Annual cabinet meeting with children and young people: fifth meeting - 16 March 2021

Fifth Annual Cabinet Meeting with Children and Young People

Actions agreed at the fifth annual meeting of cabinet ministers with children and young people, held on 16 March 2021.

As a result of the fifth annual Cabinet meeting with children and young people, we have agreed a total of 16 actions, which we will take forward in partnership over the course of the year. We will report on progress on these actions, including a final progress report prior to the meeting next year.

Actions

The Scottish Government is committed to:

Anti-Racist Education

Action 1. Ensuring all children in Scotland get an anti-racist education and school staff in Scotland receive training and are able to deliver anti-racist education.

Action 2. Providing support for children who have experienced racism.

Action 3. Ensuring there are more ethnic minority teachers and staff in schools in Scotland.

Action 4. Holding further discussions with MSYPs on our approach to anti-racism.

Trees for All

Action 5. Protecting and looking after spaces where trees are already spreading and growing, and  planting more trees in places they would grow naturally, making sure different types of trees are growing together.

Action 6. Ensuring all tree guards are biodegradable.

Action 7. Giving everyone in Scotland a tree and helping them plant it themselves, or with the help of somebody else, and having a National Tree Planting Day.

Involving Children in National Decision Making

Action 8. Ensuring that children and young people’s voices are included on all matters affecting them, by creating both youth-inclusive government working groups, and other opportunities to ensure children and young people can meaningfully engage, are actively listened to, and are given clear and child-friendly feedback.

Action 9. Prioritising our engagement with children and young people from seldom-heard groups to ensure that they have their voices heard.

Action 10. Holding the Children and Young People’s Cabinet Meeting, with involvement from the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Children’s Parliament, beyond this Parliamentary term.

Implementation of the UNCRC Bill

Action 11. Involving children and young people in helping with reports from Scottish Ministers on what they are doing about children’s rights, and keeping children and young people involved in conversations about how we continue to make their rights real in Scotland, after the UNCRC Bill becomes a law.

A Human Rights Based Approach to the Pandemic Recovery

Action 12. Ensuring we keep children and young people’s voices and rights at the heart of the nations’ recovery from the pandemic so that Scotland’s children and young people are not unfairly impacted.

Action 13. Ensuring children and young people are actively involved in the design of the new mental health training and learning resource, and that there is a greater focus on young people who are most at risk of developing mental health problems. We will ensure everyone who works in education and health care has access to this kind of training.

Action 14. Ensuring young people’s grades or lack of experience does not hold them back, and that the attainment gap doesn’t widen. Employers and educational institutions will be advised to take into account the impact the pandemic will have on grades, work experience and other employment opportunities.

Action 15. Better equipping Scotland’s children and young people through improved Wi-Fi connections, wider provision of technology for online formal and non-formal education, for extra-curricular activities, and to enable access to critical support.

Action 16. Reviewing the Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013, and beginning work with partners, including COSLA, to determine the impact of these regulations on budget decision making, and in doing so, seek to safeguard investment in Community Learning and Development services.