UNCRC Strategic Implementation board minutes: September 2025 - Summary

Attendees and apologies

Members of the board

• Brian Taylor (Chair), Deputy Director Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice

• Rachel Fox, UNICEF UK

• Juliet Harris, Together
• Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYCPS)
• Eleanor Deeming , Scottish Human Rights Commission
• Laura Pasternak, Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland
• Kay Tisdall, The Observatory of Children’s Human Rights in Scotland
• Caitlin Fitzgerald, Scottish Human Rights Commission

Scottish Government officials

• Liz Levy, Unit Head, Children’s Rights Unit (CRU)
• 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
• Agnes Rennick, Senior Policy Official
• Aqeel Ahmed, Improvement and Innovation Programme Manager
• Dean Snape, UNCRC Project Manager
• Andrew Preston, UNCRC Programme Assistant (minutes)

Apologies

• Laura Caven, COSLA
• Jennifer Davidson, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Amy Woodhouse, Parenting Across Scotland
• Craig Morris, Care Inspectorate

Items and actions

What is the Strategic Implementation Board?

The Strategic Implementation Board (or SIB, for short) is a group of people who meet every two months. They support the Scottish Government to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) part of Scots law.

The board puts support in place for organisations, children and young people, and their families to help make sure children’s rights are made real. Members discuss whether the work is on track and help to fix any problems that may arise.

The board includes people from police, education, health, social work, children’s rights organisations, and the Scottish Government.

What was discussed at this meeting?

The group discussed a report that had been shared before the meeting.

One member raised concerns about what will happen after March 2026 for two organisations, the Improvement Service and NHS Education Scotland, which play an important role in supporting children’s rights in everyday work. They asked whether funding would continue for this work.

Another member explained that funding decisions cannot be confirmed yet, as the next year’s budget has not been agreed. All grants will be reviewed once the budget is known.

Members also discussed how new laws are written. Some raised concerns that the Promise Bill and the Religious Observance Bill may not fully meet the requirements of the UNCRC. They highlighted the importance of checking that all parts of new laws support children’s rights.

The Scottish Government team explained that guidance and advice for people writing new laws is being strengthened to help them better understand children’s rights. While it is not possible for the team to review every law in detail, work is underway to make sure policy teams understand children’s rights issues early in the process. Members were encouraged to raise any concerns they become aware of.

One member offered to help by giving feedback on the new guidance, and others agreed that clearer guidance would be helpful for everyone involved in developing laws.

Action

• the Scottish Government team will consider sharing the strengthened guidance with the group once it is ready

Another member shared that their university is working to ensure students training for professional roles, such as teachers or social workers, learn about children’s rights. This work has slowed due to limited resources, but they offered to share their framework with others. The group welcomed this offer.

The Scottish Government team also noted that they are exploring how artificial intelligence could help analyse what public bodies say in their children’s rights reports.

Supporting public bodies

Members received updates on how public bodies, such as councils, schools and other services, are being supported to understand and promote children’s rights.

• the children’s rights skills and knowledge framework is available online, with new resources and examples added regularly to support staff in their everyday work

• work is ongoing to make training easier to access, including for people with limited time or internet access, and a possible train the trainer approach is being explored

• the empowered children and young people team has launched a pathways resource to help children and young people understand their rights and how to raise concerns. This was developed with children and Barnardo’s Scotland

• events are planned to share good practice, including:

  • a child-friendly communication event in October 2025

  • an online UNCRC conference in November 2025

  • a possible local authority good practice event in January 2026

Working together across organisations

Different groups are working together to support children’s rights.

• scrutiny bodies, such as inspectors and auditors, are embedding children’s rights in their work and considering groups of children who may be at risk

• the UNCRC peer support network helps public bodies share ideas, challenges and good practice, including on child-friendly communication and reporting duties

Children’s rights issues raised by stakeholders

The Scottish Government’s children’s rights unit keeps a list of issues raised by people and organisations about children’s rights. This list helps identify where progress is needed.

There are currently 466 issues on the list, so it is necessary to prioritise the most important ones. The Scottish Government plans to:

• share the list with policy teams every six months

• ask key organisations, including the Children’s Commissioner, Together, the Scottish Human Rights Commission and UNICEF UK, which issues they think are most urgent

• publish annual updates on which issues Ministers have chosen to focus on and what progress has been made

Some organisations suggested adding new issues to the list. The Scottish Government explained that most of these are already covered by existing entries, but additional detail will be added where helpful.

For example, concerns were raised about ensuring unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are treated the same as other care-experienced children. The Scottish Government confirmed that these children are considered looked after and have the same rights to support.

Members have until mid-October to share final views. After this, key organisations will work together to identify six priority issues.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the strategic implementation board will be held on Tuesday 27 January 2025 from 15:30 to 17:00.