First Children's Rights Scheme

Annex C: The Link Between The Arrangements And The Concluding Observations From The UK’s Scrutiny By The UN Committee On The Rights Of The Child In 2023

This Annex lists the arrangements made in the Children’s Rights Scheme (CRS) in a way that highlights how they will help to support the Scottish Government in taking forward specified Concluding Observations from the UK’s scrutiny by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2023. As discussed at section 2.4 of this report, the Scottish Government will provide an update on progress made in taking forward all of the Concluding Observations that relate to Scotland in 2026.

Development of the CRS

The development of the CRS and arrangements for reviewing and reporting on the Scheme will help to take forward the following Concluding Observations:

• Paragraph 9a - Develop and adopt comprehensive policies and action plans on the implementation of the Convention, with the participation of children, in all jurisdictions of the State party … that encompass all areas covered by the Convention and include specific time-bound and measurable goals.
• Paragraph 9b - Ensure the effective implementation of policies and action plans on children, and ensure that they are supported by sufficient human, technical and financial resources.
• Paragraph 10 - …establish structures, such as a ministerial lead at the national level with corresponding structures in the devolved administrations and territories, responsible for ensuring the effective monitoring and coordination of all activities relating to the implementation of the Convention across all sectors and at all levels.

Preparing and publishing child rights and wellbeing impact assessments (CRWIAs) and statements of compatibility

Arrangements on providing quality assurance of CRWIAs and on raising awareness of the need for these and statements of compatibility will help to take forward the following Concluding Observation:

• Paragraph 21a - Ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is consistently applied in all policies, programmes and legislative, administrative, and judicial proceedings affecting children, including in relation to placement in alternative care, domestic violence, custody, trafficking in children, child justice, migration, and asylum procedures.
• Paragraph 21c - Take measures to develop and implement a tool for the purpose of child rights impact assessments throughout the State party.

Considering the rights of children in the Scottish Government’s budget process

Arrangements to publish a CRWIA on the annual Budget; to continue to publish annual budget lines that will allow for the identification of relevant spend; and to continue to look for opportunities to demonstrate and share good practice in child rights budgeting will help to take forward the following Concluding Observations:

• Paragraph 11 - ...incorporate a child rights-based approach into the State budgeting process in all jurisdictions of the State party….
• Paragraph 11e - Ensure transparent and participatory budgeting in which civil society, the public and children can participate effectively.

Embedding relevant skills and knowledge within public authorities

The arrangement to continue to deliver a UNCRC National Improvement Programme to support public authorities to take a children’s human rights approach to service delivery, including by ensuring staff within the Scottish Government and Executive Agencies have access to guidance and training; and the maintenance of a Children’s Rights Skills and Knowledge Framework to support public authority workforces will help to take forward the following Concluding Observations.

• Paragraph 14b - Ensure systematic training on children’s rights, the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto for all professionals working for and with children, in particular those working in education, social work, law enforcement, immigration and justice.
• Paragraph 21b - Strengthen the capacity of all relevant professionals to assess and determine the best interests of the child and to give that principle due weight as a primary consideration.
• Paragraph 23c - Ensure that all relevant professionals working with and for children systematically receive appropriate training on the right of the child to be heard and to have his or her opinions taken into account.

Protecting the rights of children in relation to their interactions with persons, other than public authorities, who provide services which affect children

Arrangements to: highlight the benefits of CRWIAs to public authorities and private, voluntary and independent organisations (should they choose to use them); to ensure that the Supporting Scotland’s Children: Core Knowledge and Values (formerly The Common Core) for those working with children and young people continues to emphasise the importance of taking a children’s human rights approach; and to encourage scrutiny bodies such as regulators, inspectorates and ombudsmen to embed children’s rights considerations into their practice will help to take forward the following Concluding Observations:

• Paragraph 14b - Ensure systematic training on children’s rights, the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto for all professionals working for and with children, in particular those working in education, social work, law enforcement, immigration and justice.
• Paragraph 21b - Strengthen the capacity of all relevant professionals to assess and determine the best interests of the child and to give that principle due weight as a primary consideration.
• Paragraph 21c - Take measures to develop and implement a tool for the purpose of child rights impact assessments throughout the State party.

Informing children and their parents/carers of children’s rights

Arrangements to work with our grant-funded and other partners to develop a comprehensive UNCRC Awareness Plan and to identify particular groups of children whose rights are most at risk and for whom we need to develop more targeted awareness-raising about their rights, will help to progress the following Concluding Observation.

• Paragraph 14a - Adopt a national strategy for awareness-raising on children’s rights among the public and promote the active involvement of children in public outreach activities.

Engaging children in policy development

Arrangements to continue to ensure that children are supported to represent the views of their peers in their annual meetings with the Scottish Government Cabinet and Executive Team and to support Scottish Government policy teams to commission meaningful and high-quality engagement with children and young people will help to progress the following Concluding Observation.

• Paragraph 23b - Strengthen measures to promote the meaningful participation of children …in policymaking at the local and national levels, including on so-called reserved matters, and develop mechanisms to ensure that the outcomes of children’s and youth parliaments are systematically fed into public decision-making.

Using, and promoting the use of inclusive ways of communicating with children

Arrangements for the Scottish Government to continue to produce accessible versions of guidance and reports to ensure children can receive information about their rights and to ensure that children have access to inclusive digital communication from a trusted source, will help to take forward the Concluding Observations listed below. By considering the need for communication approaches as part of its work on inclusive communication support to Public Sector Equality Duty bearers, we will also contribute to progress made.

• Paragraph 14a - Adopt a national strategy for awareness-raising on children’s rights among the public and promote the active involvement of children in public outreach activities.
• Paragraph 23b - Strengthen measures to promote the meaningful participation of children in family, community and school settings, and in policymaking at local and national levels, including on so-called reserved matters,….

Identifying and addressing any situation where child’s rights are (or are at a significant risk of) not being fulfilled

Arrangements to maintain, and circulate regularly to relevant Scottish Government policy teams, a compiled list of children’s rights issues that children and stakeholders have highlighted in published sources, and to invite key children’s rights stakeholders to keep the Scottish Government informed of the rights issues that are most concerning them will help to take forward the Concluding Observation listed below. Annual reporting through the Children’s Rights Scheme and the commitment to publish an update on progress made in taking forward the UN Concluding Observations that relate to Scotland in 2026 will help to monitor progress made.

• Paragraph 60 - Take all appropriate measures to ensure that the recommendations contained in the present concluding observations are fully implemented.

Monitoring and evaluating the extent to which children’s rights are being upheld

Arrangements to scope the development of indicators that can be used to measure the extent to which children in Scotland are accessing rights in the UNCRC requirements [in consultation with stakeholders]; to continue to use the Children, Young People and Families Outcomes Framework, amongst others, to measure improvement; and to explore the extent to which children's rights are being considered in policy-making in some key areas will help to take forward the following Concluding Observations

• Paragraph 12a – …the State party: strengthen its data-collection system with regard to both qualitative and quantitative indicators to encompass all areas of the Convention and ensure that the data are disaggregated by age, sex, disability, geographical location, ethnic origin, nationality and socioeconomic background.
• Paragraph 12b - Improve the collection and analysis of data … on violence against children, mental health, food insecurity, malnutrition, education and the situation of children in disadvantaged situations, including children in alternative care, children with disabilities, asylum-seeking and migrant children, and children of incarcerated parents.

Supporting children to seek a remedy for a rights concern

Arrangements: to launch accessible guidance for children on how to raise a concern about their rights; to collect data on children’s experiences of raising individual rights issues; and to fund the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman to promote child friendly complaints handling procedures within the public authorities under its jurisdiction will help to progress the Concluding Observations listed below.

Arrangements to fund both the continued external provision of legal information for those who provide advocacy and other support to help children to access their rights, and the continued external provision of free child-centred legal representation will also contribute to progress made.

• Paragraph 17a - Ensure that all children have access to confidential, child friendly and independent complaint mechanisms in schools, alternative care settings, foster care systems, mental health settings and detention for reporting all forms of violence, abuse, discrimination and other violations of their rights, and …raise awareness among children of their right to file a complaint under existing mechanisms.
• Paragraph 17b - Ensure all children have access to legal support and representation in addition to remedies, including by removing barriers faced by children in disadvantaged situations .
• Paragraph 20b - ..establish clear avenues for children to seek justice in cases of discrimination.