Regulation of non-surgical procedures: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

Conclusion

7. As a result of the evidence gathered and analysed against all UNCRC requirements, what is the potential overall impact of this proposal on children’s rights?

Positive and negative.

8. If you have identified a positive impact on children’s rights, please describe below how the proposal will protect, respect, and fulfil children’s rights in Scotland.

Article 3: positive – given the evidence and advice we have seen, we consider that we are acting in the best interests of children and young people, protecting them from potential harm from procedures that are not appropriate for their developing bodies.

Article 6: positive – preventing children and young people from receiving potentially harmful procedures in unsafe settings will help them to develop healthily.

Article 24: positive – our aim is to avoid the potential for harm to the health of children and young people by restricting non-surgical procedures to older people, for whom they are more appropriate, and who are potentially better placed to identify risks and dangers.

Article 36: positive – children and young people may be more easily convinced to undergo non-surgical procedures without a full appreciation of the risks involved, and we are protecting them from that by establishing a restriction to those aged 18 and over.

9. If a negative impact has been identified please describe it below. Is there a risk this could potentially amount to an incompatibility?

Article 5: negative – we are not including the option for parental consent, because the evidence and advice we have received leads us to the conclusion that non-surgical procedures are not appropriate for children and young people regardless of whether parental consent is received or not. An 18 and over age restriction also means that children and young people do not have the opportunity to make decisions about these procedures for themselves, but as suggested by respondents to our public consultation we consider that ensuring their safety is more important.

Article 12: negative – as for article 5.

Mitigation Record

What options have been considered to modify the proposal in order to mitigate a negative impact or potential incompatibility?

Please summarise mitigation actions taken below

Article 5

Issue or risk identified and relevant UNCRC requirement

We are not including an option for parental guidance or consent to support children and young people to receive non-surgical procedures.

Action Taken/ To Be Taken

Information on the policy decision to restrict non-surgical procedures to those aged 18 and over will be developed.

Date action to be taken or was taken

Ongoing as required.

Article 12

Issue or risk identified and relevant UNCRC requirement

We have been unable to engage directly with children and young people to gather their views.

Action Taken/ To Be Taken

We will consider whether there is scope within the Bill development programme to gather views at a more suitable time.

Date action to be taken or was taken

To be considered.

It should be noted that non-surgical procedures required for medical reasons are not included in these proposals, and so a child or young person would be able to follow existing healthcare pathways to access procedures for such reasons.

10. As a result of the evidence gathered and analysed against all wellbeing indicators, will the proposal contribute to the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland?

Safe: Yes

Healthy: Yes

Achieving: Not Applicable

Nurtured: Not Applicable

Active: Not Applicable

Respected: Not Applicable

Responsible: Not Applicable

Included: Not Applicable

If yes, please provide an explanation below:

Our proposals will contribute to the physical health, safety and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland by protecting them from the potential harms caused by non-surgical procedures that are not appropriate for young and developing bodies, and which can result in long-term harms.

11. How will you communicate to children and young people the impact that the proposal will have on their rights?

As we have been unable to run engagements with children and young people it has not been possible to inform them of our proposals as we had hoped. Engaging with children and young people on this subject must be handled carefully as the explanation of potential harms may be upsetting. We are not aware that currently non-surgical procedures are carried out routinely on children and young people, and so we consider that these proposals will not impact on them in a significant way, so that they should not be particularly affected once the restriction to those 18 and over comes into force.

As explained in Q9 we will consider scope to engage with children and young people at a later date.