The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 requires the Care Inspectorate to publish a report every three years to show what steps have been taken to put the UNCRC into practice. This report covers progress during the period 1 April 2020 - 31 March 2023 and highlights a range of activities undertaken to protect, promote and defend children’s rights.
In our last report we said between 2020-2023 we planned to focus on these seven areas.
1. Make the changes needed from the Independent Care Review.
2. Continue to support the growth of early learning and childcare.
3. Develop a range of different ways to speak to children and young people and their families.
4. Continue to share information across all areas of the Care Inspectorate in the best way.
5. Work with children and young people, their families and advocacy workers to tell us about concerns. This includes talking to people who have left care services.
6. Work with the Mental Welfare Commission on restrictive practices and good practice in the use of physical restraint and seclusion.
7. Continue to train and develop our workforce in children and young people’s issues and rights.
The report details the progress in each of these areas. In a change to what was said for number six, we worked with the Scottish Physical Restraint Action Group (SPRAG) to take forward our work on restrictive practices and the use of physical restraint and seclusion. There is more information about this in the Cluster five section of the report.
Using the UNCRC clusters is an internationally recognised approach to the implementation, monitoring, and reporting of children’s rights and it follows Scottish Government Guidance. It also provides a useful approach to use for this report.
Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “I am proud of all we have achieved to respect, uphold, champion, and defend the rights of children and recognise that their rights are most often realised through relationships with loving, attentive caregivers. We want to ensure all children in Scotland grow up feeling loved, safe, and respected and the incredible young inspection volunteers we work with are helping us to do this.”
The full report can be read here.