Not enough planning to keep Promise for children who had been in care – report

The Scottish Government and councils “did not give sufficient thought to the work that would be needed” to deliver the pledge made to care-experienced young people, a report has found.

Nicola Sturgeon launched the project, called The Promise, in 2020 in the hopes of improving the lives and outcomes of young people who had been in care.

But a report from the auditor general and the Accounts Commission has suggested there was not enough planning done in the early stages of the pledge, laying out what needed to be done and how much it would cost to meet its 10-year time scale and criticised a lack of a framework to measure progress until late last year.

A joint statement from the bodies involved in keeping the Promise – including the Scottish Government and local authorities body Cosla – said they were taking the report “seriously” and “remain fully committed” to the Promise.

The report recommended setting out a plan for the next five years, along with an assessment of the Government’s £500 million Whole Family Wellbeing Fund – which has only paid out £148 million, according to the report.

“Delivery of the Promise requires a partnership approach across a wide range of bodies spanning national and local government,” the report said.

“Initial planning for the Promise by the Scottish Government and Cosla did not give sufficient thought to the work that would be needed to deliver its aims over a 10-year period – including the resources required, and how success would be defined and measured.

“This has meant that public bodies across Scotland were not given a strong foundation to deliver on the care review ambitions, and work since then has been slow.

“Further development of plans and a monitoring framework are due at the end of 2025.

“These must provide a catalyst for greater pace and momentum.”

While the joint statement, which also included the charity Solace, the Promise Scotland and the independent adviser on the Promise, said: “Scotland has a responsibility to all those to whom the Promise was made, to ensure that the pace of change is increased and delivery is felt in people’s lives, every day.

“This requires person and family-centred approaches to how Scotland provides care and support.

“We are taking today’s report from the auditor general and the Accounts Commission seriously. Together, we remain fully committed to the shared goal of ensuring that all of Scotland’s children grow up loved, safe and respected.

“The report has a number of recommendations on how to help achieve this, many of which align with work underway. This includes continuing to develop Scotland’s delivery plan, Plan 24-30, and telling the Promise story of progress.

“We will review all the recommendations and respond accordingly, ensuring we continue to work in the best way possible for children, families and care experienced adults.”

But the Scottish Tories accused the Government of moving “at a snail’s pace” on one of its key pledges.

“The report exposes that delivering the Promise for Scotland’s most vulnerable young people has simply not been a priority for the SNP,” said the party’s children and young people spokeswoman, Roz McCall.

“Their plans lack any detail, and it is astonishing that there was never any assessment put in place to define if the policy had been a success or not.

“SNP ministers are also presiding over a chronic under-funding of what is needed to meet their ambitions, despite claiming £500 million would be spent in relation to this.

“The Promise was supposed to make a real difference for vulnerable young people, but in typical SNP fashion, they have monumentally failed to deliver on their warm rhetoric.”

Labour children spokesman Martin Whitfield said the “damning” report exposed the “shameful failure” of the Government.

“The Scottish Government has a responsibility to do right by these children, but it’s clear there has been a lack of leadership and delivery under the SNP,” he said.

“A Scottish Labour government will step up and make the changes needed to keep the Promise and give every care-experienced child the best possible start in life.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said: “The report shows that the SNP has let down children in care by promising major reform without any assessment of the resources and skills needed to bring it about.

“There has been a vacuum of clear leadership, and a lack of urgency and cohesion.

“The Government must now prioritise the development of a comprehensive roadmap with clear actions and timescales if the transformation of care is to be fully realised.”