Scotland's Fourth Land Use Strategy: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment

1. Brief Summary

Type of proposal:

Decision of a strategic nature relating to the rights and wellbeing of children

Name the proposal, and describe its overall aims and intended purpose.

Scotland’s Fourth Land Use Strategy (LUS4)

The LUS4 is a document that sets out our strategic direction and vision for sustainable land use in Scotland, and the objectives, policies and actions that will help deliver it. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires Scottish Ministers, by law, to produce a Land Use Strategy every five years. The first Strategy was published in 2011, the second in 2016, the third in 2021 and the fourth will be published by the end of March 2026.

These previous versions set out a clear vision, objectives and guiding principles to support land use in Scotland that can meet multiple needs, such as food, housing and energy while contributing to a reduction in emissions and protecting and restoring nature. Most recently, the third strategy marked a significant shift by moving away from an approach focused on individual sectors such as agriculture, forestry and nature to one focused on landscapes to better reflect the integrated nature of land use, which means that across our different landscapes there can be many activities taking place in the same area.

The LUS4 will contain the following vision: ‘Scotland’s national landscape is integrated and resilient, supporting the diverse needs of a net zero, nature-positive, wellbeing economy.’

This vision reflects the ambition to manage land in a way that balances environmental, economic and social priorities, while recognising that these factors are all related.

The primary objective of LUS4 is to enhance knowledge, discussion and insight into the land use system and support and drive a collaborative and cohesive national environment that supports integrated land use discussion, planning and delivery.

This will be supported by a thematic approach to objectives, drawing existing objectives from across different SG policy areas.

As LUS4 is intended to be a live and evolving document, we do not intend to set out every objective across the Scottish Government as a fixed position in the publication of this strategy. Instead the strategy document will provide examples of areas and their objectives that demonstrate why this strategy seeks to further the role of integrated land use, policy alignment and collaboration. Specific actions will then be identified and taken forward as part of a two-phased approach to the strategy. These actions may be subject to their own CRWIA to assess the specific impacts associated with the actions as opposed to the wider objectives presented in the LUS4. The two phases are as follows:

• Phase One – develop and publish a streamlined high-level strategic document (LUS4) setting out a new vision and objectives for integrated land use. It will set the strategic direction in order to support alignment across relevant policy areas.
• Phase Two – using the insights gleaned from our consultation and wider stakeholder engagement, develop and publish a delivery/work plan to drive integration across policy and practice (to be published within 12 months of the strategy document being published).

Start date of proposal’s development: October 2024

Start date of CRWIA process: August 2025

2. With reference given to the requirements of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, which aspects of the proposal are relevant to/impact upon children’s rights?

The primary objective of LUS4 is to enhance knowledge, discussion and insight into the land use system and support and drive a collaborative and cohesive national environment that supports integrated land use discussion, planning and delivery. The strategy will do this by seeking to help policy-makers and regulators understand the various objectives across the Scottish Government. Given this, and the rapidly evolving nature of land and the wider system, we are taking a high level approach with LUS4 that looks to cover those wider objectives and work towards supporting their achievement whilst delivering on the areas highlighted above.

At the current stage of this work, the level of detail in the LUS4 cannot identify specific aspects that have the potential to impact on children’s rights because specific actions and outcomes will be developed during phase two. This will cover a number of policy areas, which will contribute to the strategy’s objective of integrated land use. It is possible to identify key policy areas which may be most relevant to children’s rights, and where an impact may arise subject to the outcomes identified during the development of the phase two delivery plan.

While there are some rights that may have relevance to the work of the LUS4 in phase two, specifically in the areas of opportunities for jobs and training in the rural economy and therefore may potentially impact articles 3, 6 and 27, at this stage we assess there to be a neutral impact on children and young people’s rights as incorporated into Scots law.

3. Please provide a summary of the evidence gathered which will be used to inform your decision-making and the content of the proposal

Existing research/reports/policy expertise

No impacts have been identified on children and young people’s rights at this stage and therefore a proportionate approach to evidence gathering has been taken. It is outlined below to highlight considerations to address in phase two.

Consultation/feedback from stakeholders

Responses to a written consultation and insights from a series of engagement workshops conducted during the consultation period.

Responses to this consultation identified that challenges affecting young people include limited access to land, housing, training, and employment, especially in rural and island areas. Respondents also made suggestions for addressing these including:

• Expand educational and apprenticeship programmes in sustainable land-based sectors.
• Include youth voices in decision-making.
• Address mental health and wellbeing through proactive engagement.
• Recognise long-term impacts of land use decisions on future generations.

Consultation/feedback directly from children and young people

We will look to address this if specific actions identified at phase two have the potential to impact children and young people’s rights, in order to ensure their voices are heard when decisions are made on these actions.

4. Further to the evidence described at ‘3’ have you identified any 'gaps' in evidence which may prevent determination of impact? If yes, please provide an explanation of how they will be addressed

No. Evidential requirements will be reviewed when the delivery plan is in development and a clearer sense of how proposed actions may impact children’s rights is possible.

5. Analysis of Evidence

The evidence provided by respondents to the consultation did not highlight impacts that would result from the proposed approach to the LUS4 in this phase. It did highlight some fundamental challenges which relate to young people in rural areas, and which are therefore within the broad scope of the policy areas that are integral to the Land Use Strategy. However, these issues, to the extent that they need to be addressed, will be resolved through other workstreams, and the strategy in itself is not aiming to resolve the issues affecting young people in rural communities.

Due to the high-level nature of the plan and the fact that it will bring together existing policy objectives rather than create new policy commitments, this is a high level CRWIA. Potential impacts will derive from existing policy commitments which will have had their own CRWIA completed to assess the specific consequences of implementation. Therefore, we do not anticipate direct or indirect impacts on children and young people and their rights as set out in the UNCRC Act as a result of the proposed approach to the LUS4 at this stage.

It is, however, important to acknowledge these potential barriers, and recognise that aspects of the LUS4 may be relevant to the issues identified. This will be considered when actions for the delivery plan are developed. These will either seek to address the issues identified or they will be taken account of when the actions are developed.

The evidence also highlights areas where the LUS4 has the potential to have indirect positive impacts, although given the focus, purpose and audience for the LUS4 it is more likely these will be driven through alternative workstreams, for example the ongoing development of the Land use and Agriculture Just Transition Plan which will undergo the relevant impact assessments including a CRWIA.

6. What changes (if any) have been made to the proposal as a result of this assessment?

No changes have been assessed as required to the overall approach to the LUS4. This is due to the fact that no impacts have been identified and therefore no changes were needed to address impacts (enhance positive impacts or mitigate negative impacts). This assessment will be reviewed as specific actions are developed in phase two.