Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Bill: consumer duty assessment

Background

The Scottish Government is committed upholding the rule of law by ensuring that our laws are clear, accessible and effective. We are also committed to fully realising the human rights of all people in Scotland, including complying with our international human rights obligations.

We are therefore introducing the Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Bill (“the Bill”) which contains targeted and technical measures aimed at enhancing the coherence and clarity of the processes for withdrawal from religious observance (RO) and religious and moral education (RME, also called religious education in Roman Catholic schools or RERC) in schools, as well as the operation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the UNCRC Act”), in line with the Scottish Government’s commitment to children’s rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (“the UNCRC” or “the Convention”).

Specifically, we are proposing to amend both the UNCRC Act and the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (“the 1980 Act”) to provide clarity to public authorities on how they should interpret and apply their duties, and improve the clarity of our statute book, thus strengthening the legal framework for the rights of children and young people in Scotland. As well as ensuring consideration of pupil’s views, the changes to RO/RME will put beyond doubt the position in Scotland in relation to UNCRC obligations in this context.

The overarching policy objectives are to:

• RO/RME: Amend the 1980 Act to require that pupils’ views are considered when parents^[1] are exercising their right to withdraw their child from RO/RME in order to provide clarity and align legislation with existing non-statutory guidance.
• UNCRC: Add an exemption to the section 6 compatibility duty in the UNCRC Act, in circumstances where a public authority is compelled to act incompatibly with UNCRC requirements in fulfilment of another Act of the Scottish Parliament.