New Scots Core Group minutes: February 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Chair, University of Glasgow 
•  Representative from Bridges Programmes
• Representative from British Red Cross
• Representative from COSLA
• Representative from Glasgow Clyde College
• Representative from Mental Health Foundation
• Representative from Police Scotland (online)
• Representative from Public Health Scotland
• Representative from Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees 
• Representative from Scottish Government
• Representative from Scottish Government
• Representative from Scottish Refugee Council
• Representative from Scottish Refugee Council
• Representative from SLAED People Group
• 6 New Scots Core Group Advisers
• Secreteriat Scottish Government 
• Secreteriat (Minutes)  Scottish Refugee Council 

Apologies

• Representative from Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees
• A New Scots Core Group Adviser
• Representative from Police Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

AP welcomed members to the second meeting of the New Scots Core Group. Everyone briefly introduced themselves. 

AP highlighted changes to group membership, noting that Karen McIntyre has moved on from Bridges Programmes and so will no longer be attending the Core Group. AP welcomed to the group KC, the Bridges Programmes’ interim CEO. AP confirmed that PA will be the representative of British Red Cross going forward. She also noted that MN has left the Core Group for personal reasons.

AP noted apologies from RM from Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees and LM from Police Scotland, with SC and DR (online), respectively, attending in their places.

MINUTES / ACTION POINTS FROM MEETING ON 5 DECEMBER

The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting on 5 December 2024. 

AP reiterated to members that minutes of each meeting will be published on the Scottish Government website, following their sign-off by this group at the subsequent meeting. She noted that GP will share the link with the group. AP confirmed all actions agreed at the previous meeting have been closed off 
except Action 8 – SRC to include a breakdown of numbers of RSS users by Local Authority (where this is possible) in future reporting on this item. EM gave an update and said SRC would aim to provide this in next meeting papers. 

ACTIONS:

Action 1 - GP to share link to previous meeting’s minutes with members once this goes live. 
Action 2 - SRC to work on a visual to show the overall reach of RSS, broken down by local authority.

TERMS OF REFERENCE REVIEW: CORE GROUP ADVISERS NAME CHANGE

AP invited the Lived Experience Representatives to speak briefly about their proposed change of group name to New Scots Core Group Advisers.

Two of the representatives spoke to this, noting that the term ‘lived experience’can unintentionally reduce a person’s identity to a single aspect of their life (in this instance, their experience of forced migration), overlooking the wide range of skills, knowledge, and expertise they bring. They noted that language shapes how people are seen and valued and for this reason the group have unanimously agreed that they want to use the name New Scots Core Group Advisers. There were no objections, so the name change was confirmed. 

 NEW SCOTS OVERVIEW RECAP

AP gave a brief recap of the current New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy and Delivery Plan, as well as some of the background in their development. She emphasised that the Strategy focuses on the implementation of the rights and entitlements of New Scots within Scotland’s devolved powers. AP also 
reminded members that the purpose of the Core Group is to monitor and review the progress of the Delivery Plan commitments. 

MONITORING WORKSHOP

AP noted that New Scots partners are seeking the expertise and insights of Core Group members to help shape processes for monitoring Delivery Plan actions and outcomes. She explained that the purpose of this session is to help develop indicators to measure whether an action has not only been completed but had impact. 

This workshop consisted of three discussions in breakout groups, for members toshare: their experiences of what works well in monitoring; their reflections on the challenges faced in monitoring; and finally, how these insights could be applied in practice. At the end of each stage, groups came back together to share what they 
had discussed.

Examples of things that had worked well included planning monitoring from the start and ensuring that questions are clearly linked to outcomes. It was suggested that monitoring should try to capture not just how many people are engaged, but also the experiences and perspectives of those who are not yet accessing services. The importance of identifying gaps and acting on these early on was another recurring theme.

Some of the challenges mentioned included capacity and funding. Members also noted the importance of proportionality and of only collecting data where there’s a clear reason to do so. It was suggested that sometimes organisations can be concerned about reporting negative results and the importance of trauma informed practice was also mentioned.

There was strong support for involving people with lived experience in leading monitoring and evaluation processes, as well as the need for training and reimbursement. 

AP thanked everyone for their contributions to the discussion and noted that these will feed into the ongoing work to develop indicators.

DELIVERY PLAN QUESTIONS

AP invited members to share any questions or reflections on any of the papers circulated for information.

Members discussed the need to consider how best we can share and promote the work of the New Scots Core Group to increase awareness of the strategy and delivery plan, while also being mindful of any sensitivities. There was a question about the production of an easy read version of the 
strategy. JK confirmed that work is underway on this. 

ACTIONS:

Action 3 - Partnership planning group to discuss a wider communication strategy.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS 

CM highlighted Action 4.3 of the Delivery Plan - the organisation and delivery of the Refugee Festival Scotland 2025 by SRC. He said that this year’s Festival runs from 13 - 22 June, with the theme of ‘Milestones’, marking 25 years of the Festival and 40 years of Scottish Refugee Council. CM noted it is 
an open programme model and event registration is open until 25 April, with volunteer opportunities advertised at the end of March.

AP noted that New Scots Partners and UNHCR UK had discussed the possibility of UNHCR UK becoming an observer at this group. AP asked whether group members would be comfortable with this. There were no objections. 

AP highlighted that the next meeting of the Core Group is being planned for June and that the secretariat will be in touch when a date is confirmed. 

ACTIONS:

Action 4 - CM to share Refugee Festival Scotland event registration links via email after the meeting