Jo Derrick, CEO of care leaver charity Staf, has welcomed the announcement from the Deputy First Minister John Swinney on the next steps on the implementation of the Independent Care Review’s recommendations.

The Deputy First Minister has announced that recruitment to The Promise Oversight Board will begin over the next week, with 50 per cent of its members to be care-experienced.

A £4 million 'Promise Fund' has been announced to support the development of early intervention and family support approaches. Existing funding in the care system will also be re-profiled to ensure better outcomes for care-experienced children and young people.

Commenting Jo Derrick said:

“Staf is committed to listening, reflecting and acting on the voice of young people with care experience so I’m pleased that lived experience will continue to be at the heart of the Care Review process.

“We are keen to ensure that those supporting care leavers, including throughcare and aftercare teams, are key partners in the process too. In doing so, we can ensure a successful and sustainable implementation of The Promise.

“We welcome the additional funding brought forward to allow the development of collaborative and creative approaches but we hope that this will also be used to support improvement in leaving care services.

“As we transition to a better system, with earlier intervention and improved experience of care, we will continue to ensure the wellbeing and success of care leavers remains firmly on the agenda.”