Nicola Killean writes ahead of the Scottish Budget

Children and Young People’s Commissioner, Nicola Killean writes ahead of the Scottish Budget: 2024-2025, outlining the five key things she wants to see within it.

The Scottish Budget will be published this week, the first since the UNCRC (Incorporation)(Scotland) Act came into force.

Here are five key things I want to see:

1. Children’s rights a central focus in budget decisions.
2. A Child Rights Impact Assessment of the Scottish Budget.
3. Commitment to meaningfully engage children and young people in the Scottish Government’s work on eradicating child poverty.
4. Uplift to the Scottish Child Payment, expansion of eligibility to free school meals and removal of school meal debt.
5. Additional investment to ensure that children with additional support needs have access to education that meets their needs and fulfils their rights to education which develops their full potential.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is clear that compliance with obligations under the UNCRC requires Governments to ensure budgets are set in a way that enables the full realisation of children’s rights. All budget decisions must be made with consideration of their impact on children’s rights, particularly children in vulnerable situations. This includes decisions on how governments raise revenue, where money comes from, how it is allocated and spent.

I have been particularly concerned about cuts to children’s services in local authorities across Scotland, and the impact on disabled children and those living in areas of multiple deprivation. Funding for children’s services, particularly those serving children in the most vulnerable situations, should be a priority if children’s rights are to be upheld, and their right to survival and development fully realised.

I am also concerned at the potential impact of cuts to third sector services, which often provide a vital resource for children and young people where statutory services are lacking. The Pre-Budget Scrutiny Report of the Scottish Parliament’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee highlighted concerns about the funding of third sector organisations in Scotland, which I share. More flexible funding approaches and greater consideration of the impact of such cuts on children and young people using these services are needed.

Scottish Government must take the lead in demonstrating the priority given to children’s rights across budgets, as a critical step in tackling child poverty.