Morning, Thursday, 13th March 2025
Online
This conference will focus on children in care in Scotland and progress in delivering The Promise, looking at the practicality of achieving its 2030 targets.
Stakeholders and policymakers will discuss priorities for improving Scotland’s care provision moving forward, and for implementing effective measures to improve outcomes for children in care, care leavers and care-experienced adults.
We are pleased to be able to include a keynote session with Fraser McKinlay, Chief Executive, The Promise Scotland.
It follows the recently published third report from the Oversight Board for The Promise halfway into its 10-year timeline, indicating that progress in meeting The Promise has been delayed by unexpected events and systemic barriers. The Board’s chair, David Anderson, is also a keynote speaker at this conference, as are Charlotte Wilson, Chief Inspector for Children and Young People; and Aileen Nicol, Promise Lead, Care Inspectorate. Delegates will discuss steps which need to be taken to drive progress, including improving decision-making and increasing action around spending, as well as what can be learnt from positive changes so far, such as the increase in keeping siblings in care together.
Delegates will discuss opportunities for multi-agency coordination to ensure that plans continue to progress, and how this can best be measured and tracked. It comes with the recent publication of Plan 24-30, which sets out roles and responsibilities, changes that might be needed to meet key targets, and deadlines for implementation. We also expect discussion on implications of measures that recently came into force through the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act, including the impact of aims to improve support for young people in care and their families.
It will be an opportunity to discuss budget allocations to support the delivery of The Promise, including priorities for utilising funding announced in the recent Scottish Budget. Sessions will also examine milestones already reached from Plan 21-24, looking at outcomes in the context of recent reports from Who Cares? Scotland and COSLA highlighting concerns over implementation. Areas for discussion include the need to provide comprehensive support systems for those in care, stable, long-term housing for care leavers, increased training and support for the care workforce to increase capacity, and improved coordination and collaboration between agencies and services to provide holistic support for care-experienced children.
Further sessions look at how to improve outcomes for care leavers, including how to improve education attainment levels, address mental health concerns and stigma, and increase access to housing and job opportunities. The role of local government and the third sector will be considered, especially in the context of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill which is currently progressing through the Scottish Parliament, and aims to identify how collaboration and good practice can drive forward meaningful change
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates. As well as key stakeholders, those due to attend include officials from The Scottish Government; Education Scotland; DoE, NI; and DCEDIY, ROI.
