UNCRC Strategic Implementation board minutes: July 2023 - Summary

Attendees and apologies

Members of the board

• Andrew Watson (Chair), Director for Children and Families
• Dragan Nastic, UNICEF UK
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYCPS)
• Juliet Harris, Together Scotland
• Margo Williamson, SOLACE
• Helen Fogarty, Social Security Scotland
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Future’s
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate
• Chloe Riddell, The Promise
• Megan Moffat, Who Cares? Scotland (Deputising for Laura Pasternak)
• Margaret Gibb, Parenting Across Scotland
• Michael Cameron, Scottish Housing Regulator
• Laura Caven, COSLA

Scottish Government officials

• Ian Donaldson, Deputy Director: Children’s Rights Protection and Justice
• Dean Snape, UNCRC Project Manager
• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant
• Carola Eyber, Children’s Rights Reporting and Monitoring 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
• Shona Spence, UNCRC Bill Lead
• Sarah Booth, SGLD
• Kavita Chetty, Scottish Government (Observing)

Apologies

• Norma Ruettiman, Care and Learning Alliance
• Ben Farrugia, Social Work Scotland
• Nicola Anderson(LIT), replacing Noel Rehfisch, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
• Ashleigh Pitcairn, Scottish Courts
• Eleanor Kerr, NHS
• Kay McCorquodale, SCTS
• ACC Gary Ritchie, Police Scotland

Guests

• Katie Logie, Children’s Parliament
• Matt McDonald, Scottish Youth Parliament
• Holly Owens, Scottish Youth Parliament
• Arden, Children’s Parliament
• Daisy, Scottish Youth Parliament
• Omima, Children’s Parliament

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?

SIB were joined by two members of the Children’s Parliament and one member of the Scottish Youth Parliament to discuss their experiences of attending the State Party Examination by the UN Committee in Geneva.

They set out:

• Why they went to Geneva

• What the experience was like

• Their expectations of next steps from Scottish Government and how they’d like children and young people to be engaged

• Some ‘stand-out’ concluding observations that are important to children and young people

The children and young people explained that they felt heard by the Committee, privileged to be there, and were aware of the responsibility of representing all children and young people.

They reflected on the impact of taking time out of school during exam period to attend, and requested that Scottish Government inform children and young people on how it will respond to the Concluding Observations. They also asked for more communication from Government on important children’s rights issues.

It was noted that the Children’s Rights Unit in the Scottish Government had not yet communicated with children and young people around the recent statement to Parliament, and views were requested on how best to keep children and young people informed moving forward.

The Children’s Parliament suggested that while an open letter would be useful, not all children and young people would be aware of it. To extend reach, it would be helpful to share information via schools and organisations working with children and young people.

A member of SIB highlighted that Scotland should be proud of the children and young people who attended Geneva. Moving forward, Governments need to engage with children and young people on timescales for future reporting cycles, taking into account things like exam pressures.

It was agreed that Scotland was proud of the role and influence of children and young people in Geneva, as they were able to influence the Committee to include specific rights issues in their examination and the Concluding Observations.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the SIB will be held on Tuesday 28 September 2023 from 15:30 to 17:00