I had a teleconference with the other UK Commissioners regarding the proposals for the Interim Report on the UN Monitoring Committee Concluding Observations, 2008. This agreed the outline format – essentially focussing on a limited number of areas for the Policy Officers to follow up in preparation for the publication of a report in 2011 – rather than covering all areas of concern noted in the 2008 Concluding Observations. It was agreed that Katie Brown from my office will lead on co-ordinating the participation element of the report.
I met with Robert Brown, MSP. There were two main areas for discussion. Robert has concerns around the impact of the local funding cuts, particularly to the voluntary sector and we exchanged views on how this may play out in the coming years. I was interested in Robert’s opinion and interest in how we might progress incorporation of UNCRC in Scotland in the next parliamentary session and I was grateful of his views on this.