UNCRC Strategic Implementation board minutes June 2025

Attendees and apologies

Members of the board

• Ian Donaldson (Chair), Deputy Director Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice

• Rachel Fox, UNICEF UK

• Juliet Harris, Together Scotland
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYCPS)
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate
• Eleanor Deeming , Scottish Human Rights Commission
• Laura Pasternak, Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland

Scottish Government Officials

• Liz Levy, Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit
• Lyndsey Saki, Embedding Children’s Rights in Public Services Programme Lead
• Joe Smith, Right Reporting and Monitoring Programme Lead
• Paul Gorman, Empowering Children and Young People Programme Lead
• Dean Snape, UNCRC Project Manager
• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant (minutes)
• Saleem Umar, Policy Support Officer (minutes)
• Victoria Morton, Scottish Government Legal Directorate

Guests

• Steven Kidd, UNICEF UK
• Lucinda Rivers, UNICEF UK

Apologies

 

• Laura Caven, COSLA
• Kay Tisdall, The Observatory of Children’s Human Rights in Scotland
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Amy Woodhouse, Parenting Across Scotland

Items and actions

Item 1: welcome and apologies

Ian Donaldson (ID) welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies were noted for those unable to attend. Members were advised that Lucinda Rivers (LR) and Steven Kidd (SK) from UNICEF UK would join the meeting to present under item five.

Item 2: minutes and actions from the previous meeting

Dean Snape (DS) advised members that the minutes of the previous meeting were circulated on 6 May 2025 and no amendment requests were received. Five new actions were raised at the April meeting. All actions have now been closed, as set out in the action tracker circulated to members on 17 June 2025.

Item 3: programme highlight report

The programme highlight report was shared with members on 17 June 2025. Members had been asked to consider the report in advance of the meeting. There were no questions from members.

Juliet Harris (JH) raised concerns from Together’s members about the legislative drafting process following UNCRC incorporation. In particular, concerns were raised that the Promise Bill had not been drafted in a way that ensured all provisions would be in scope for the compatibility duty.

Liz Levy (LL) noted that the children’s rights unit (CRU) continues to engage with the Promise Bill team and has raised similar concerns highlighted by the Children’s Commissioner and Clan Childlaw. LL confirmed that concerns raised by Together would also be shared.

JH also raised concerns about the transparency and accessibility of minutes from the children’s rights regulation and improvement working group. Lyndsey Saki (LS) noted that minutes will be published online, although there may be a short delay due to the Scottish Government approval process.

In relation to the skills and knowledge framework, JH noted that Together has received positive feedback, although uptake remains lower than expected. A formal awareness-raising strategy or action plan would be welcomed. LS confirmed that further awareness-raising work is planned.

Item 4: support for public authorities

Lyndsey Saki (LS) provided updates on the skills and knowledge framework, the embedding rights in public services reference group, the children’s rights regulation and improvement group, and preparation for the first UNCRC child rights reports.

The children’s rights unit has issued an invitation to tender for continued hosting of the children’s rights skills and knowledge framework until March 2026. Bids have been assessed and a contract will be offered to the successful supplier shortly. Work continues to scope the potential for a fully digital, interactive version of the website, balancing this against other priorities.

Feedback from local authorities highlighted challenges for staff with limited time and limited understanding of how children’s rights relate to their roles. In response, tailored training content is being developed, including short five-minute sessions and more in-depth introductory sessions of around 30 minutes.

LS provided updates from key stakeholders. The improvement service is progressing preparations for the first UNCRC human rights report, including content planning, contributor engagement, performance indicators and evaluation methods. They also highlighted cost barriers to training on child-friendly complaints procedures and capacity challenges in embedding children’s rights across services. Updated resources and case studies have been published to support implementation.

NHS Education for Scotland is focusing on strengthening children’s rights in adult health services. This includes the development and rollout of a new child rights and wellbeing impact assessment template, now in use across health boards. Work is also underway to adapt language and identify barriers and enablers to children’s rights in adult settings.

The UNCRC peer support network, made up of 14 non-executive public bodies, continues to coordinate communications and reporting activity. This work aligns with forthcoming Scottish Government guidance on inclusive communication and focuses on workforce development and child rights reporting.

LS also provided an update from the regulation and improvement working group. The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman reported that 55 to 60 per cent of engagement activity in 2024 related to children’s complaints. Key issues include misapplication of the best interests of the child principle and challenges in assessing children’s evolving capacities. The Ombudsman is promoting cultural change to ensure children’s voices are heard, particularly in services not primarily designed for children.

Planning is under way to establish proportionate approaches to analysing the first UNCRC child rights reports. Options include voluntary peer review and AI-assisted analysis. A working group including NHS Education for Scotland and the improvement service will be convened to develop recommendations by the end of 2025. Public Health Scotland and other partners have expressed interest in supporting this work.

LS noted that NHS Highland is piloting 19-minute training sessions based on the skills and knowledge framework. She acknowledged ongoing capacity and resource challenges within local authorities and emphasised the importance of proportionate support and reporting arrangements.

Item 5: impact of grant on the rights respecting schools award

Lucinda Rivers (LR) and Steven Kidd (SK) joined the meeting to provide an overview of the rights respecting schools award programme, outlining progress, impact and future direction.

They described the three-year Scottish Government grant to UNICEF UK, which provided national funding to embed children’s rights within school culture and practice. Over 2,000 schools currently participate, with more than half achieving silver or gold accreditation.

Independent research involving headteachers from 240 gold-level schools found that 95 per cent of pupils reported increased respect for themselves and others, 91 per cent reported greater engagement in learning, 77 per cent observed reduced bullying and 97 per cent reported more positive attitudes towards diversity and inclusion.

Since March 2022, the programme has moved from Scottish Government funding to a local authority-led model. Around 1,800 of the 2,100 participating schools are now covered through local authority-funded membership. UNICEF UK continues to support monitoring, accreditation and research, including partnership work with the University of Strathclyde.

Members raised questions about sustainability, variation in local authority engagement, cultural change within schools and potential collaboration to address issues such as exclusions, particularly for care-experienced children. LR and SK welcomed continued dialogue.

GW asked about engagement with directors of education in local authorities not participating in the programme. LL agreed this would be useful to understand whether alternative approaches are in place.

Action

• the children’s rights unit to consider whether and how to engage with directors of education in local authorities not participating in the rights respecting schools award to understand alternative approaches to embedding children’s rights

Item 6: update on the children’s rights scheme

Liz Levy (LL) provided an update on the children’s rights scheme, including stakeholder feedback, revisions and publication planning.

LL reminded members that she had shared a summary of feedback from Young Scot’s engagement with children and young people, along with an explanation of how this feedback is being addressed. Suggestions were received relating to explaining how the views of children living in disadvantaged circumstances are considered, referencing Together’s rights on track project, and clarifying how children and young people contribute to UNCRC monitoring. LL advised that no further changes to the scheme were considered necessary and no concerns were raised in written feedback.

A child-friendly version of the updated scheme is being prepared. Publication has been delayed until at least late July to allow consideration of further requests from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.

LL outlined four key areas raised by the Commissioner’s Office, including requests for a firmer timetable for reviewing UK Acts, annual information requests from public authorities, reporting on formal recommendations and concerns about the definition of strategic decisions for CRWIA purposes. LL explained the Scottish Government’s current position on each issue and confirmed that relevant feedback has been shared with senior colleagues.

GW confirmed she would be comfortable with the Commissioner’s full written feedback being shared with the board.

Any other business

LL explained that the children’s rights unit is compiling a list of children’s rights issues from published reports to share with Scottish Government policy teams. This list will be shared with Together, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and the Scottish Human Rights Commission over the summer. Stakeholders will be invited to identify missing or emerging issues, which will be discussed at the September meeting.

GW asked how the list would be used. LL explained that it supports proactive engagement with policy teams and helps respond to queries on strengthening children’s rights.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 30 September 2025.