Next >

Child Strategy Statement

1.The Government that came into office in May 1997 for the first time designated a Minister for Children's Issues in The Scottish Office. Following up that initiative a child strategy statement was produced to ensure that all Scottish Office Departments identified and took proper account of the interests of children when developing policy. It describes the legislative and policy context and key issues which should be borne in mind when developing policy which affects children either directly or indirectly.

2. With the creation of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive, children's issues are a key priority. A Minister and Deputy Minister for Children and Education have been appointed. The coalition's Programme for Government Making it Work Together highlighted the need to work together to give our children the best start in life. The report Social Justice...A Scotland Where Everyone Matters re-emphasised this and set a long term target of defeating child poverty in Scotland within this generation. The Child Strategy Statement can help to achieve that goal. So it is now being reissued in updated form to aid the Scottish Executive in this. As the Programme for Government says, "Our children are the future of Scotland". Every child matters.

WHY DO WE NEED A STATEMENT?

3. Children form one-fifth of Scotland's population, but may have only limited opportunity to consider or comment on policies which impact on them. Whereas most adults are silent by choice, many children are not in a position to have an influence on matters which greatly affect them. In the vast majority of instances, adults in the wider community act effectively in the interests of children. However it remains the case that children have decisions made about, for and against their interests without their views being taken or needs properly considered. In families in danger of being socially excluded, the scope for children's needs to be overlooked is even greater.

4.The Minister for Children and Education has decided that as children will not normally be in a position to represent their own interests in the same way as adults, particular attention needs to be given to the effect of significant policy changes on their lives. Taking into account the views of children is one important way of achieving this. The Minister also has a more general responsibility to ensure that overlapping areas of Scottish Executive policy are properly co-ordinated and developed in the best interests of children.

5. As the first step in achieving these objectives, the Minister for Children & Education wishes to ensure that all Departments of the Scottish Executive consider the impact of all policies on children before they are implemented. The remainder of this Statement provides further guidance on how this objective is to be met.

THE LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY CONTEXT

6. Against this background, the Minister for Children and Education will provide a co-ordinating focus within the Scottish Executive, including a watching brief to measure the extent to which local arrangements are fully corporate in character. In view of the strategic nature of policy made throughout the Scottish Executive, it is important that similar consideration is given to the effects of policies from any departmental area on children. To that end it is important that the Scottish Executive develops effective mechanisms for liasing with outside agencies which represent the interests of persons who use or who are likely to use services and resources which result from any Scottish Executive policy initiative bearing on children and families. Care will need to be taken to ensure that the views of such agencies are representative, and not simply the views of specific focus groups. It is equally important that the Scottish Executive develops effective mechanisms for internal liaison where policy interests overlap.

7. One of the primary pieces of legislation underpinning this objective is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. The Convention was ratified by the United Kingdom in December 1991. The Scottish Executive is committed to implementing all its articles through policy and practice development, subject to the interpretation and reservations made to that Convention. The UK Government is obliged to report regularly to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on progress towards implementation of that Convention's aims.

8. The UN Convention defines a child as a person under the age of 18, although "child" is ultimately defined in a variety of ways across a range of legislative instruments. Although a substantial proportion of children's legislation deals with young people under the age of 16, it is important to bear in mind not only that 16 and 17 year olds are also children for certain purposes but also that they may have needs which are quite different to those of the younger age group. That Convention provides a set of minimum standards relating to children's (defined as people under the age of 18) civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. These standards can be broken down into 3 main categories:

• provision: the rights of the child to minimum standards of health, social security, physical care, family life, play recreation, culture and leisure, as well as adequate standards of living and a good quality education;

• protection: the rights of the child to be safe from discrimination, abuse and neglect, exploitation, substance abuse, injustice and conflict;

• participation: the rights of the child to a name and identity, to be consulted and taken account of, to access to information, to freedom of speech and opinion and to challenge decisions made on their behalf.

As an aide-memoir, Annex A provides a brief description of the matters addressed in each article of this Convention.

9. Article 12 of the Convention places an obligation on State Parties to assure to children the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, and for those views to be given due weight. Whereas this falls short of requiring the views of children to be canvassed on all such matters, Ministers believe that the Scottish Executive should be proactive in obtaining the views of children on matters of significance to them in order to comply with the spirit of this Article. Such an approach is consistent with Article 3 which obliges public institutions to make the best interests of children a primary consideration in all actions affecting them.

10. This expectation is also reflected in some areas of domestic law. The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 introduced a statutory statement of parental responsibilities and placed an obligation on parents generally, and local authorities in a social work context, to take account of the views of children individually. Local authorities are also required to consult with voluntary organisations which represent the interests of persons who use or who are likely to use relevant services in developing their children's services plans.

ESTABLISHING A MECHANISM TO IMPLEMENT THE STRATEGY

11. In considering any new policy initiative, or in amending current policy, all Scottish Executive Departments should explicitly consider the implications of those policies for children. In order to do this they should decide whether there is a need to:

• consult with relevant interests and if not, why not: in many circumstances this should include consultation direct with children;

• collect further data on information in order to assess the impact of policy developments on children;

• inform the Children and Families Division of important matters for inclusion in the annual report to Ministers.
  

If direct consultation is appropriate, then a range of ways of taking the views of children might be needed, with care being taken to ensure that the results of consultation are not an interpretation of children's views by adults.

12. In deciding which, if any, of the actions described in paragraph 10 to pursue, Departments considering new policy initiatives, or amending current policy, should ask themselves the following questions:

• Does the policy have any direct implications for children and if so, what are they? How can the policy positively enhance opportunities for children in Scotland?

• Does the policy have any implications for the target to defeat child poverty in Scotland within this generation? Can it make a positive contribution to this?

• Does the policy have an indirect effect of any significance on e.g. the development of traffic calming measures?

• What impact will the policy have on the general welfare of children e.g. changes to homelessness legislation which might affect children in a number of ways?

• Will the policy affect one group of children more than others, or will there be competing interests between different groups of children?

• Will the policy positively or adversely affect other policy areas, local authorities, voluntary organisations or others in their work with children, and is there scope for integrating the new policy with other measures in train or in prospect?

CONSULTATION

13. Policy areas affecting children should consider whether it is appropriate to invite the views of relevant statutory and non-statutory organisations involved with children during the policy development stage. Consideration should also be given to taking the views of children themselves, either directly or through a representative organisation such as "Who Cares?, Scotland" or local Youth Forums. In support of this the Children and Families Division has compiled a comprehensive list of representative organisations which will be available to all policy interests.

ADVICE/FURTHER DISCUSSION

14. Policy issues arising from this statement should be directed in the first instance to the Scottish Executive Education Department, Children and Families Division, 2B(N), Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ Tel 0131 244 0977.

ANNEX A

SUMMARY OF MAIN PROVISIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Next >