First Children's Rights Scheme: 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?

Applicable answer: Positive

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.

The Children’s Rights Scheme has the potential to support all of the rights set out in the UNCRC. This is because the Scheme outlines arrangements that will support the five principles for taking a children’s human rights approach outlined in section 1 above. Furthermore, the arrangements in the Scheme to proactively identify and address situations where a child’s rights are (or are at a significant risk of) not being fulfilled should help ensure that the Scottish Government is prioritising efforts in addressing rights issues that are of most concern to children and young people and key children’s rights stakeholders. These could be issues that are relevant to realising any of the rights in the UNCRC. The commitments to strengthening our approach to child rights budgeting, especially by publishing a CRWIA on the annual Scottish Budget, will allow greater focus on and scrutiny of how we are allocating resources to support the full range of children’s rights.

However, based on the commitments set out in the Scheme, we have identified the following Articles as particularly relevant, and as areas where the Scheme is expected to contribute positively to the realisation of the child’s rights:

Article 2 – Non-Discrimination

Article 2 makes clear that the UNCRC applies to every child without discrimination, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status, whatever they think or say, and whatever their family background.

The Scheme includes a commitment that the Scottish Government will launch a strategy for mainstreaming equality and human rights into everything it does, with a supporting action plan and toolkit. On 8 December 2025 the strategy and associated toolkit were launched, making available over 100 resources that provide guidance, training materials and best practice examples to support the public sector to mainstream equality and human rights throughout their core functions. This had its own CRWIA to accompany these resources. By committing to identify particular groups of children whose rights are most at risk and develop targeted awareness-raising on their rights, the Scheme also seeks to support those children to realise their rights and reduce discrimination. Finally, in relation to Article 2, the Scheme includes a commitment that the Scottish Government will consider the need for child friendly communication tools and approaches for all, including children and young people, as part of its programme of work on inclusive communication support to Public Sector Equality Duty duty bearers.

It is our assessment that the Scheme will contribute positively to the realisation of the rights set out in this Article.

Article 3 – Best Interests of the Child

The Scheme is grounded in the principles of a Children’s Human Rights Approach which is key to ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in planning and service delivery. The Scheme includes a range of commitments to providing training and support to Scottish Government staff and to public authorities to embed this ethos across the public sector. For example, there is a commitment to ensure that all staff within the Scottish Government and its Executive Agencies have access to guidance and training on children’s rights and taking a children’s human rights approach. There is also a commitment to implement, maintain and review the Children’s Rights Skills and Knowledge Framework, to support public authority workforces to understand children’s rights and take a children’s human rights approach within frontline practice, service development, and strategic planning and decision-making.

The Scheme also includes commitments about strengthening awareness and use of CRWIAs and the skills required to do this. This should help ensure that children’s rights and wellbeing are being considered during the development of policy, legislation or when strategic decisions are taken. This would include ensuring that potential negative impacts are either mitigated, or alternative options considered, and positive impacts are enhanced in so far as possible.

Given the close connection between children’s rights and wellbeing, this should help to ensure that children’s wellbeing is also embedded into the approach.

The Scottish Government assesses that the Scheme will contribute positively to the realisation of the rights set out in this Article.

Article 4 – Implementing the UNCRC

Article 4 makes clear that governments must do all they can to make sure every child can enjoy their rights by creating systems and passing laws that promote and protect children’s rights.

With the UNCRC Act, the Scottish Parliament took the legislative measures to incorporate the UNCRC into Scots Law, as far as possible within devolved competence. The Children’s Rights Scheme is part of the Scottish Government’s approach to embedding administrative measures to promote and protect children’s rights. For example, as already explained, the Scheme sets out arrangements to help ensure that those with duties under the Act understand what is required of them and how to meet those duties in practice. Importantly, given that the scope of the compatibility duty in the UNCRC Act is narrower than originally hoped, the Scheme also sets out how the Scottish Government will give better and further effect to the rights of children, regardless of whether or not the compatibility duty applies.

The Scheme also includes actions to raise awareness of children’s rights among children, young people and their representatives, and to support them to seek help or raise concerns if they believe their rights are not being respected. These arrangements help to create systems to make sure every child can enjoy their rights.

All of the arrangements set out in the Scheme will contribute positively to the realisation of the rights set out in this Article.

Article 12 – Respect for Children’s Views

Article 12 makes clear that every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.

The Scheme sets out arrangements for raising awareness of this right among public authorities and also sets out other relevant arrangements in this regard. This includes a commitment to continue to ensure that children and young people have the opportunity, and are supported, to represent the views of their peers in annual meetings with the Scottish Government Cabinet and Executive Team and to hold the Scottish Government to account on a rolling list of six ‘calls to action’ chosen by children and young people.

There is also a commitment to support Scottish Government policy teams to commission meaningful and high-quality engagement with children and young people and to strengthen their knowledge and skills to meaningfully engage with all children and young people.

CRWIAs also require policy teams to explain how they have considered the views of children and young people in the development of legislation and decisions of a strategic nature. As already highlighted, the Scheme also includes commitments about strengthening awareness and use of CRWIAs and the skills required to do this.

All of this should help to contribute positively to the realisation of the rights set out in this Article.

42 – Knowledge of rights

Article 42 requires the Scottish Government to actively work to make sure children and adults know about the UNCRC. There are commitments in the Scheme that will contribute positively to the realisation of the rights set out in this Article.

The Scheme commits to developing and implementing a comprehensive awareness plan in collaboration with partners, including content specifically designed for children, young people, parents, carers, and early years settings. Children and young people will be involved in designing the content, ensuring that it is accessible and relevant to them. The Scheme also states that the Scottish Government will identify particular groups of children and young people whose rights are most at risk and for whom there is a need to develop more targeted awareness-raising about their rights. There is also a commitment to producing child-friendly and accessible versions of guidance and reports to ensure children and young people can receive information about their rights and the duties on Scottish Ministers and public authorities in relation to their rights.

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

There are no anticipated negative impacts stemming from this proposal, directly or indirectly.

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

Issue or risk identified and relevant UNCRC requirement

Not applicable

Action Taken/ To Be Taken

Not applicable

Date action to be taken or was taken

Not applicable

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: Yes

Nurtured: Yes

Active: Yes

Respected: Yes

Responsible: Yes

Included: Yes

If yes, please provide an explanation below:

As explained in section 8, the Children’s Rights Scheme has the potential to support the realisation of all of the rights set out in the UNCRC. Given the strong connection between rights realisation and wellbeing, it is therefore logical to conclude that all of the wellbeing indicators will be positively impacted. However, of particular relevance are the commitments in the Scheme to strengthen the use and quality of CRWIAs, as follows:

• The Scottish Government will undertake awareness raising and training on the Scottish Ministers' statutory requirement in relation to statements of compatibility for relevant legislation, as well as the requirements for CRWIAs.
• The Scottish Government will conduct regular evaluations of its awareness raising and training on the Scottish Ministers' statutory requirement in relation to CRWIAs for relevant legislation and decisions of a strategic nature related to the rights and wellbeing of children.
• The Scottish Government will maintain a quality assurance process to monitor the use of CRWIAs for relevant legislation and decisions of a strategic nature related to the rights and wellbeing of children within Scottish Government and Executive Agencies. To help us with this, the Scottish Government will invite feedback on individual CRWIAs, from those who access them on its website.
• The Scottish Government will highlight the benefits of CRWIAs to public authorities and to private, voluntary and independent organisations, should they choose to use them, by continuing to provide guidance and templates.
• The Scottish Government will publish a CRWIA on the annual Scottish Budget, as required by its statutory obligations.
• The Scottish Government will encourage other public authorities to publish any CRWIAs that they prepare.

As CRWIAs are a process for assessing the impact of legislation and decisions of a strategic nature on children’s wellbeing as well as their rights, any efforts to strengthen their use and quality should therefore have a positive impact on the attention given to wellbeing.

Furthermore, there are specific commitments in the Scheme that should help children and young people to feel respected and included. These commitments are:

• The Scottish Government will continue to ensure that children and young people have the opportunity, and are supported, to represent the views of their peers in their annual meetings with the Scottish Government Cabinet and Executive Team and to hold the Scottish Government to account on a rolling list of six ‘calls to action’ chosen by the children and young people.
• The Scottish Government will support its policy teams to adapt their processes and to commission meaningful and high-quality engagement with children and young people, through the Children and Young People’s Participation Framework Agreement, where this is the most appropriate approach. (The aim of the Framework Agreement is to ensure a broad range of children and young people are involved in the wider work of the Scottish Government, including those identified as being seldom heard, furthest from their rights or vulnerable because of factors related to their personal development, features of their family life, or because of wider influences that impact on them within their community.)
• By sharing and amplifying participation guidance and best practice, the Scottish Government will support its policy teams to strengthen their knowledge and skills to meaningfully engage with all children and young people.
• The Scottish Government will ensure that the statutory reviews of the National Performance Framework are informed by the views of children and young people, including through direct engagement with them.
• Through its funding to Young Scot, the Scottish Government will ensure that children and young people have access to inclusive digital communication from a trusted source about a range of policies and support that is available to them.
• By including, in its guide to using the Children and Young People’s Participation Framework Agreement, a section on accessible and inclusive communication, the Scottish Government will ensure that policy teams using the Framework promote and use inclusive communication.
• The Scottish Government will consider the need for child friendly communication tools and approaches for all as part of its programme of work on inclusive communication support to Public Sector Equality Duty duty bearers.

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

A child friendly version of the Children's Rights Scheme was published alongside the Scheme to ensure that children and young people can receive information about their rights and how we plan to strengthen access to them in an easily accessible way.

The Scottish Government has also published a response to feedback that children and young people provided in the consultation with them described above. This is available in an annex to the report on the consultation that Young Scot undertook here.