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Improving the Lives of Children in Scotland - are we there yet?
The Scottish Government's response to the 2008 Concluding Observations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
As set out in the cover letter for this consultation, the Scottish Government is committed to responding positively to the 2008 Concluding Observations which make a number of recommendations about how the UK can better implement the UNCRC. These recommendations are for the UK as a whole, but there is much within them that is relevant to Scotland.
The attached table sets out the Government's draft response to the recommendations. The table covers all the issues raised that are relevant to Scotland as well as those not included in the recommendations but which have been raised as concerns by Scottish NGOs, the Children's Commissioner or others. The table briefly describes the current SG position on each of the issues raised and puts forward a suggestion of what SG will undertake to do in future.
In recognising that there is considerable work still to be done, it is important to acknowledge the progress that has already been made to promote the rights of children in Scotland: Children seeking asylum now have equal access to higher and further education in Scotland; and SG is bringing forward legislation to end the remanding of under 16s in prison in Scotland. More generally, The Getting it Right for Every Child programme implements a common, coordinated approach across all agencies that supports the delivery of appropriate, proportionate and timely help to all children. It has at its heart an ethos that respects the voice of the child and their best interests.
This children's rights activity contributes positively to the Government's overall purpose of creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth. Beneath this purpose, there are a number of priorities in relation to children and young people as part of the Concordat with local authorities.
The Concordat sets out shared objectives and shared responsibilities between local and central government for the delivery of better outcomes for the people of Scotland and provides a National Performance Framework with which to measure performance. There are 15 national outcomes that cover all aspects of devolved responsibility in Scotland. Successful delivery of each of these will impact positively on the lives of children and young people but six have particular relevance to the UNCRC.
Below we have set out examples of where the UNCRC links to these national outcomes. This describes how current policies and priorities - that reach across the work of national and local government in Scotland and other statutory bodies - are contributing to addressing the concerns of the UN Committee, are helping to further support the rights of children in Scotland and ultimately are improving outcomes for all. The Scottish Government response to the Concluding Observations is therefore aligned with the Concordat, rather than in addition to it.
We are better educated, more skilled and more successful, renowned for our research and innovation ( UNCRC articles 5, 13, 15, 17, 28, 29, 31, 32). Priorities in this area are to ensure that the education children receive is of the highest quality and relevance to the individual child and results in positive and sustained destinations - in work, training or further education. Scottish Ministers are committed to improving educational outcomes for all young people through Curriculum for Excellence - a curriculum which will provide all young people with opportunities to build skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. This reflects the focus on skills set out in Skills for Scotland - a lifelong skills strategy for Scotland and through the development of the Early Years Framework.
Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens ( UNCRC articles 5, 12-15, 17, 23, 28, 29, 31). Linked to the first, a key focus of this outcome is to ensure that education develops these four capacities in all Scotland's children, regardless of where they are learning. The four capacities go beyond school and link to the way children interact with the world around them and how included and involved they are in making decisions affecting their lives. The development of a Youth Framework will be part of an interconnecting set of policy developments including Curriculum for Excellence and the Youth Justice and Early Years Frameworks and will be underpinned by the UNCRC. The implementation of We Can and Must Do Better particularly targets the need to ensure that Looked After children and young people and care leavers are able to achieve this outcome.
Our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed ( UNCRC articles 4-10, 18, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 31). An Early Years Framework is being developed that will set the long term direction of policy for children from before birth to age 8. It aims to achieve a shift from crisis management to prevention and early intervention and is based around four themes: building parenting and family capacity; creating communities that provide a supportive environment for children and families; delivering integrated services that meet the holistic needs of children and families; and developing a suitable workforce to support the framework.
We live longer, healthier lives ( UNCRC articles 3, 11, 17, 19, 24, 25, 32-39). Better Health Better Care, the Scottish national strategy for health and wellbeing sets out a series of actions to support good health choices and behaviours amongst children and young people in areas such as diet, physical exercise, and sexual health. It also aims to address the link between early life adversity and poorer health in later life through initiatives such as Health for all Children, a surveillance, assessment and needs identification programme which enables access to intensive support for those with greater needs. It includes specific reference to incorporating health and wellbeing education as a key aspect in the new school curriculum and to tackling health inequalities. The Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities informed Better Health Better Care. The Task Force's report, Equally Well, is an ambitious and radical programme for change across all areas of government, highlighting the importance of early years as a key priority for effectively tackling health inequalities. The Equally Well implementation plan (published on 11 December), Achieving our Potential, and the Early Years Framework together form a long-term strategic approach to tackling inequalities in Scotland.
We have tackled the significant inequalities in Scottish society (UNCRC articles 2, 12-14, 22, 23, 27, 30). Inequalities take many forms but the key priorities related to UNCRC are to tackle child poverty and inequalities in access to services for looked after children, asylum and refugee children and children with disabilities. A Framework to tackle poverty and income inequality in Scotland called ' Achieving our Potential' was published in November 2008. It represents a statement of intent from the Scottish Government and COSLA to work together in an entirely new way to ensure that more people in Scotland are able to share in a better, fairer way of life and able to contribute to increasing sustainable economic growth in our nation. Where there are specific identified inequalities, such as in relation to those who have experienced the care system, we are implementing targeted measures to redress the balance. For children and young people who are not in employment, education or training (or are in danger of disengaging) - including those with additional support needs as a result of disability or learning difficulties; those with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties; those who have or are at risk of disengaging from school; young offenders, - the Scottish Government has concentrated more effort through More Choices More Chances.
We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk ( UNCRC articles 6, 9, 11, 18-21, 25, 26, 33-37, 39, 40). By tackling many of the issues highlighted above, the life chances of all children in Scotland should be improved particularly those in vulnerable groups e.g. looked after children and children with disabilities. The Early Years Framework will aim to improve outcomes for all children and families, but paying particular attention to identifying those at risk of not achieving positive outcomes and delivering effective prevention and early intervention to prevent risk becoming harm. Curriculum for Excellence will offer better educational outcomes for all young people and will provide more choices and more chances for those young people who need them. The publication of These Are Our Bairns - guidance for community planning partnerships on how to be a good corporate parent in September 2008, and the associated work to strengthen the corporate parent function across Scotland aims to assist all those who work with young people in the care system, and those who are responsible for the governance of those services, to understand their responsibilities and improve outcomes for the young people in their care. The expectation is that there should be no difference in the outcomes of children who have been in care and those who have not.
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