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Cynulliad
Cenedlaethol Cymru Addysg Ymateb gan: Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Hywel Dda ___________________________________
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National
Assembly for Wales Inquiry into Children’s rights in Wales CRW 06 Response from: Hywel Dda University Health Board ___________________________________ |
The Children, Young People and Education Committee is undertaking a consultation to review the impact of the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 to consider the following points:
HDdUHB’s response to the points of consideration in bold below:
1. The extent to which the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 has influenced the Welsh Government’s decision making, including its financial allocations and whether it has fulfilled the Convention’s ‘general measures’ of implementation;
Welsh Government (WG) have invested in early years services through the Flying Start programme, as part of an attempt to mitigate the impact of poverty in areas of deprivation as stated in Article 4.
More recently the setup of the Early Years Pathfinder programmes are trying to influence services being delivered outside of Flying Start areas through trialing models of integration. This is to ensure that children in non- Flying Start areas requiring an additional integrated model of support are also able to access it.
The investment in the childcare offer has enabled parents who are working 16 hours or more to benefit from childcare services as in article 18
Evidence of whether the Measure has led to improved outcomes for children and young people;
Children/young person is central to decision making in the work we undertake, across all services for Children and Young People.
Welsh Government have supported the professional body of Health Visiting to standardise practice across Wales with the introduction of the Healthy Child Wales Programme, even though further investment is required in HDUHB to fully deliver the Programme to children and families.
Further work is required to understand the outcome of the Healthier Child Wales Programme.
The UHB is developing a Charter which will consider the Rights of the Child. There will be consideration given to evidencing outcomes alongside the development of the charter
2. Whether the duties within the Measure have been embedded effectively across Welsh Government cabinet portfolios and policy;
There is evidence in policies/guidance, that the measure is being incorporated and there are portfolios within the CNO office that incorporate the duties identified within the measure.
3. The extent to which the Welsh Government has sought to ensure that its duties within the Measure are translated into the work of the public bodies it provides funding to, including local authorities and NHS bodies;
There is evidence of Welsh Government ensuring that the measure was translated into the work undertaken in developing the e-learning module for Children and young people’s continuing care.
This is further evident with the continuing investment in Early Years Preventative services, example in Hywel dda is ACE pilot in Carmarthenshire
4. The extent to which the Welsh Government has implemented its duty to promote knowledge and understanding of the UNCRC amongst the public, including children and young people;
Varying training has been made available and there has been specific training in regards to topics such as Child Sexual Exploitation, which has raised awareness especially in less culturally diverse areas in Wales.
There is evidence in some health boards of Children’s Charters based on the Rights of the Child and work is ongoing in HDdUHB in regards to this.
5. How the duty to have ‘due regard’ to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is being implemented in practice and whether Child Rights Impact Assessments are being used as a meaningful tool;
As with point 4 above – the UHB use the Welsh Government e-training modules to educate staff on the measure. An e-learning module for continuing care staff has supported raising awareness of the measure for CYP accessing this service. It is acknowledged that further work is required in relation to using the Child Rights Impact Assessment. The UHB are currently working on a CYP Charter which will support embedding the Rights of the Child into practice further.
6. The effectiveness of the Children’s Right’s Scheme and the most recent Welsh Government compliance report, and the extent to which they evidence sufficient action on the part of Welsh Government to ensure full implementation of the Measure;
There is further work required to ensure all organisations are aware of the outcomes of this scheme to respond adequately to this point.
7. How effectively the Welsh Government responds on a strategic basis to the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
National training on the rights of the child has been available, and policy and guidance does reflect ongoing work relating to the Rights of the Child, although further work is required to enable organisations to fully respond to this comment