Highland Integrated Children’s Service Plan for 2021 – 2023 given the green light by elected members
Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee members have been provided with sight of the latest iteration of the Highland Integrated Children’s Service Plan (ICS) for 2021 – 2023 prior its submission to the Community Planning Partnership Board for formal sign-off.
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 requires every local authority and its relevant health board to jointly prepare a Children’s Services Plan for the area of the local authority, in respect of each three-year period.
The plan is underpinned by four core principles:
Tackling Inequalities – reduce the gap in outcomes between the most and least deprived children and young people in Highland by working to reduce child poverty within our communities and keep our children and young people safe from harm.
Love and Support for our Care Experienced Young People – ensure children and young people who are care experienced are loved and supported to improve their life experiences and life chances.
Good Health and Wellbeing including Mental Health – ensure all children and young people are supported to achieve and maintain good physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Promoting Children’s Rights and Participation – work to ensure we are delivering on the provisions of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as incorporated into Scots Law.
Each group is chaired by a lead officer from one of the partnerships and has membership across statutory services and third sector. It is the responsibility of each group to develop the priorities and actions within their individual plans based on the agreed outcomes and needs assessment.
Highland’s Integrated Children’s Services Board provides oversight to the on-going work of the plan, scrutinise the deliverables and ensure the timescales are met. Highland’s Board will provide regular updates to the Community Planning Partnership Board and will report formally to Scottish Government on an annual basis.
Scottish Government is developing a set of wellbeing outcomes for children, young people and their families intended to improve the lives of children and young people and support joint working between national and local government and other delivery partners.
Councillor Linda Munro, Chair of the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee, said: “The plan is ambitious and identifies a range of improvement priorities with delivery groups for each theme. We are committed to continuing to drive forward the themes contained within the Integrated Children’s Service Plan and recognise that it provides us with significant opportunity to tackle the major inequalities that exist within Highland communities and we will take every chance to improve the life outcomes and life chances of children, young people and their families through this work in the coming months and years.”