Leadership

Scotland in 2024

Despite challenges, there is strong commitment to #KeepThePromise, with leaders taking action, such as building leadership capacity across organisations.

Where does Scotland need to be by 2030?

By 2030, there will be strong leadership across all of Scotland’s workforce that models and supports the values and principles of the broader workforce.

This means that:

Leadership

Values-based leadership will exist at all levels and in all settings of the ‘care system’ (Pg 99)
Strong leadership will be evident across and throughout the entire ‘care system.’ (Pg 17).
Leaders will model an approach that encourages a culture of speaking up and recognising the judgment of the workforce (Pg 36).
Leadership will value the voice and opinion of children and the workforce and will nurture a culture of appropriate information sharing (Pg 36).
Settings of care will have established a leadership culture that upholds children’s rights and applies the values of care, attachment, attunement and co-regulation in day to day life (Pg 85).
Leadership will be based on a broader understanding of risk and of the importance of natural, warm human relationships (Pg 103).

These statements and the page numbers referenced are taken from the promise report, published when the Independent Care Review concluded in 2020.

The route map to get there

The focus must be on the workforce crisis in Scotland’s care system. There aren’t enough staff to provide care, let alone drive reform. To make progress, efforts must prioritise reducing the crisis's impact and finding a solution.

The revised Common Core, which will include an implementation plan for workforce development, is to be agreed with the National Children and Families Leadership Group and will have a Ministerial launch.

Education

The Promise Scotland will bring together experts from the public, voluntary and private sectors, drawing on expertise in further and higher education to create a leadership development plan for care experienced people.

The actions outlined in the Voice foundation are fully embedded at every stage to progress actions on Leadership.

*Routemap last updated May 2025

What is helping?

At the local government level, there are Promise Leads within three quarters of local authorities, with a role to provide leadership and ensure responsibility for #KeepingThePromise locally.

The Children and Families National Leadership Group (CFNLG)

CFNLG is a cross-sector and multi-agency group, which “provides collective leadership and strategic oversight of key areas of transformational change to improve outcomes for children, young people and families”. Its priorities are: work to #KeepThePromise, Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, UNCRC implementation, the embedding of GIRFEC/GIRFE, and tackling child poverty.

Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS)

In December 2023, CELCIS was commissioned by the Scottish Government to examine current delivery models and configurations in Scotland and internationally, to better understand how services can best support children, young people and their families. Their research included reflections on the role of leadership in Scotland in driving the necessary collaboration and approaches. It highlighted that effective leadership at both national and local levels is crucial for aligning policies, challenging hierarchies, creating seamless service pathways, pooling resources, and establishing a learning culture.

Scottish Trauma Informed Leaders Training (STILT)

As part of the National Trauma Transformation Programme, The NES STILT programme was developed to acknowledge that trauma-informed and responsive practice requires trauma-informed and responsive environments, policies, systems, and organisations. It aims to support organisational leaders in developing trauma-informed systems, processes, environments, and teams from both the top down and the bottom up.

Whole Family Wellbeing Fund

The Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is hosting meetings (called ‘campfires’) for the Learning into Action (LiA) Network. This group brings together individuals from across the sectors who are leading on “transforming outcomes for children and families”, with the purpose of enabling progress.