Bairns’ Hoose: National Implementation Group - terms of reference

Strategic context

Bairns’ Hoose is a long standing and crosscutting policy ambition of the Scottish Government and is a key action in the Keeping the Promise Implementation Plan and Best Start, Bright Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022 to 2026 and refreshed Equally Safe Strategy 2023. This commitment will help to achieve national ambitions to plan and deliver services which improve outcomes for children, young people and families; to deliver holistic whole family support; and to realise The Vision for Justice in Scotland. The Scottish Government has made a commitment to Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland in its Programme for Government since 2021.

Bairns’ Hoose, based on the Icelandic Barnahus model, brings together services in a four rooms approach with child protection, health, justice and recovery services available in one child-friendly setting. A key aim of the model is to reduce the number of times children have to recount their experiences.

The overall vision of Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland is that all children under the age of 18 in Scotland who may have been victims or witnesses of abuse or violence, which has caused, or is likely to cause, significant harm, and all children under the Age of Criminal Responsibility (ACR) whose behaviour may have caused, or risked causing, serious harm or abuse, will have access to trauma informed recovery, support and justice.

Pathfinder phase

The Scottish Government is following a phased approach to the development of Bairns’ Hoose. The first stage, the Pathfinder phase, began in October 2023 with the launch of Pathfinder and Affiliate partnerships. The aim of the Pathfinder phase is to test the Bairns’ Hoose Standards in different geographical and operational contexts. By summer 2026, we will have enough knowledge about how the Standards work in different contexts to develop a national Bairns’ Hoose blueprint that can be adapted to local requirements. This blueprint will then inform the incremental roll out of Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland. The Pathfinder phase has been extended to spring 2027 in response to feedback from key stakeholder groups that more time was needed to develop and embed the transformative change required. 

Purpose of the National Bairns’ Hoose Implementation Group

The function of the National Bairns’ Hoose Implementation Group (“the group”) is an advisory one to provide operational and delivery input, and strategic advice to support delivery of the Pathfinder phase of the Bairns’ Hoose programme, in line with the Bairns’ Hoose Vision, Value and Approach. The group will provide an opportunity to ensure key delivery partners are effectively engaged and serve as a forum to resolve local issues and partnership-specific challenges which require a national solution. The group will also be a forum for members to provide views and perspectives to ministers. 

Remit

The work of the group will focus on:

• advising on the operationalisation of the Vision, Values and Approach published by Scottish Government and approved by Scottish ministers
• providing advice and guidance on operational and delivery input to the extended Bairns’ Hoose programme, and delivery of key programme milestones as outlined in the project plan
• contributing to the identification of local and national barriers to the implementation of Bairns’ Hoose, and proposing solutions to overcome these
• helping to shape and advise on the plans for developing a national Bairns’ Hoose blueprint for Scotland
• identifying and supporting working groups for Bairns’ Hoose implementation
• supporting Bairns’ Hoose partnerships in testing and implementing the Bairns’ Hoose Standards
• sharing knowledge and expertise with other members to resolve local and national issues

Workplan

As outlined above, a key part of the remit of the group is to provide support in identifying, planning for and delivering on key milestones within the project plan. A draft project plan will be shared with the group for discussion, including identification of particular milestones for discussion with the group. The workstreams outlined in the project plan reflect the key areas for implementation of the Bairns’ Hoose programme and are being delivered by members of the Bairns’ Hoose Project team. 

The group and associated working groups will provide an important forum to sense-check the milestones and timing within the project plan to help ensure local and other key delivery partners are informed and aware of the plans relating to the national implementation of the Bairns’ Hoose programme. This will complement the other aspect of the group’s remit, which is to share knowledge and expertise with other members to resolve local and national issues.

Reporting structure

Scottish Ministers retain ultimate responsibility and will make key programme decisions on the delivery of the Bairns’ Hoose. The role of the group is an advisory one and will provide the opportunity for members to offer their views and perspectives to ministers, both in person and through reporting updates to the ministers. The group will also advise the Bairns’ Hoose Cross-Portfolio Assurance Group (‘the BH-CPAG’), which consists of senior civil servants from health, justice, and children and families. The BH-CPAG provides oversight, challenge and direction to the Bairns’ Hoose Unit and Bairns’ Hoose project team.

The group reports to the Scottish Government Accountable Officers for Education, Justice and Health, who are accountable for the feasibility, deliverability and sustainability of the Bairns’ Hoose Programme. The Chair of the group, along with other senior officials, will update the Accountable Officers on the workings of the group and wider programme, as part of their core responsibilities as Accountable Officer. 

Membership and roles

The group will include representation from key partners involved in the delivery of Bairns’ Hoose locally and nationally or the testing of Bairns’ Hoose Standards in Scotland. Group members from the Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder and Affiliate partnerships will be expected to represent the range of views in their partnership, and other delivery-focussed members will be expected to represent their organisation as it applies to Bairns’ Hoose.

Members will be expected to provide feedback from the organisations they represent in order to progress the work of the group. Members should expect that some of this work could take place outside of meetings. Members who represent bodies who will have statutory duties in relation to Bairns’ Hoose should ensure that they consult decision-makers at the appropriate level within their respective organisations, and that the views of such persons are fed back to the group as appropriate. 

Advice and recommendations from the group will be made in partnership with local authorities and with regard to the principles set out in the Verity House Agreement.

Chair and secretariat

The group will be chaired by Andrew Watson, Director of Children and Families. The secretariat will be provided from within the Scottish Government. 

The Secretariat will:

• circulate an agenda and other relevant papers one week in advance of each meeting
• issue draft minutes and actions following each meeting

Meetings

The group will meet a minimum of three times a year. The meetings will either be held online or in-person with hybrid facilities where practicable  to accommodate members who may otherwise have to travel long distances. The specific arrangements for each meeting will be clarified well in advance. 

Working groups

To complement the work of the group, working groups will be scoped and established to provide deep-dive expertise on specific areas of work intended to support the delivery of Bairns’ Hoose. The areas for particular consideration will be long-standing barriers and challenges relating to the implementation of Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland, a number of which were identified as part of the Standards development process or have subsequently emerged through testing the Standards in the partnerships. The working groups would report to the group and provide updates to other groups within the Bairns’ Hoose Programme Structure as required. The exact chairing arrangements would be determined on a case by case basis. Provisionally suggested working groups will be discussed further with stakeholders and NBHIG members. 

It is intended that working groups will be flexible, can be short-life where appropriate and that new working groups may be set up over the course of the Pathfinder phase in response to identification of new needs. 

Scottish Government 
December 2024