UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board: terms of reference

Purpose

To provide strategic advice on and oversight of the arrangements the Scottish Government and its partners are making to ensure that children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled and to support UNCRC implementation in Scotland. 

Remit

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 requires the Scottish Ministers to publish and regularly review a Children’s Rights Scheme which sets out the arrangements that they are putting in place to ensure that they comply with the compatibility duty in the UNCRC Act and to secure better or further effect of the rights of children. The Scheme will reflect the following principles of a Children’s Human Rights Approach:

• embedding: putting children’s human rights at the core of planning and the delivery of services that affect children
• empowerment: giving children the knowledge and confidence to use their rights and hold organisations and individuals that affect their lives to account
• participation: listening to children and ensuring their views are considered and taken seriously
• accountability: taking steps to monitor children’s rights standards and provide remedies where there is failure to meet these standards
• equality and non-discrimination: ensuring that every child has an equal opportunity to make the most of their life and talents

The Board’s remit will be to provide strategic oversight, vision, scrutiny and collaborative leadership on this Scheme. However, the Scottish Ministers will retain ultimate responsibility and will make key decisions about the arrangements in the Scheme. Members of the Board will collectively inform and help to shape  recommendations to Scottish Ministers based on their distinct expertise.

The Board will also review and provide advice on the programme of work to deliver the commitments in the Scheme  (‘the programme’) to ensure that decisions made and resulting actions are proportionate, effective, balanced and transparent. To do this, the Board will  seek assurance that:

• the rationale for decisions is clear and well communicated
• activities are progressing as planned keeping within planned timescales,  meeting milestones and delivering the required outputs and objectives
• activities are delivering   public value for money and that the impact of any savings required in response to spending controls are understood and have been carefully considered
• areas for improvement in the delivery of the programme are identified and understood
• approaches to measurement and reporting of progress and impact of the programme are meaningful, accessible and transparent
• risks and issues are being effectively identified, assessed, managed and escalated
• appropriate knowledge, experience and understanding of children’s rights and how these are being embedded in Scotland is being utilised to inform the work of the programme
• the experiences, ideas and feedback from children, young people/or their representatives, including those at most risk of not having their rights met, have been included in decision-making
• interdependencies between and opportunities arising from areas of work both within and outwith the programme are identified and effectively managed and/or exploited
• internal and external communications and engagement activity on the programme are taking place in a timely and appropriate manner

Other supporting groups

The Board will operate alongside and be able to draw on advice and support from:

• the Embedding in Public Services Reference Group, which will provide intelligence and insights on public authorities’ experiences of UNCRC implementation, including identifying where there are gaps in capabilities that may need to be addressed through additional support and/or resources
• the Children and Families National Leadership Group which provides collective leadership and strategic oversight of key areas of transformational change (including UNCRC Implementation) to improve outcomes for children, young people and families
• the UNCRC Awareness Raising Network that brings together organisations that are responsible for communications, marketing, and awareness raising with children, young people, parents, carers, and family members
• the Regulation and Improvement action group which supports regulators, inspectorate and ombudsman bodies to embed child rights considerations into their practice and the practice of the organisations they reach. The group will help us to identify and implement practical steps to further embed children’s rights within regulatory frameworks and inspection regimes
• the Working Together Partnership which brings together organisations with  the skills, knowledge and experience to support public authorities to embed a CHRA

Membership

The Board will include representation from leaders in the children’s rights sector and public authorities.to represent the views of duty bearers and the views of rights holders.

The experiences, ideas and feedback of children and young people will inform the Board’s decision-making, either through their engagement with the organisations on the Board (where these organisations have children and young people steering groups) or through direct engagement with the Board where appropriate. 

Board members will retain their independence with regard to their positioning on the implementation of children’s rights, and the fulfilment of their statutory functions. Participation in the board is without prejudice to the statutory independence of the Scottish Human Rights Commission and Children and Young People’s Commissioner of Scotland, and compliance with the requirements of the Paris Principles. 

Frequency of meetings and timeline

The Board will aim to meet once every three months but retain some flexibility to alter the timing of meetings to coincide with deadline for key decisions.

The functioning of the Board and its terms of reference will be reviewed every two years.

Chair and secretariat

The Board will be chaired by the Director of Children and Families. The Secretariat will be provided by the Children’s Rights Unit within Scottish Government. The Secretariat will:

• circulate an agenda and other relevant papers one week in advance of each meeting
• issue draft minutes and actions within one week of each meeting

The Terms of Reference, membership of the group and minutes of meetings will be published on the Scottish Government’s website to ensure transparency.