Exclusive:Scots children's watchdog criticised for 'crazy' Rosebank consultation 'overstep'
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland urged the UK’s Energy Secretary to “take a child’s rights-based approach” over whether the North Sea project should be approved or not.
Scotland’s Children’s commissioner has been criticised for a “crazy overstep” after the body submitted a letter to the public consultation for the Rosebank oil field warning that it could “impact” children’s rights.
Nicola Killean’s office urged Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh to “take a child’s rights-based approach” and said a "child rights impact assessment should be carried out" before a decision is made.
The taxpayer-funded commissioner warned that “climate change is an important child’s rights issue, impacting on their protected rights under the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child”.
Rosebank, which is Britain’s largest untapped oil field, lies about 80 miles north-west of Shetland. A decision on whether it goes ahead is expected by the end of the year.
Conservative MP Douglas Lumsden said the commissioner‘s intervention was “staggering” and accused her of “just trying to politicise it for no real reason.”
The commissioner’s job is to protect the rights of children and young people in Scotland.
Her office said in the letter to Ms Fahnbulleh: “We would urge you to take a child’s rights-based approach to this decision making.
“Climate change is an important child’s rights issue, impacting on their protected rights under the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the United Kingdom Government has ratified.”
The letter went on: “Children and young people are disproportionately affected by climate change and biodiversity loss.
“A child rights impact assessment (CRIA) should be carried out about significant proposed developments such as Rosebank and Jackdaw and where negative interactions with children’s rights are identified, clear mitigations should be given.”
Aberdeen South MP Mr Lumsden said the commissioner should not be writing such a letter.
He said: "It's crazy that they're getting involved like that because they are a publicly-funded body. They should be staying well out of that.
"And I completely disagree with the whole argument.
"If we're looking at what's going to affect children, it's going to be their families losing their jobs up in the North East because they don't have jobs to go to anymore.
"I find it staggering that they're getting involved in that."
He continued: "I think it's a body which really shouldn't be taking part in the consultation. They’re just trying to politicise it for no real reason.
"Rosebank is about people's jobs at the end of the day. It's about how much money the government's going to have.
"If we don't have things like Rosebank, people are going to lose their jobs, there's going to be less money coming into the Exchequer.
"So that actually means less money to be spent by the government on things like welfare that they may want to spent on.
"I think this is a real overstep of their responsibilities."
The public consultation on Rosebank closed in August.
The Jackdaw gas field, 150 miles east of Aberdeen, was approved by the UK Government last month.
Licences for the fields were granted by the Conservative UK Government in 2022 and 2023, but have been held back by legal challenges.
Nicola Killean, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, said: “My role – and the role of my Office – is to promote and protect the rights of children and young people in Scotland.
“Part of our remit is to ensure that when decisions are being made by government, we remind them of their obligations to consider children’s rights. One of the ways we do that is by responding to public consultations. We didn’t advocate for any particular decision on Rosebank, our response simply reminded UK Government to consider its impact on children’s rights before making a decision.
“The Commissioner’s Office is independent of the UK Government, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, and all political parties.”
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