Child Rights Regulation and Improvement Action Group minutes: November 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Aqeel Ahmed (Chair), Scottish Government – AA 
• Luiza Leite (minutes), Scottish Government – LL 
• Lyndsey Saki, Scottish Government – LS 
• Gita Sharkey, Scottish Government – GS 
• Eleanor Kerr, NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland – EK 
• Noreen Philips, Education Scotland – NP 
• Neil Macleod, Scottish Social Services Council – NM
• Josh Barnham, Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) – JB 
• Lisa Kirkbride, Care Inspectorate – LK 
• Nina Miller, Audit Scotland – NMR
• Stephen Bermingham, Children’s Hearings Scotland – SB 
• Clare McGuire, NHS Education Scotland – CM 

Apologies:

• Fraser McCallum, Education Scotland
• Craig Naylor, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland 
• Iain Muirhead, Scottish Housing Regulator
• Jillian Matthew, Audit Scotland 
• Tricia Meldrum, Audit Scotland 
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate 
• Aileen Nicol, Care Inspectorate 

Items and actions

Welcome, apologies and introductions of first-time attendees

AA introduced himself as the new Improvement and Innovation Programme Manager in the Embedding Children’s Rights in Public Services Team, and welcomed attendees. AA explained he would be chairing the Regulation & Improvement meetings going forward. 

Review of Minutes and Action Points

Outstanding actions from the minutes of the last meeting of 19 September were reviewed:
•    Care Inspectorate offered to share how they use the ‘SOFI’ framework
•    Members agreed it would be useful to explore good examples of how children and young people are adequately remunerated for their participation
•    Members agreed to explore how to ensure retention of the vast knowledge and data that already exists and how this can be used in a joined up way, to prevent duplication and repeated engagement with children and young people
•    Members wished to receive regular updates in relation to timescales of the Bill 

LK shared more background on the ‘SOFI’ framework and briefly explained how the Care Inspectorate used it in inspections. The framework was commissioned by a University and therefore can’t be shared fully due to licensing restrictions. LK agreed to check what information could be shared and revert to the group.

AA suggested a spotlight session on ‘SOFI’ might be useful, and noted that the Embedding Team were aware that Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments (CRWIAs) were another area of interest to members. 

Update on the UNCRC Bill 

AA shared a letter from the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice.

New members would be added to the UNCRC Programme update distribution list so they can receive future updates.

Discussion on potential outputs and outcomes of the group 

Members had received a short outline paper to consider in advance of the meeting to support this item. The aim of this session was to reflect upon members’ collective work, using the 5 principles of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales children’s rights approach. Members were invited to share good practice relating to each principle, consider where consistency across regulators may be beneficial, note where divergences are necessary, and highlight any current resources that could be consistently applied or adapted by the group. 
The following initial comments were captured across the group:
•    SPSO had a different role to a regulator, JB asked if there a way to capture that separately in the ToRs
•    How did this group link in with the Embedding group? Were both groups adopting the same principles? AA confirmed that this was the case to ensure consistency
•    NMR noted that outputs would be helpful to see, particularly around renumeration
•    It was suggested that a second bullet point be added for 'children whose rights are at risk' – perhaps including a question about looking at those who are most vulnerable? 
•    What was meant by 'children whose rights are at risk'? It was suggested there needs to be consistent terminology that was used and understood by all

AA shared a link to the live Jamboard which was used to capture feedback through the session. Comments from members were captured under the headings below.

Principle 1: Embedding children’s rights

Existing resources:
•    Education Scotland are developing a new framework for school and other inspections and it will be useful to consider children's views in the development of and during inspections
•    The Skills & Knowledge Framework will be helpful as a future resource
•    There are opportunities for Audit Scotland to make relevant recommendations and examples of how they've already done that is through their child poverty briefing paper and Early Learning and Childcare Report
•    Quality Frameworks for inspection of care services are rights based. They set out what children and families can expect from their service
Gaps:
•    Many local authorities struggle to involve children and young people in strategic planning
Questions/Concerns:
•    Is there consistent oversight by leaders across different sectors? i.e are children's rights a key focus of key performance indicators (KPIs) or a standing item in board meetings etc
•    Not all regulators or public bodies have to develop CRWIAs which could be a useful tool to reinforce why children's rights should be a priority
•    There are good resources and learning available, but we're not always 'set up' in Scotland to share across sectors & professions. More solutions needed to address this

Principle 2: Equality and Non-discrimination 

Existing resources:
•    The Care Inspectorate Hub has several resources, including those developed with looked after children 
•    Multi-tier Aberdeen Youth Movement approach to including hard-to-reach groups
•    Improvement Service - A Guide for Public Services in Scotland - Understanding Children's Human Rights 
•    Getting Ready for the UNCRC Framework - a guide to preparing for the UNCRC (includes a Self Assessment of readiness)  
•    the main page for the Improvement Service’s work in supporting local government with UNCRC implementation
•   the Equality Evidence Finder - an evidence bank of information relating to equality characteristics and policy areas
Gaps:
•    Participation and consultation with children and young people tends to focus on existing groups (youth councils, etc) which often do not include the voices of more marginalised demographics
•    How we align existing frameworks with new, e.g. aligning CRWIA with Equality Impact Assessments
•    Children living in margins of society, not accessing education, for whatever reason, are not always able to engage with professionals or volunteers
•    Child health data can be helpful but it has its limitations and there are improvements underway
Questions/Concerns:
•    How do we know about children who are isolated, what data do we collect, where do we know to look?

The remaining 3 principles (empowering children, participation, and accountability) will be covered at the next meeting.
NMR noted that a youth panel appointed by Audit Scotland was looking at renumeration – members agreed it would be helpful to find out more about this.  
Action: LL to send a summary of agreed Innovation Fund projects to members. 
LS asked whether it would be helpful to collate a document on what other organisations were doing (for example around renumeration guidance) so others could access it. Members agreed it would also be helpful to use existing resources, compiling them in, for example, a remuneration framework, to avoid the need to draft guidance from scratch.

AOB & Date of next meeting 

The next meeting was scheduled for 11:00 – 12:00, Tuesday 16 January 2024.