United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC): Child Rights Regulation and Improvement Action Group minutes: June 2025

Attendees and apologies

Aqeel Ahmed (Chair), Scottish Government – AA
Lyndsey Saki, Scottish Government – LS
Ezhilarasi Mahadevani, Scottish Government – EM
Luiza Leite, Scottish Government – LL
Saleem Umar (minutes), Scottish Government – SU
Brian Johnston, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland (HMICS) – BJ 
Fraser McCallum, Education Scotland – FM
Neil Macleod, Scottish Social Services Council – NM
Jillian Matthew, Audit Scotland – JM 
Kevin Gavigan, Scottish Housing Regulator – KG
Linda Mckenna, Scottish Housing Regulator – LM
Nina Miller, Audit Scotland - NM
Rebecca Spillane, Improvement Service - RS
David McKay, Children’s Hearings Scotland -     DM
Joanna Smith, NHS Education for Scotland – JS

Apologies
Aileen Nicol, Care Inspectorate – AN
Josh Barnham, Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) – JB
Stephen Bermingham, Children’s Hearings Scotland – SB
*David McKay delegated for Stephen Bermingham

Items and actions

Welcome

AA  welcomed all attendees, inviting members to introduce themselves, including new attendees and delegate. 
Minutes and actions from the previous meeting
The previous minutes were approved with no comments. AA informed the group all actions from the previous meeting have been completed: 
•    distribution of the presentation at the previous meeting by JB from SPSO
•    sharing the Parent Club Children’s Rights Resource
•    agreeing a change in terminology to describe members of the group as “scrutiny bodies” to align with Scottish Government messaging and the regulatory landscape

Updates from members 

•    AA and LS highlighted ongoing preparations for the children’s rights reports due in March 2026, including putting in place plans to support analysis of the children’s rights reports and exploring the possibility of establishing a peer review process
•    AA  reminded members of the Children’s Rights Skills and Knowledge Framework. He invited feedback and proposed a future learning session
•    AA  informed members that the Children’s Rights Scheme is due to be published over the summer, setting out the Scottish Minister’s  actions in implementing the UNCRC Act, which they will report against to the Scottish Parliament
•    LM shared that the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) published their refreshed Corporate Parenting Plan and Children’s Rights Report  in April, with planned youth focus groups facilitated by Who Cares? Scotland  taking place in October or November. SHR is seeking legal advice to clarify its role with regards to the UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Act. This is in response to public and sector inquiries, including from tenants and landlords, possibly due to an increased awareness of the UNCRC Act and children’s rights
•    NM from Audit Scotland shared that they are revising their decision-making guidance, incorporating UNCRC articles. Audit Scotland are also making efforts to improve accessibility by ensuring publications are easy to read and child friendly. There is also ongoing collaboration with the Care Inspectorate on shared priorities such as integrating children’s rights within the ‘Promise’ Framework
•    JM shared Audit Scotland’s  report on Additional Support for Learning (ASL) which highlighted gaps in support, explained children’s rights considerations and made recommendations. A child friendly summary is due to be published. Th Promise Implementation Audit is scheduled to be published in October 2025. AS’s youth advisory group (ages 10-19) remains active, advising on audit processes, including rights framing
•    FM from Education Scotland outlined the Education Bill 2024, which will separate the inspection function into a new, independent inspectorateby November 2025. There has been extensive stakeholder engagement with children and young people to co-design a new Inspection Framework which will embed children’s rights, with a formal launch planned for the 2027/28 academic year
•    DM from Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) described preparations for system reforms under the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 , anticipating increased activity in their work with 16 to17-year-olds. DM highlighted the rollout of trauma-informed practice training, including the “Chair Greets the Child” approach. CHS launched the Experts by Experience Group to incorporate lived-experience perspectives into policy. CHS have also discussed the development of practice guidance focused on infants (0–3), emphasising non-verbal communication, developmental capacity, and family consultation
•    JS from NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) highlighted focused efforts to embed UNCRC within adult services, recognising wider health service obligations. NES have updated their Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) guidance to guide staff decision-making with article-specific prompts  . Work is also ongoing to raise awareness of the connections between UNCRC, Promise, and Getting it Right For Every Child frameworks
•    RS from the Improvement Service (IS) shared the refreshed Getting Ready for UNCRC framework reflecting the new UNCRC Act obligations and tools such as the Children’s Rights Skills and Knowledge Framework. IS will shortly publish a report on an action inquiry on children’s rights budgeting. IS will host a roundtable for their peer network at the end of June to support preparation for the spring 2026 reporting deadline

Discussion on evolving capacities

Members discussed the following key themes: 
•    Understanding how age, capacity, culture, and trauma intersect in decision-making
•    Ethical questions such as whether it’s appropriate to consult children where their input won’t influence the outcome
•    Health context challenges such as consent for treatment and tensions between child and parental rights

•    Examples from housing, licensing, education, and care show inconsistency across services in engaging with children and young people. This could be due to local authorities not being clear on different legislative requirements. 
Some specific examples were raised, including: 
•    In education, behaviour management policies can conflict with children’s cultural or social norms
•    There is a need for better frameworks to enable the voices of infants and non-verbal children to be represented in decision-making
•    Work is needed to explore and address how different rights (collective vs. individual) are balanced
As a result of the discussion, a series of actions were suggested: 
•    A scoping exercise to identify specific vulnerable groups who may be at risk of not having their rights respected (e.g., young parents, Additonal Support Needs, care-experienced children)
•    Develop resources to guide ethical decision-making and staff training across settings
•    Continue this discussion at future meetings, including exploring case studies and feedback from practitioners

 

AOB

 

AA informed the group that the Children’s Rights Unit will shortly publish a Child friendly “Rights & Remedies” infographic on how and where children can seek help if they feel their rights are not being respected. A similar poster will also be published for public services.
Ten UNCRC implementation case studies from local authorities  are now available. 
The next meeting will take place on 12 August 2025.