Legislation

Where is Scotland in 2024?

Scotland has made significant strides in its legislative efforts concerning child protection, care and support, and alignment with the promise because of enhanced collaboration among public, private and voluntary sector organisations. The incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scottish law through the 2024 Act marks a pivotal advancement towards embedding child rights in the legal framework. This legislative move underscores Scotland's commitment to promoting children's rights and welfare comprehensively, ensuring international standards are enshrined in domestic law.

Additionally, the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) Act of 2021 seeks to address some of the past injustices related to historical child abuse, although its direct impact on current legislative coherence within the 'care system' may be limited. The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 includes provisions linked to increased participation and engagement in decision-making, the regulation of centres that support family relationships and duties around brothers and sisters. Some parts of the Act are still to be commenced, and others require additional support in order to fully implement.

The CCJ Act 2024 closely aligns with the promise, amending Scots law to broaden the accessibility of the Children’s Hearings System to older children and stop children entering Young Offenders Institutions. The proposed Scottish Human Rights Bill intends to address lifelong inequalities faced by care experienced people, reflecting Scotland's commitment to aligning legislative frameworks with the principles of the promise.

Challenges such as gaps in data collection on early deaths within the 'care system' and uncertainties surrounding the National Care Service highlight areas where legislative coherence must be strengthened.

Scotland's legislative landscape continues to evolve in support of child protection, care and support, with ongoing efforts to ensure legal frameworks uphold the rights and wellbeing of all children under its jurisdiction. The key challenge will be ensuring full, aligned implementation of these pieces of legislation.

Where does Scotland need to be by 2030?

By 2030, Scotland will have a clear legislative, enabling environment that supports families to stay together wherever safe to do so, and protects and allows relationships to flourish, children to thrive and care experienced adults to access lifelong support. This means:

A strong legal framework will be in place that acknowledges, protects and promotes brother and sister relationships in and on the edges of care. Those legal protections will include the right to time together, meaningful participation in decision making about their relationships and clear, simple rights to appeal.
There will have been full consideration of the legislative environment that governs data to ensure Scotland is able to measure and collect what it needs to ensure it understands what is happening and how services are working.

The route map to get there

Focus must be on the fact that money is not always focused on the right things and budgets are decreasing, leading to overstretched services and increasing numbers of families in poverty. There are clear tensions in what Scotland says it wants for its children and families, and what it is doing with the resources it has. For progress to be made, work must prioritise resolving this to ensure the money that is spent is clearly aligned to need and impact across the 'care system' and all adjacent systems.

The Scottish Government is expected to lead a package of consultations to inform the next stage of policy development and in support of any future legislative change. This will include working with partners to deliver a coordinated package of participation and engagement with care experienced children, adults and families. Consultations are likely to include:

Consideration of a statutory definition of care experience.
Implementing the outcomes of the work to redesign the Children's Hearings System.
A package of support for young people transitioning out of children's care services.
A national, strategic approach to foster care.

The Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise will consider the work undertaken by The Promise Scotland and Who Cares? Scotland with respect to a lifelong advocacy model for care experienced children, adults and families. The Promise Scotland’s paper recommended a statutory right to advocacy which could be advanced through the Promise Bill or other legislative vehicle.

As part of the work relating to the Promise Bill, there must be a full review of the current legislative landscape that impacts on the ‘care system’. This must include legislation that are acting as barriers to change irrespective of their focus on the ‘care system’ and will identify further legislative changes will be required to #KeepThePromise. This work must include the voices of the care community and the workforce to result in clarity on how the current legislative landscape around the ‘care system’ can be decluttered so that it operates more effectively and efficiently by upholding children and families’ rights, listening to their views and making changes based on what matters to them.

The Promise Bill drafting phase will take place and the Scottish Government will work with their legal teams. Subject to Parliamentary timetabling, the Promise Bill remains on track to be introduced to Parliament in session 2025/26.

The Promise Bill should receive Royal Assent and commencement. The new duties must be commenced in a staged and considered way so they do not overwhelm the workforce and so that children, families and the care community understand the changes being introduced. Adequate resourcing must accompany the Bill to ensure the changes can be implemented in full.

The actions outlined in the Voice foundation are fully embedded at every stage to progress actions on Legislation.

What is helping?

The Scottish Government has been clear that it aims to introduce a Promise Bill by the end of this Parliamentary session. The Bill will be positioned to make some further legislative changes required to #KeepThePromise.

‘Hearings for Children’, the report that emerged from the Hearings System Working Group’s review of the Children’s Hearings System, has identified several recommendations that will require legislative change. These have broadly been accepted by the Scottish Government and will form part of the basis for the upcoming Promise Bill.

The Promise Scotland undertook a scoping exercise with recommendations around how to develop a national, lifelong advocacy service for care experienced children, adults and families. This contained specific options for a statutory approach.

Building on the strong existing legislative framework, not limited to but including the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, several pieces of legislation have been laid and passed since the Independent Care Review published its conclusions. These include (but are not limited to):

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 (see Rights)
Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act 2023 was brought forward to reform how remand is used, and how release mechanisms work for certain prisoners. The Scottish Government consulted on this between November 2021 and February 2022 and the Bill was passed in June 2023, becoming an Act in August 2023.
Children Care and Justice (Scotland) Act 2024 was introduced in Parliament in December 2022 and passed in April 2024. The Act enables improvements to youth justice, secure care, aspects of the Children’s Hearings System, victims’ services and the criminal justice system.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill was introduced to Parliament in March 2024 as per the commitment in the 2023-24 Programme for Government. This Bill will enable the delivery of the Scottish Government’s commitment for longer-term private sector rent controls; tenants’ rights and other protections; and duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness.