UNCRC Strategic Implementation board minutes: June 2022 - Summary

Attendees and apologies

Members of the Board

• Juliet Harris, Together Scotland
• Ian McKinnon on behalf of Gary Ritchie, Police Scotland
• Dragan Nastic, UNICEF
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Ashleigh Pitcairn on behalf of Kay McCorquodale, Scottish Courts Tribunal Service
• Gayle Gorman, Education Scotland
• Ben Farrugia, Social Work Scotland
• Clare Simpson, Parenting Across Scotland
• Donna MacLean, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Aidan McCrory, Care Inspectorate

Guests

• Kay Tisdall, University of Edinburgh
• Debby Wason, Public Health Scotland
• Eloise Di Gianni, The Observatory for Children’s Human Rights Scotland

Scottish Government officials

• Liz Levy (Chair), Children’s Rights Unit Head
• Carola Eyber, Capacity Building Manager
• Gita Sharkey, Rights Resolution Programme Lead
• Poppy Prior, SGLD
• Shona Spence, UNCRC Bill Team
• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant
• Lyndsey Saki, Embedding Children’s Rights in Public Services Programme Lead
• Dean Snape, Project Manager
• Luiza Leite (minutes), Policy Officer
• Kaylie Shaw (minutes), Policy Support Officer

Apologies

• Michael Chalmers, Director for Children and Families, SG      
• Nicola Hughes, Children’s Rights Unit Head, SG
• Paul Gorman, Empowered Children and Young People Programme Lead, SG
• Carol Potter, NHS Fife
• Fiona McFarlane, The Promise
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland
• Michael Cameron, Scottish Housing Regulator
• Louise Halpin, Human Rights Bill Team Leader
• Jaci Douglas, Care and Learning Alliance (CALA)
• Louise Hunter, Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS)
• Des Murray, SOLACE
• Michael Cameron, Scottish Housing Regulator
• Laura Caven, COSLA
• Richmond Davies, Public Health Scotland (Deputy attending – Angela Leitch)
• David Wallace, Social Security Scotland
• Gayle Devlin, Social Security Scotland

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 two months. 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 fix 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?

Update from the Children’s Rights Team

• The Children’s Rights team in the Scottish Government gave an update on the work they have delivered since the last SIB meeting.

• A Parents booklet will hopefully be released in October to provide parents with more information on the UNCRC.

• Guidance for two sections of the UNCRC Bill (Parts 2 and 3) have been drafted.

• When the two parts of the statutory guidance are ready, they will go out to the public for feedback in a public consultation.

• The Children’s Rights team are checking if the public consultation would involve children under 14.

Children’s Rights Scheme

• The SIB discussed the Children’s Rights Scheme, which sets out plans made by Scottish Ministers to support children’s rights.

• It was mentioned that the Scheme will be a helpful way of getting children’s rights more recognised within the Scottish Government.

UNCRC Bill

• Officials in the Scottish Government will continue talking to the UK Government in an open and honest way to hopefully avoid more challenges to the UNCRC Bill.

Theory of Change Report

• The Theory of Change report was released in early June and shared with SIB members. It explains all the things that need to happen to ensure Scotland takes a children’s rights respecting approach.

• Jennifer Davidson from the Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures, Kay Tisdall from The Observatory for Children’s Human Rights Scotland, and Debby Wason from Public Health Scotland came to speak to SIB members about the report and next steps.

• Debby Wason said that the Improvement Service is creating a plan between children’s services and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCP) to deliver the UNCRC.

Raising Awareness

• The SIB were told there needs to be more focus on raising awareness of the UNCRC with the people who make policies.

• Ann Skelton, who works for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, will be meeting with the Scottish Government directors network soon to raise more awareness.

Future Meetings

• The SIB will not meet in July and will meet again in August.