UNCRC Strategic Implementation board minutes: October 2022 - Summary

Attendees and apologies

Scottish Government officials

• Liz Levy (Chair), Joint Head of Children’s Rights Unit
• Amy Kerr, SGLD
• Caroline McMenemy, Senior Policy Officer
• Dean Snape, UNCRC Project Manager
• Kaylie Shaw, Policy Support Officer
• Lyndsey Saki, Embedding Children’s Rights in Public Services Programme Lead
• Michael Chalmers, Director for Children and Families
• Nicola Hughes, Joint Head of Children’s Rights Unit
• Paul Gorman, Empowered Children and Young People Lead
• Shona Spence, UNCRC Bill Lead
• Eilidh Walker (minutes), UNCRC Programme Assistant

Members of the Board

• Ben Farrugia, Social Work Scotland
• Claire Dobson on behalf of Gary Ritchie, Police Scotland
• Des Murray, SOLACE
• Dragan Nastic, UNICEF
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYPCS)
• Juliet Harris, Together Scotland
• Katy Kelman on behalf of Kay McCorquodale, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Services  (SCTS)
• Kay Tisdall on behalf of Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Laura Caven, Coalition of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Laura Pasternak, Coalition of Care and Support Providers (CCPS)
• Michael Cameron, Scottish Housing Regulator
• Richmond Davies on behalf of Angela Leitch, Public Health Scotland

Apologies

• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant
• Angela Leitch, Public Health Scotland
• Chloe Riddell, The Promise
• Clare Simpson, Parenting Across Scotland
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate
• David Wallace, Social Security Scotland
• Donna Maclean, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Gary Ritchie, Police Scotland
• Gayle Gorman, Education Scotland
• Gayle Devlin, Social Security Scotland
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Kay McCorquodale, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Services
• Lauren Sorrell, UNCRC Implementation Programme Lead
• Norma Reuttimann, Care and Learning Alliance (CALA)
• Tom McNamara, Deputy Director, Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice

Guests

• Andrew Sheridan, Scottish Public Services Ombudsmen (SPSO)
• Josh Barnham, SPSO
• Rosemary Agnew, SPSO
• Frances Bestley, UNICEF
• Gerry McMurtie, UNICEF
• Jo Laycock, UNICEF
• Lucinda Rivers, UNICEF

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 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 respected. 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 Bill

Members were told that the Scottish Government are speaking with the UK Government about the changes being made to the UNCRC Bill. It is not yet known whether the UK Government agree with the changes, but the discussions show that they are considering them.

This also means that it is not yet known when the Bill will receive Royal Assent. However, work is continuing to prepare for this.

Supporting public authorities

The Children’s Rights Unit told SIB about the support available for public authorities to help them understand what they need to do to prepare for the Bill. Some organisations have said they would like more support on how to identify and fix issues.

SIB members were asked if they would be interested in working together to think about how this could be done. Members agreed this was a very good idea and felt it was important that this support was available. The Children’s Rights Unit will be in touch with members over the next few weeks to begin discussions.

UNICEF

An organisation called UNICEF UK delivered a presentation to SIB. The presentation explained their Rights Respecting Schools Award programme. With extra support from the Scottish Government, UNICEF are working with local authorities in Scotland to help more primary and secondary schools take part.

UNICEF also spoke about their Child Friendly Cities programme, which aims to support positive change for children and young people.

Child-friendly complaints

An organisation called the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman delivered a presentation to SIB. Members were told about the work being done to make sure child-friendly complaints processes are in place.

They explained the importance of making sure children’s voices and opinions are heard and described the training being developed for those handling complaints from children. Members agreed this was very important work and necessary to help ensure children’s rights are met.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the SIB will be held on Tuesday 22 November 2022.