Tam's diary

I visited St. George and St. Peters Church in Easterhouse. This was meant to be a meeting of all of the priority areas work undertaken by the Church of Scotland in and around Glasgow - it was attended by around 12 children and leaders from the local area. I had a general discussion about what things they felt would improve their areas.

I took part in the Scottish Youth Parliament sitting in Scottish Parliament – Ezmie and Katie in attendance. This was a full meeting of the SYP, with around 120 young people present. It was a celebration event for SYP to announce the results of Picture the Change which pulled in more than 42,000 votes – of which 22,500 can be attributed to a RIGHT blether consultation. The event was covered by a reporter from the Sunday Times, but to date the article has not been run.

Visit to the local Foyer project – spoke to COE and shown round the supported accommodation facilities

Visit to Sgoil nan Loch, Junior Secondary, Lewis – we conducted a GLOW meet from here and conducted the first RIGHT blether vote with around 20 pupils and a further 5/6 tuning into the meet.

Visit to Pointers Youth Cafe to meet with a group of 15 local senior pupils from the Nicholson Institute – the largest secondary school on the islands

Visit to Action for Children leaving care project and spoke to 4 young people

This was a jam packed visit and I am sure has laid the foundation for a good engagement with Western Isles through a RIGHT blether and in the future.

Visit to Carinish Primary, North Uist – we met all 24 pupils and they tuned into the GLOW Meet the following day

Visit to Sgoil Lionacleit Secondary, Benbecula – we met with senior pupils who spoke about their hopes and aspirations – mainly away from the islands

Visit to Pointers Youth Cafe, Lewis – we met with around 20 young people who were part of the youth councils and who had travelled from the surrounding area to meet us in the cafe for the evening.

I met with Angela McTeir, Scottish Government, Child Protection. Angela informed me of the most recent developments for Scottish Government in this policy area.

Cathy and I visited Streetlinks in Clydebank. This is a Housing Association led streetwork team covering West Dumbarton and parts of Renfrewshire. After a discussion with the staff on the main areas of work, we participated in a shift on the street in Bonhill, Vale of Leven and Huntershill, Paisley – where we had an engaging discussion with the young people – around 10.

I met with Boyd McAdam, Scottish Government. This was an introductory meeting with Boyd who has just taken over the responsibility for children’s rights as part of the GIRFEC team. I informed Boyd of the current priorities for work and he agreed to consider involvement in the planning for a right BIG blether in February 2011.

Cathy and I met with Ian Robertson and the other education sector heads in Glasgow. This was a useful and timely meeting as we updated them on the progress made with a RIGHT blether in other parts of the country and we agreed plans for how Glasgow could increase the take up in schools.

The Politics Show covered the launch of the Early Years report. It was followed up next day in a limited number of publications. I was pleased with the coverage and intend to follow up the launch of the report with all political parties.

Sarah-Louise, Ezmie and I joined the North Lanarkshire School Council meeting – a total of over 100 pupils. This is one of a quarterly session and this one was dedicated to preparing for the roll out of a RIGHT blether. This is one of a number of events which we can join in future events as they are ongoing commitments of the council in any case – good opportunities.

I visited Westerhouse Nursery in Easterhouse. This was an opportunity to speak to the staff and parents and film in preparation for the launch of the Early Years report the following Sunday.

Cathy and I visited Angus. We met with the senior education managers and then went on to Arbroath High School. We were shown round the school, had another school lunch and met with a small mixed group of pupils – around 15 pupils - who discussed issues around living and being educated in Arbroath. We then visited St Catherine’s Cafe project and met with 6 young people who attended various support groups in the area.

I spoke to a group of 50 young people involved with Spark of Genius – Cathy present. This was a very engaging group asking well informed questions around political issues – poverty, independence and LA responsibilities to young people leaving care. A good taster for the vote coming up within Spark of Genius

Cathy and I moved onto Saltcoats Academy to join the assembled youth council members – around 120 in total. They had a whole days worth of activities with some very inventive exercises which are well worth highlighting through a RIGHT brilliant thing – really inspiring session.

I met informally with Des McInulty, Labour spokesperson for Education and Young People.

Sarah-Louise, Sheila and I met with Susan Elsley regarding the proposal for research around the issue of children and young people’s participation. Scottish Government has already indicated that there is no money available for this proposal and the costs would require adherence to procurement procedures. Further consider may be required because the absence of information will make it difficult to measure distance travelled in terms of greater involvement of children and young people in effective decision making on issues that affect them.

I spoke to the Community Safety Executive at CoSLA – I shared the platform with John Ewing, Chief Executive of SPS. I was originally asked to speak to the Children of Prisoners agenda and did so, although there was an opportunity to speak more generally about our use of custody and in particular, the imprisonment of 16/17 year olds. The initial feedback was positive and it may be worth considering the potential influence of this group in future issues around offending.

Paul and I met with Douglas Hamilton, Save the Children to discuss issues common to our strategic plans and ways of working jointly on relevant issues.

Linda and I met with Ian Milligan, SIRCC. This was in response to concerns around inconsistent practices regarding children in care and their access to the internet. This is an area where further work could be initiated, although it will need to be considered alongside other priorities.

I chaired a meeting hosted in Scottish Refugee Council with key stakeholders to consider the implications of the Coalition Government announcement of the cessation of the use of detention and the options now available to UKBA in terms of families to be returned. I agreed to discuss further with Phil Taylor at UKBA and most likely re-convene the meeting.

Katie, Cathy and I met at the MacRobert Centre, Stirling with a group of young people interested in assisting with the organisation of a right BIG blether in February. This is still in the planning stage although at present a 2 day event is under consideration – dependent on costs and Scottish Government support – to be reported on at a later date.

I attended a Child Protection Forum hosted by Children 1st. This is one of a series of three Chatham House rule discussions about our current approach to child protection, a consideration of what works well and where improvements can be made. I was interested in comments made in respect of the lack of focus on child sexual abuse and confidence in dealing effectively with it.

Katie and I met with Tartan Silk to discuss involvement in ‘Join the Dance’ – a proposal to create a mass dance culminating in a reception at Scottish Parliament. This has since been postponed because the date proposed clashed with the Scottish Government announcement in Parliament of the budget for 2011-12.

I attended a Howard League for Penal Reform lecture entitled – Prison by Numbers. This was a quirky look at how we analyse prison statistics and linked it to our social constructs around justice – interesting.

I attended the Donald Dewar lecture addressed by Iain Gray. It was a useful opportunity to make informal contact with a number of Labour MSPs.

Katie and I attended the ENOC conference in Strasbourg. The theme of the conference was promoting participation of young people. There was a parallel conference for young people resulting in a joint session on 8 October. There were inputs from representative of EU and Council of Europe. The joint session was held in the Council of Europe building and Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, was present for most of this session.

There was discussion on ENOC as an organisation and it was agreed this should form a significant element of the next ENOC meeting – to enable ENOC to maximise its influence in EU and Council of Europe forum.

Katie and I presented the work of a RIGHT blether on the morning of 9 October. It was very well received, and I am sure made a mark in terms of the work of the office on promoting the effective participation of children and young people. This may lead to follow up with colleagues within ENOC and beyond.

I met with SPCB along with the other Commissioners. This meeting was to discuss budgets in light of the economic recession. It was made clear that the expectation was cuts to be achieved in 2011-14 remained at 15% and this would impact on the number of staff in each of the offices. I have already cut the Chief Officer post for 2011-12 and it remains to be seen what further adjustments may need to be applied.

I spoke at the NHS Early Years conference. I repeated my main messages regarding the need for a more focussed implementation plan which should contain explicit mention of the types of provision we should expect to see at a local level – for instance a national approach to parenting programmes and family learning centres for 0-5 year olds.

I later met with Judy Thompson, Marita Brack and Brenda Renz, (all NHS Education Scotland), who are developing proposals for a national implementation of Incredible Years programme for 3-4 year olds with behavioural difficulties.

I addressed the Scottish Parliament reception held by Changing Faces – a national organisation for advocating and supporting people with facial disfigurement. They are developing a presence in Scotland for young people. I was moved and inspired by the spirit of the young people involved in the event.

I spoke to the Scotland Malawi Partnership conference in Holyrood School, Glasgow – attended by around 100 people including young people – Cathy staffed the stall. I learned a lot about the partnership and Malawi in the morning I attended. We even met one of the pupils who attended the Falkirk GLOW meet.