It is a short statement compared with the last time, convener.
I offered to return to update the committee on the draft guidance on parts 10 and 11 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and to report on progress towards setting up the expert working group that will consider specific policies on aftercare and return to care. I will be happy to take any questions after this brief statement.
On the consultation on the draft guidance, from January to April this year, there has been a series of meetings, workshops and conferences involving local authorities, the third sector, practitioners, elected members and—perhaps most importantly—care-experienced young people, as we outlined to the committee in March. So far, there have been 22 such events, which have been attended by about 250 people. They will continue over the next few months and will reach a further 200 people. The workshops were jointly facilitated with the Scottish Throughcare & Aftercare Forum.
For our next steps in producing the draft guidance, we will be incorporating feedback from those events. In fact, that is now almost complete. The next step is therefore for both the draft guidance documents to be circulated to key stakeholders ahead of the next series of consultation events, which begin on 7 May.
The draft guidance will be accompanied by a set of companion questions to help focus feedback specifically on content and usefulness. We will of course invite and welcome written and verbal feedback on those questions as a crucial part of us all working together to inform the final phase of the guidance development.
I hope that the committee feels reassured about the level of discussion and consultation that has been undertaken—and which continues—towards framing the documents in a way that makes them worthy of more detailed and targeted discussion during the next phase of the consultation.
On the matter of the expert working group, I am happy to confirm that we have sent out invitations. The working group will look at describing additional cohorts of young people who could be made eligible for aftercare under the ministerial powers in section 66 of the 2014 act. That is in addition to the return to care commitment that was made by Aileen Campbell when the bill was going through the Parliament.
I can confirm that a wide range of key stakeholders, including local authority children and family and housing teams, third sector organisations including the continuing care coalition members, the centre for excellence for looked after children in Scotland—CELCIS—COSLA, the Scottish Throughcare & Aftercare Forum, and Social Work Scotland have been invited to be members of the working group. Subject to diaries, availability and capacity within those organisations, I hope that the working group will meet for the first time in May to agree the terms of reference and the membership of a wider consultative group to support the working group in the work that it will be doing.
I am asking the working group to support the Scottish Government in mapping the resource and operational requirements of any proposed extension of aftercare eligibility and to help us describe a brand-new policy on return to care. As you will appreciate, and as we discussed in March, developing those policies will be a massive undertaking, as they require flexibility and consideration of capacity in the system and of the current financial climate.
I will task the working group with reporting to me—or to whoever is the minister—by the end of this year, but I will expect it to inform me if that is an unrealistic timetable, given the enormity of the task that we are undertaking. The committee is aware that the timeframe was set out by the Scottish ministers on 14 January 2014. The minister at the time announced
“a number of measures to support care leavers over the next 10 to 12 years.”—[Official Report, Education and Culture Committee, 14 January 2014; c 3319.]
Therefore, we will work with the working group, which as I said will, we hope, meet in May. We will task the group with setting a framework and reporting by the end of the year, but I want it to tell me if that is unrealistic. Finally, I must remind committee members that we want to put the plan in place over the next 10 to 12 years.
I am sure that we are all aiming for the same positive outcomes for our care leavers, and I look forward to continuing productive and collaborative working on the issues with stakeholders, with young people and with the committee.