Blog: Director of Human Rights Consortium Scotland, Mhairi Snowden, attends About Dementia's Policy Drop-In

You may be aware that the Scottish Government is working hard on creating a new Human Rights Bill, but what is it all about and what will it mean for older people, particularly people with dementia?

Here at Age Scotland’s About Dementia team, we are keen to get you these answers and find out more ourselves, and so we organised for Mhairi Snowden, director of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland, to do a talk at one of our Policy Drop-In sessions.

These online meetings take place every month and aim to not only keep you informed about developments in the policy landscape, but also to provide you with a platform to directly influence change.

The Scottish Government is in consultation around the Bill until October 5 and hopes to have the Bill passed by the end of the current parliamentary sitting (May 2026).

The Human Rights Consortium Scotland is a civil society network set up to defend and promote human rights in Scotland and has been advocating for the Bill for several years.

Results of the government's consultation will be shared around Christmas time and we want to ensure careful consideration to older people and people living with dementia has taken place during that process.

Those who attended this Policy Drop-In session in August, were able to ask Mhairi questions around the aims of the Bill and listen to her hopes for the new direction it will take our country in.