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Listen
2. Why engage with children and young people?
In short, because organisations should want to engage, and because they are required to. There are incentives for engaging, such as achieving better service design and promoting citizenship, but there are also requirements to do so, for example under statutory duties. The main reasons are outlined in the rest of this section. The National Standards for Community Engagement ( see paragraph 3 and Annex A) set out good practice in community engagement to help support better working relationships between communities and agencies delivering public services. While there are particular considerations in working with children and young people, the underlying principles for engagement are the same for all communities.
2.1 Scottish Ministers - have set out a high-level vision for children and young people in Scotland:
"We have ambition for all our young people and we want them to have ambition for themselves and to be confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners and responsible citizens. All Scotland's children and young people need to be nurtured, safe, active, healthy, achieving, included, respected and responsible if we are to achieve our ambition for them."
Getting it Right for Every Child, 2005
Developing good engagement processes can help deliver this vision, in particular in relation to enabling children and young people to be effective contributors, responsible citizens and in demonstrating that they are included, respected and responsible.
"Our children are our future. That is why we have committed ourselves to creating a Scotland in which every child matters, where every child, regardless of their family background, has the best possible start in life.
Much has already been done over the past few years to develop the services we offer our children. We believe, however, that more can and must be done. Particularly for the most disadvantaged children it is essential for all agencies to work together to achieve the best outcomes. That is a task for everyone in universal services such as health and education: it is not only about social work services."
For Scotland's Children, 2001
2.2 Service planning and Best Value - Engagement with the community and partnership working are the two fundamental principles underpinning Community Planning. Dialogue with children, young people and families gives policy makers and service providers the information they need to improve the relevance of their policies and services. This is true of mainstream services such as transport and health, where children and young people make up part of the wider community using the service, and of dedicated services for young people. By designing services which more closely match the needs of users, partnerships are contributing to the achievement of Best Value in their individual organisations, while not involving children and young people at the appropriate time can result in wasted or inappropriate use of resources. Developing an understanding of what children and young people are interested in and how they see their futures supports both effective engagement and long-term service planning. Participation by children and young people is also an aid to protection: a consistent theme of successive abuse enquiries has been the failure to listen to children and young people. Engaging children and young people in processes can therefore promote child protection as well as improving decision-making.
"We need to talk to young people about their health needs in a language that they understand. And when they respond, we must show we are listening - We will encourage the NHS to work with and listen to young people to make sure that local services are shaped in ways that effectively meet their needs."
Our National Health - a plan for action, a plan for change, 2000
Community Planning structures offer the potential to improve co-ordination of local arrangements for engagement across agencies, for example on particular strands of work, such as Integrated Children's Services Plans, Joint Health Improvement Plans and Community Learning and Development Strategies, which form part of the Community Planning process. Guidance for Regeneration Outcome Agreements, which will continue to form a major strand of work for many CPPs, identifies engaging young people as one of the five national priorities for community regeneration.
"It's not about 'men in suits' deciding what's best for a community when they don't even live there."
Young person, What Community Planning is to young people, Young Scot
2.3 The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - The UNCRC is a public declaration by all signatory nations that children are especially vulnerable and have a right to expect special consideration. It came into force in the UK on 15 January 1992. The Convention contains 54 Articles covering all aspects of a child's life. One of the key principles of the Convention is that children's views must be considered and taken into account in all matters which affect them. Article 12 States:
1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.
The UK Government has ratified the Convention but it has not been incorporated in domestic law and it is not, therefore, enforceable through the courts. It is current Scottish Executive policy to reflect, where possible, the articles contained within the Convention when taking forward policy and introducing legislation that has an effect on the lives of children and young people. The full text of the UN Convention is available at: www.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm
2.4 Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 and other statutory duties - Under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, CPPs must have regard to guidance issued by Scottish Ministers. The Statutory Guidance on Community Planning states that:
"Local Authorities, in their initiation and facilitation of the Community Planning process should consult and co-operate with a wide range of interests including… bodies such as: young people and youth work bodies who already make a valuable contribution to the planning and provision of services through their involvement in youth forums and their active citizenship."
In addition to this, there are specific statutory duties to involve children and young people in decision-making on services which fall under the remit of CPPs, for example under the Standards in Scotland's Schools Act 2000, the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004.
2.5 The citizenship agenda - Children and young people will become the voters, leaders and decision-makers of tomorrow. Early experiences can influence later behaviour and meaningful inclusion gives children and young people opportunities to demonstrate their ability to be citizens in their own local environment through practical experiences and activities. Inclusion in the processes that shape society in a way that is appropriate to their age and ability can contribute to their growth into mature, responsible, active members of society. One of the National Priorities in Education is Values and Citizenship. Engaging children and young people in Community Planning should also help them enjoy their childhoods, feel valued and respect their own environments - there is always a need to balance the needs of children and young people now with their development as citizens in the future. Participation can also be a mechanism for re-engaging children and young people who have become disengaged by creating a better sense of belonging. The aim should be to break down barriers, where they exist, between young people and the rest of the community and young people and organisations; to move away from their being viewed as a problem to be dealt with and towards their being valued members of society.
"Promoting responsible citizenship in a challenging, yet at the same time enjoyable atmosphere, using teamwork and goal setting activities identifies previously untapped potential and self belief and enables the young people to exceed their expectations of their own abilities.
The resulting development of a wide range of positive life skills contributes significantly to the development of safer and more responsible communities."
Stephen Hunter, Chief Fire Officer,
Tayside Fire and Rescue
2.6 Scotland's Children's Commissioner - Kathleen Marshall was appointed as Scotland's first Commissioner for Children and Young People ( SCCYP) in April 2004. Her job is to make sure that people listen when children and young people have important things to say about their lives. This might include people in schools, parliament and law courts.
SCCYP's job is to make sure the promises made under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are kept. The Commissioner has a legal duty to remind everyone of the promises and can also set up an investigation if she thinks the promises are not being kept. If the Commissioner believes that a public, private or voluntary organisation is not keeping the promises made to children and young people, she can require them to attend a public investigation, examine them under oath and force them to produce documents. Naturally, she prefers to work in partnership with people and will generally only use those powers when people do not co-operate; but it is important that they are there.
Another way the Commissioner might use those powers is if an issue has been raised by children and young people themselves. If this happens, she might want to make it clear how seriously she takes it by setting up a formal investigation to raise the profile of the issue and perhaps give children and young people an opportunity to ask questions.
2.7 Scrutiny - Audits of Best Value and Community Planning - Under a rolling programme of Best Value and Community Planning Audits of Local Authorities, Audit Scotland reports (to the Accounts Commission) on performance in Community Planning, including approaches to community engagement. The reports aim to describe how successfully obligations under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 are being met. Audit Scotland can highlight a failure to comply with the Act and, in the most extreme case, there is a power of Ministerial intervention. The following is an extract from the report issued to West Lothian Council:
"At the heart of the modernising agenda is the recognition that services should be provided in ways that suit the user.… The council identifies a focus on service users as one of its guiding principles: 'a customer-focused council… organised around the needs of the citizen'. It uses a range of mechanisms to consult with people. The council has a community engagement strategy and action plan outlining the range of activities being developed to inform, consult and involve people in the community planning process. This includes more ways of involving young people."
West Lothian Council: The Audit of Best Value and Community Planning, Audit Scotland, June 2005
2.8 Young people want to participate - One of the most compelling reasons for engaging with young people is that they themselves tell us that they want more and better opportunities to participate in decision-making. A major research programme, Viewfinder 2, conducted by MORI Scotland and Edinburgh Youth Services with over 5,700 young people in Edinburgh provides direct evidence:
"Over half of all young people would like their views to be listened to by involving young people when important decisions are being made (52%); through newspapers, television, videos and websites (52%) and through organised events for young people (49%)."
However, this is not always the case. Due to feelings of disempowerment and exclusion all too many young people do not yet want to participate and attention needs to be given to how a real cross-section of the young population can be involved. Part of the role of each CPP is to provide information to children and young people about how their views are represented in various forums, for example, Public Partnership Forums for Community Health Partnerships, in Schools, consultations, etc. and how their comments can make a difference.
"Things will start happening, communities working more as a team than an individual, funds being raised and projects moving forward. Not a 'them and us' feeling."
Young person, What Community Planning is to young people, Young Scot
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