also wrote an open letter to children and young people (CYP), which has been published on the SG Participation Blog. As well as providing an update on progress with the Bill, the letter acknowledges the contribution that the CYP, who are part of #TeamScotlandUN, made at the pre-session meeting with the UN Committee in February 2023 when they talked about the rights issues that are most important to them.

Support for commencement

Lyndsey Saki (LS) shared an update on the current UNCRC resources and those in development. The presentation will be shared with links to current UNCRC introductory guidance; 20-minute training resource; participation guidance; the children’s rights knowledge hub and a guide to assist Elected members in Scotland to understand children’s rights.

Action: Eilidh Walker (EW) to share presentation on support for commencement with the Board after the meeting.

SG are developing statutory guidance, whilst remedial work on the Bill continues. Separate lots of statutory guidance will be issued for Part 2 (section 6: Compatibility Duty on Public Authorities) and Part 3 (section 15: Reporting Duties on Public Authorities) of the Bill. Part 2 guidance will be universal to ensure all public authorities are aware of their duties and how to fulfil them. Sector experts will be best placed to adapt this guidance for their own contexts.

Work is underway to develop a Children’s Rights Skills and Knowledge Framework, to provide a single point to easily access new and existing resources and training.

SG have developed a National Improvement Programme to support the public sector to experience the value of using a child rights-based approach and how this contributes to other local and national priorities. The programme includes an Innovation Fund which will support public services to embed children’s rights into culture, policy and practice. The Fund will launch in Spring this year, with £500,000 available. The core audience for the fund is public bodies and local authorities, but a collaborative approach to applications will be encouraged.

Other activity to support UNCRC implementation is currently being scoped, this includes:

• updating the Improvement Service’s Elected members resource and Getting Ready for UNCRC toolkit, to make them applicable to all public authorities
• working more closely with the National Leadership group for Children and Families to ensure that their strategic expertise can support UNCRC implementation
• exploring whether practice guidance on taking a child rights-based approach would support statutory guidance on the UNCRC Bill and potentially reach a wider audience than duty bearers
• scoping the benefits of a regulatory and improvement forum to embed child rights considerations into inspection frameworks

Ben Farrugia (BF) suggested that resources be pulled together into a leaflet, or on a webpage, to allow them to be shared easily. Social Work Scotland have started to ask members for feedback on the resources, and the implementation support in general. BF offered to update the group on this feedback in due course.

KT noted the opportunity to embed children’s rights in professional training.

KT asked for an update on advice to Ministers on a legislative audit. LL explained that this advice would be provided when we are clearer about the amendments to the Bill since the nature of these amendments might strengthen the case for an audit.

GG noted Education Scotland (ES) have finalised the ES and children's rights guide for staff, which was developed with CYP and will be part of induction for all staff. The guide will also be shared across education profession groups to model approach.

Laura Pasternak (LP) asked if the Skills and Knowledge Framework will be tailored for the third sector, LS replied that the intention is that the Framework should be universal for all organisations and that there is third sector representation on the Framework Professionals’ Panel from Families Outside, Forces Children Scotland and the Scottish Guardianship Service.

Margo Williamson (MW) suggested there may be a role for community planning partnerships to think about what they are doing as a collective group in relation to implementation. LS noted this is an avenue the team are yet to explore and that it would be helpful to discuss this with MW further, after the meeting.

Action: LS to contact MW in relation to preparedness for commencement in relation to community planning partnerships.

Presentation on approach to reviewing the provision of advocacy support for children’s rights

MC welcomed Selwyn McCausland (SM) from Barnardo’s to present an introduction to advocacy with CYP and why it matters in relation to the UNCRC. SM agreed for the presentation to be included with papers after the meeting.

Action: EW to share Barnardo’s presentation with papers after the meeting.

Due to time constraints in the agenda, Paul Gorman (PG), shared a film, Advocates Explain Advocacy by Who Cares? Scotland, in the chat function and encouraged members to watch.

PG outlined where advocacy fits within the UNCRC implementation programme.  More information on Advocacy can be found on the SG website.

PG spoke about the connection to the Theory of Change – process 3 and 4 – and the commitment within the 2021-24 UNCRC Action Plan and outlined the 4 stages to deliver this commitment:

Initial Mapping Exercise

Between May and November 2022 there was an initial internal mapping exercise to gather knowledge of all previous and current advocacy provision within SG.

Internal Network

SG has established an internal network of those policy colleagues that have advocacy within their area.

Internal Review Document

The focus on work to strengthen advocacy aims to develop a more coordinated and cohesive approach to advocacy provision for CYP who need it. SG have used the findings from the 2022 internal mapping document and arranged them into four themes: Workforce, Quality, Awareness Raising, and Service Provision. The creation of this internal review document will explore if, where and how we can strengthen advocacy. This work also involves engagement with advocacy providers to encourage connection and learning.

Publishing the Review

SG will publish a review into the provision of advocacy that supports children’s rights by the end of 2023 that outlines the work taking place and where strengthening could be needed.

Dragan Nastic (DN) asked if the work being delivered by Aberlour with unaccompanied asylum seeking children is included in this work.

Action: PG to contact DN in relation to advocacy for asylum seeking children.

LP asked how SG is planning on identifying un-met need for advocacy. PG outlined one of the purposes of the review document and network is to identify un-met need which can only be achieved when we have a complete picture of current provision.

Any other business

MC noted that the Human Rights division within SG has asked if an official from their team can attend SIB as an observer. Given the high number of SG officials present at SIB, the team would like to make sure there are no objections to this prior to any invite being extended. There were no objections from members.

Action: EW to invite member of the Human Rights team to future SIB meetings

Norma Ruettimann posted a link to newly published SG guidance on how professionals in statutory or third sector services can take account of infants' views and rights.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 25 April 2023, from 3:30 to 5:00.