Overview of the Act Part 3: Children’s Rights Scheme, Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments and Reporting Duties Sections 14 and 15: Children’s Rights Scheme
60.Section 14 requires the Scottish Ministers to make a scheme, to be known as the Children’s Rights Scheme (“the Scheme”), which sets out the arrangements that they have made, or propose to make, in order to comply with the duty under section 6(1) and secure better or further effect of children’s rights.
61.The arrangements that may be set out in the Scheme are wide ranging and may deal with both strategic and practical matters. Subsection (3) sets out some material that the Scheme must include and the outcomes that are to be achieved, but this list is not exhaustive of what the Scheme may include.
62.Once up and running, the Scheme is to be reviewed on an annual basis with a report on the operation of the Scheme being published following each review (section 16, see paragraphs 69 to 73 below). However, the first Scheme will specify the date by which the first report is due in order to enable the annual reporting cycle to be established. The first Scheme may also contain any specific actions that the Scottish Ministers are to take in respect of matters relating to the Scheme in respect of the period from the first Scheme being made until the first report on its operation is published. This will differ from the core content of the Scheme which will tend to cover ongoing processes or frameworks as opposed to specific actions that are to be taken in the coming year. For example, the Scheme may set out the procedure to be followed when preparing a child rights and wellbeing impact assessment, while the actions may indicate that the Scottish Ministers intend to carry out such an assessment in relation to a particular piece of legislation or strategic decision.
63.Section 15 sets out the procedure that the Scottish Ministers must follow to prepare and make the Scheme and, once it has been made, to amend or replace it. For the purposes of this section, the draft Scheme, the proposed amendment or draft replacement Scheme is referred to as “the proposal”. Subsection (8) enables the Scottish Ministers to begin the process of preparing and consulting on a proposal for the Scheme before the section comes into force.
64.The procedure may be summarised as comprising the following steps.