Human Rights: Capability Building Working Group minutes - January 2025

Attendees and apologies

Members and deputies

• Amnesty International
• Audit Scotland
• COSLA 
• Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Human Right Consortium Scotland
• Improvement Service
• NHS Education for Scotland
• Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
• Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland
• The Alliance – Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland
• Third Sector Human Rights and Equalities
• Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights)
• University of Glasgow 
• University of Strathclyde

Scottish Government 

• Deputy Director for Human Rights
• Officials from the Human Rights Division
• Officials from the Mainstreaming and Equalities Division
• Officials from the Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice Division

Items and actions

Welcome

The Chair welcomed members and thanked them for taking the time to join the first meeting of the Capability Building Working Group.

Background and purpose of the group

The purpose of the meeting was to establish a Capability Building Working Group and to reflect on capability building vision and priorities for 2025-26. The Chair reaffirmed the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government commitments: to seek to strengthen implementation of human rights, advance proposals around extended rights protections and reiterated the commitment to legislation to incorporate international treaties into Scots law, developing proposals and engaging with stakeholders.  

It was outlined that by March 2026, we aim to have further developed the proposed Human Rights Bill with a view to introducing the Bill in the subsequent Parliamentary session, subject to the outcome of the 2026 Parliamentary elections and decisions of Ministers following that. Key priorities in advance of that were highlighted as engaging with the UK Government to address issues from the UNCRC Bill Supreme Court judgment and its impact on incorporation legislation, advancing human rights capability building in the public sector to prepare for the new duties in the Bill, collaborating with stakeholders to develop a tool that tracks international treaty body recommendations and implementation in Scotland and fostering proactive human rights accountability.

A summary of the Strategic Delivery Plan was shared, noting its relevance to the Capability Building Working Group.

Engagement approach and governance

New structures set out in the Strategic Delivery Plan include a Human Rights Incorporation and Implementation Oversight Board, chaired by the Minister for Equalities that will meet quarterly; a wider stakeholder network to communicate key developments; various targeted and in-depth stakeholder engagements (including the Capability Building Working Group and a Tracker Design Group).

Capability building vision and priorities for 2025 to 2026

The Chair outlined the vision of the group and implementation of human rights in Scotland. Working towards a Scotland where: the public sector embeds human rights in everything they do, civil society has an active role in the implementation of human rights and rights-holders know and claim their rights. The Chair stated the ambition is to strengthen the implementation of human rights – improving the realisation of rights now and to lay the groundwork for future introduction of a Human Rights Bill.

Next steps towards this include:

• prioritising action 53 in SNAP2 (to develop and deliver a strategic programme across Scotland to significantly increase understanding of human rights, human rights law and a human rights-based approach amongst rights holders and those who work in public services)

• delivering against the mainstreaming strategy, which will guide the capability building work and has the critical drivers which will inform the group's work
• drawing on lessons from UNCRC and early implementation work in this space

Mainstreaming strategy 

Officials from the Mainstreaming Division provided an overview of the mainstreaming work. This included the mainstreaming strategy which will support Scottish Government, and wider Scottish public sector, to improve mainstreaming of equality and human rights. A 14 week written consultation on the draft Strategy commenced on 30 October 2024 and will conclude on 5 February 2025, the launch of the strategy will be in 2025.

UNCRC Act implementation

The Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice Division provided an overview of the support provided to public authorities on UNCRC implementation. The Improvement Service and NHS Education for Scotland are currently funded to support local authorities and health boards, respectively, to understand the UNCRC Act duties and take a children's human rights approach. In addition to this, the Children’s Rights Unit provides direct support to the other 14 non-executive public bodies listed in the UNCRC Act, such as Creative Scotland, Sports Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. 

Bill policy development

The Human Rights Division provided an overview of the Lived Experience Boards (LEB) views on implementation. They discussed the need for a coordinated, joined-up, multi-institutional approach to implementation. The group also felt like the process should have a long implementation period and should be influenced by guidance, monitoring and reporting and progressively lead to stronger duties. LEB members hoped that the Human Rights Bill will transform the way resources are directed around the system to tackle human rights issues.

An overview of views from the Implementation Working Group was also provided.

• core Group members emphasised the Bill's need to drive substantial change in public bodies' operations, ensuring human rights are integrated into practices
• senior leaders were seen as crucial for fostering cultural change and embedding human rights across all levels
• the need to simplify human rights language for clearer communication and effective implementation was highlighted
• frontline staff were identified as needing the knowledge, empowerment, and motivation to apply human rights in their services, improving outcomes for service users
• the group also noted the intersectional roles of frontline workers as both duty-bearers and rights-holders, stressing the importance of learning from the UNCRC and using lived experiences to shape training and resources

An overview of the Human Rights Bill consultation responses in relation to capability building were shared with the Group.

• consultation responses highlighted the need for a phased implementation approach to embed a human rights culture
• many emphasised the importance of significant government investment in capability and capacity building for successful implementation
• respondents called for support for duty-bearers, scrutiny bodies, advice and advocacy services, and the broader third sector
• there was strong support for training, awareness, education, guidance, and support, especially for frontline staff and duty-bearers
• a collaborative approach to developing capability and capacity building plans, involving a wide range of stakeholders and right-holders, was also recommended
• some suggested aligning the new duties with existing practices and reviewing past efforts to improve future provision

Feedback from members

Members were asked to provide feedback on the capability building vision and priorities. Views included:

• to ensure that the programme, guidance, tools, training and best practice examples should come from international obligations
• recognise the challenging circumstances in which stakeholders are operating and ensure they have the resource and time to buy in to this work
• clarity needed on the role of private voluntary and independent bodies and their role in delivering human rights obligations
• give organisations the confidence to talk about a ‘human rights first’ approach

Terms of Reference and ways of working

The Human Rights Division explained the details of the draft Terms of Reference. The group were made aware of changes to the membership of the Capability Building Working Group, which will be reflected in an updated version and recirculated to the group.

Members views on the draft Terms of Reference included:

• clearer objectives for the group, particularly long-term goals
• clarification on whether the group's purpose is to provide expertise or focus on best practices
• more transparency on the long-term ambition and workplan, and whether feedback will be requested
• papers should be shared at least a week before meetings to allow for proper preparation
• continued use of data from LEB groups
• suggestion to define duty-bearers, including private, voluntary, and independent bodies
• the group's work should align with other policy areas, such as the UNCRC Act implementation and mainstreaming efforts

The Human Rights Division will consider the group’s comments and circulate an updated version in due course.

Views on Improvement Service and NHS Education Scotland work

The Chair outlined the Scottish Government’s tentative high-level outputs for 2025 to 2026, to:

• identify public sector learning needs around ESC rights
• design appropriate resources for Scottish context
• deliver awareness-raising
• monitor and evaluate impact
• identify opportunities to embed learning
• identify longer-term opportunities for practice development

The Improvement Service and NHS Education for Scotland provided detail on their work on capability building so far. This included:

• support human rights thinking and confidence in language and practices
• focus on economic, social, and cultural rights
• build collaborative programs with local authorities and health and social care partners, including resources and exploring new duties' impacts
• work with colleagues to identify tools, resources, and leadership for embedding human rights in local government
• learn from programs with a human rights approach and best practices
• link local authority work on the public sector equality duty and UNCRC, combining expertise to address challenges
• engage leaders early to discuss human rights approaches, concerns, and conditions for deeper commitment
• collaborate with officer networks on programs like UNCRC, equal opportunities, and food policy for insights
• provide materials and create spaces for peer learning and progress discussions
• prioritise achievable impact in a short timeframe, identifying success indicators and skill levels using the NES framework
• support senior leaders in considering readiness and future bills, utilising existing international resources
• develop and make NES digital resources accessible to health and social care staff
• align with the existing policy and regulatory environment in health and social care
• recognise front-line staff as rights-holders, alongside service users
• address challenges like engagement capacity
• link with existing education and training opportunities for staff development

Members were generally happy with the approach taken by both the Improvement Service and NHS Education for Scotland. Members were keen to get more information on what the challenges are as work progresses. The group agreed there may be resistance from senior management that needs to be overcome. Suggestions to teach people that human rights can be a tool rather than a legal mechanism and to encourage organisations that this is a helping hand rather than an extra burden.

Reflections on impactful capability building work

The group were asked to consider examples of strategic capability building programmes that we can learn from, specific human rights focuses training materials that they have found useful and any activities members’ organisations’ are doing to contribute towards the objectives in the period ahead.

Any other business

The Chair thanked group for their time. It was noted that the next meeting will take place at the beginning of March and a calendar invite will be issued in due course.