Nico Juetten, Scott Wood (Scottish Government) and I visited Wales to find out more about the ‘measure’ for UNCRC recently introduced through legislation. We met with representatives from the Children’s Commissioner’s office, government officials and a Ministerial advisor closely involved in the process. There are many points of learning for the progression of the work stream around the incorporation of UNCRC into Scots Law which can be fed back into the group considering this in Scotland. For me, the main points were:
- The close co-operation among the main participants from the Children’s Commissioner’s office, government officials and politicians and advisors
- The process to achieve the ‘measure’ was progressed over a long period – including a parliamentary Committee considering it for more than 2 years.
- The importance of political backing was absolutely critical as was the careful management of the process at a political level
The potential reach of the ‘measure’ is very significant and currently includes UNCRC training for 3500-4000 central government civil servants