Progress Against Actions

A selection of progress updates are highlighted below, with a full progress update against each of the corporate parenting plan actions provided at Appendix A.

As of December 2022 all actions, with the exception of one, have either been delivered or are on track to be successfully delivered. One action (Modern Apprentice position) is tracking as ‘amber’ delayed.

The SPA Corporate Management team, working in partnership with Police Scotland HR colleagues, has made significant progress in the establishment of a Modern Apprentice post for a care experienced individual. A job description has been prepared and management and support structures have been put in place. However, in recent weeks, advertisement of the post has been put on hold. This decision was made following the Scottish Government’s resource spending review which outlined a flat cash funding settlement for the SPA.  Whilst the Authority continues to make a case for investment in policing, recruitment of the post has been put on hold until the outcome of the Scottish budget is known.

Since the launch of the Corporate Parenting Plan last year the SPA has been pleased to welcome ‘Who Cares? Scotland’ to deliver two training sessions on the role of a Corporate Parent. The first of these training sessions was delivered to all SPA Corporate staff and explored what it means to be a Corporate Parent and how all staff can represent the interests of the care experienced community when discharging their duties. A second, in-person training session was delivered to all of the SPA’s Board Members. This training was tailored for non-executives and, in addition to introducing the role of a Corporate Parent, considered how policing can impact on care experienced individuals and how Boards can effectively represent the interests of care experienced people in oversight and decision making.

On Tuesday 15 November the SPA, in partnership with Police Scotland, hosted a roundtable event entitled ‘Places of Safety for Children in Conflict with the Law’. This event was attended by approximately 100 guests including Chief Social Workers, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner and Who Cares? Scotland and explored if there are more appropriate places that children could be taken to facilitate investigations which avoid the trauma of police custody. Although this event considered the impact on all children under 18, it is acknowledged that care experienced children have a significantly higher probability of experiencing the criminal justice system than children who are not care experienced.

The SPA Change and Operational Scrutiny team is currently working with the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner to undertake a ‘joint assurance review of the safeguards in place concerning the acquisition of biometric data from children and young people in police custody’. The aim of this review is to assess the law, procedure and practice related to the acquisition, retention, use, and destruction of biometric data relating to children and young people. As part of this review The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) will engage a range of children and young people to gain qualitative insights into the experiences of young people who have been arrested by the police and had their biometrics captured. It is anticipated that a summary report of findings will be published in spring 2023.

The SPA has recently joined the Who Cares? Scotland Collaborative Corporate Parenting Network. This newly established network will provide opportunity for Corporate Parents to come together to share what they are doing for care experienced people and to learn what others are doing. It is hoped that, in time, this network will allow the SPA to collaborate with other Corporate Parents with the ambition of working together to improve the lives of those with care experience.