Policy context
Purpose of government
The Scottish Government is committed to creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.
This is set out in the Scottish Government’s Economic Strategy. As well as making a real difference to the lives of individual young people, improving outcomes for looked after children through effective early intervention and prevention will help to make Scotland wealthier and fairer; smarter; healthier; safer and stronger and greener. In order to build a dynamic and growing economy that will provide prosperity and opportunities for all, while ensuring that future generations can enjoy a better quality of life, we must make sure that every one of our young people has the best possible start in life.
The characteristics of Scotland in the future - solidarity, cohesion and sustainability - are mirrored by what we need to achieve as strong corporate parents. Scottish Government is working across public services to deliver five strategic priorities:
- Learning, Skills and Wellbeing
- Supportive Business Environment
- Infrastructure Development and Place
- Effective Government
- Equity
Government in Scotland is creating a new environment which will:
- generate greater and more widely shared employment.
- create more highly skilled and better-paid jobs.
- provide better quality goods and services and additional choices and opportunities for Scotland's people.
- stimulate higher government revenues, supporting better quality public services.
- foster a self-sustaining and ambitious climate of entrepreneurial advance.
- encourage economic activity and investment across Scotland, thereby sharing the benefits of growth.
- bring a culture of confidence and personal empowerment to Scotland.
- secure a high quality environment today and a sustainable legacy for future generations.
In November 2007, the Scottish Government set out its spending priorities, together with a Concordat with local government and a national performance framework containing 15 strategic outcomes, with 45 indicators by which collectively public services will be judged.
This approach represents a significant change in the relationship that central government has with other public services, particularly local government, and provides an opportunity to make real improvements in how services work together locally to improve outcomes for children.
Inclusion of looked after children and young people
The underpinning principle of our approach is inclusion. All of our citizens must be able to participate in this new successful Scotland, including those who have experience of the care system.
Achieving better outcomes for looked after children and young people will be different to achieving them for other young people.
Whilst it is important to make sure that they get the best opportunities in each aspect of their lives, a holistic approach is important. It will require a variety of resources and will involve many different agencies and individuals. Where a range of different people are working with, and responsible for, looked after children and care leavers they may each concentrate on specific aspects of their lives, e.g. education, health, leisure etc. without seeing the whole child.
We are committed to delivering a series of major change programmes for children’s services:
Getting It Right For Every Child
These programmes all sit within the context of the Early Years and Early Intervention Framework which promotes a culture of early intervention and prevention.