Attendees and apologies

Members of the board

• Michael Chalmers (Chair), Director for Children and Families
• Ashleigh Pitcairn on behalf of Kay McCorquodale, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
• Ben Farrugia, Social Work Scotland
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate
• Dragan Nastic, UNICEF
• Eleanor Kerr, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYCPS)
• Juliet Harris, Together Scotland
• Laura-Ann Currie on behalf of Gayle Gorman, Education Scotland
• Laura Pasternak, Coalition of Care and Support Providers (CCPS)
• Margaret Gibb, Parenting Across Scotland
• Noel Rehfisch, on behalf of Kay McCorquodale, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
• Norma Ruettimann, Care and Learning Alliance (CALA)
• Rebekah Cameron-Berry, on behalf of Laura Caven, Convention of Scotland Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Richmond Davies, Public Health Scotland

   Scottish Government officials

• Ian Donaldson, Deputy Director for Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice
• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant
• Anna Munro, SGLD
• Ceri Hunter, CRWIA and Internal Capacity Building Lead
• Gita Sharkey, Joint Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit
• Liz Levy, Joint Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit
• Lyndsey Saki, Embedding Children’s Rights in Public Services Programme Lead
• Paul Gorman, Empowered Children and Young People Lead
• Shelly Coyne, Children’s Rights Unit
• Eilidh Walker, UNCRC Programme Assistant (minutes)

   Guests

• Matt McDonald, Scottish Youth Parliament
• Ellie Craig, Scottish Youth Parliament

   Apologies

• ACC Gary Ritchie, Police Scotland
• Chloe Riddell, The Promise Scotland
• Gayle Gorman, Education Scotland
• Laura Caven, COSLA
• Gayle Devlin, Social Security Scotland
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures  
• Carola Eyber, UNCRC Capacity Building Manager
• Shona Spence, UNCRC Bill Lead

Items and actions

What is the Strategic Implementation Board?

The Strategic Implementation Board (or SIB, for short) is a group of people that meet every month.
They support the Government to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) part of Scots law.
They put in place support for organisations, children and young people and their families to help ensure that children’s rights are made real. They discuss if the work is on track and help to resolve any problems in trying to make this happen.
There are people on the SIB from Police, Education, Health, Social Work, children’s rights organisations, and the Scottish Government.

What was discussed at this meeting?

Progress with the UNCRC Bill

SIB were told the Scottish Government are still speaking with the UK Government about the ‘compatibility duty’ in the Bill. The discussion is about agreeing exactly what type of situations public authorities (like schools and hospitals) will be required by law to act in a way that supports children’s rights.

The Minister for Children and Young People met with a group of leading children’s rights organisations on 23 February 2023. She confirmed the Scottish Government is still committed to the UNCRC Bill and provided an update on the ongoing discussions with the UK Government.

The Scottish Youth Parliament

SIB heard from Matt McDonald and Ellie Craig from the Scottish Youth Parliament about how their work contributes to the UNCRC programme.

Matt and Ellie described their project, the Right Way, which involves:

• Three research projects with policy areas in the Scottish Government: Violence Against Women and Girls, the Scottish Education Exchange Programme, and Gambling

• Opportunities for senior officials to take part in training led by young people

• Participation support to officials when required

• Creation of a participation web hub framework that will launch in April 2023

Matt explained that the participation web hub will be available for all adults who work with young people.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the SIB will be held on Tuesday 28 March 2023