Tam's diary

Meeting with counterparts from children’s commissioner offices from England,Wales, Northern Ireland – main items discussed were:  jurisdiction updates,  our annual conference, mid term report to UN Committee on the Right of the Child, and CEOP developments.  I find these meeting useful because of the common interest and responsibilities carried by the participants.  The mid-term report has obviously generated a great deal of work for all of the offices and hopefully the launch of the document will match the preparation time given by all involved. 

Nico Juetten and I attended a meeting with Scottish Government officials – Lesley Fraser, Shirley Laing, Michael Proctor, Andrew Mott, Donna Bell, Boyd McAdam, Scott Wood.  The meeting was a follow up to earlier discussions around the issue of legislation for children and young people and what approach may be useful for the government to adopt in this process.

 Meeting with Angela Constance, Minister for Children and Young People, with Boyd McAdam and Scott Wood - it was coincidental that this meeting followed the morning meeting, but nevertheless very useful to be able to reiterate the priorities that the government may consider in respect of the forth coming legislative programme.

Big Lottery Advisory Board Meeting - I participated in a short-listing exercise for the Scottish projects to be submitted to the considerations at a UK level for funding under a new stream of innovative projects for children and young people.

Publication of my office’s review of Not Seen. Not Heard. Not Guilty. The rights and status of the children of prisoners in Scotland.  I spoke at the parliamentary reception which was very well attended by around 50 people from a wide range of backgrounds – including some senior law officers.  Christine Grahame, MSP and Chair of the Justice Committee hosted the event and in the course of which she gave a commitment to encourage the Justice Committee to conduct an inquiry into the impact of the imprisonment of their parents/carers.  This has since been followed up with representation pressing the Committee to conduct the inquiry.

Visited Rothesay Primary.  I spoke to the assembly of pupils – 230 pupils.  The main focus was informing them about the role of the Commissioner and taking a Q&A session.

Visited North Bute Primary.  I spoke to the whole school – around 40 pupils on the day – and a smaller group of around 8 pupils.  This was one of the schools on the council’s closure list and it was interesting how strongly the children expressed their love of the school and it was stated repeatedly one of the things they most valued was that there was no bullying at the school.

DG Voice –young people with disabilities.  When I accepted the invitation to this event it was billed as a modest affair.  By the time I was speaking to those attending there were in excess of 200 people participating in a series of workshops and main events.  I touched base with senior officials, although it needs a more structured follow up – most likely through the Chief Executive.

The Rock, Refugee Week, Stirling.  I co-presented a seminar around issues relating to refugees – I spoke briefly to the office’s Child Trafficking report.

Visited Kilbowie Primary, Clydebank.  I was invited to present the Rights Respecting Schools award.  As part of this, the Headteacher informed me that she had being focussing on rights for some time and until a RIGHT blether she felt that she was a voice in the wilderness – really kind feedback on a RIGHT blether.

Young Scotland’s Got Talent.  I was privileged to address this event and to present awards.  The highlight of the event for me are the young people with disabilities parading in their work clothes as part of a fashion show – absolutely inspiring stuff.

I attended a conference to consider the impact and potential responses to the economic situation – main speakers were Sue Bruce (Edinburgh City, Chief Executive) and Robert Black, (Auditor General) addressing the challenging agenda.

I spoke to around 60 teachers at a training event in Fife.  This was the second similar event promoting Global Citizenship within the curriculum.  It was another opportunity to feedback the results of a RIGHT blether consultation and vote - and to thank the teachers involved for their excellent contribution from Fife. It is encouraging how many opportunities there are to influence the curriculum with a children’s rights angle.

I chaired the Centre for Addiction Research and Education Scotland (CARES) conference, Dundee (80 delegates).  Some really interesting speakers and I learned a lot in terms of the research based on addictions and the impact on adolescent neurological development.  This has an interesting link to development of better finely tuned responses in the early years.

I attended the Law at Work update seminar in Glasgow.  I found this most useful, keeping those in attendance up to date with the latest developments and issues related to employment law.

Stefan Stoyanov and  I met with Joy Ezeilo, UN Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, along with Phil Raines and colleague.  This was arranged to facilitate and maximise the learning from Joy’s visit to Scotland.

I spoke at the Barnardo’s Think Tank event in Edinburgh.  There were around 30 participants.  My input was restricted to the lessons learned from a RIGHT blether which was useful, although given time, it would have been a good audience to have given fuller feedback on the results and the responses.

Maire McCormack and I met with Marit Boot and Patricia Jackson, both from theNHS Children and Young People with Exceptional Health Needs network.  This was a really constructive meeting and invaluable in terms of highlighting an area which merits further consideration as we work up our plan for this blether response.  

I met with Gordon Mathieson, Glasgow City Council leader.  This was a productive meeting with an assurance that Glasgow want to continue to engage with UNICEF in developing their approach to improving the lives of children and young people in Glasgow.  I expect we will have further contact with officers from Glasgow.

I spoke at the International Longevity Centre debate on young people’s attitude and behaviour in relation to pensions – around 70 participants.  While I made my contribution in terms of role and issues for children and young people, I learned a lot about the government long term plans for pensions.

I met with Professor Matt Sanders (founder of Triple P parenting programmes) and researchers from Caledonia University.  Tania Louriero (who produced our children of prisoners follow up research, Perspectives of children and young people with a parent in prison March 2010) facilitated this meeting.  The research programme is very interesting and I expect to have future contact.

Cathy Begley and I visited the Scottish Borders.  The programme included visits to  Galashiels Academy and Earlston High School.  We later met with senior managers, and then Glenn Rodger and Andrew Lowe. 

The school visits provided the opportunity to thank young people for their involvement in a RIGHT blether and to feedback the responses. In Galashiels I addressed around 30 pupils and teachers and the local children’s champion councillor did likewise.  In Earlston it was a group of 10 pupils some of whom had organised the vote in the school.  One interesting piece of feedback was that pupils felt the response to In Scotland – ‘Help us to be included no matter how different we all are’ – was a statement about everyone rather than just a particular excluded group.  As a result I have slightly amended the response to build in flexibility around this response.

Meeting the senior managers was most encouraging.  For instance, they informed that they are considering amending their annual school survey to take account of the focus of response to a RIGHT blether, particularly in the area of work around domestic abuse.

Glenn Rodger suggested in may be useful to contribute to the ADESconsideration of the Donaldson report as it has relevance to the a RIGHT blether  Where we Learn response – ‘Help us to have the same chances no matter how much money our parents have’.

I chaired the UNCRC Incorporation Advisory Group.  The formation of this group is very timely given that the Scottish Government are considering their new legislative programme and the opportunities for UNCRC to figure in their considerations.  Scott Wood from Scottish Government has joined this group.

I chaired the School Business Managers Conference (120 delegates).  This was a fascinating insight into the changing world of school management and highly informative in terms of engaging with schools around influencing their capacity to respond to the current pressures of curriculum for excellence and the economic climate.

I chaired my office’s Child Trafficking conference following my office’s recent research Is Scotland a safe place for child traffickers?  The conference was attended by around 100 delegates with a very strong panel of speakers from Scotland, UK, EU and the UN.  The programme attracted participants from a wide range of relevant professions and the informal feedback was very positive. 

Stefan Stoyanov and I met with Myria Vassiliadou, EU Anti-trafficking Co-ordinator and with Scottish Government, SCDEA and the Crown Office.  Stefan Stoyanov, Nico Juetten and Myria Vassiliadou later met with MSPs, Patrick Harvie, Alison McInnes and Kezia Dugdale.  These meetings were arranged to consider the implication for Scotland of the UK acceptance of the EU directive on Human Trafficking.

I spoke at the BASPCAN conference in South Lanarkshire on the topic of sexual exploitation.  The conference was attended by 70 delegates and I was reminded of how forgotten is this area concern for young people.  It is interesting that the issues of identification and the need for awareness raising were similar to those highlighted by my report into child trafficking.