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Dundee campaigner calls for Scottish Government to drop Named Persons plan

Dr Stuart Waiton
Dr Stuart Waiton

An Abertay University lecturer has called on the Scottish Government to drop its controversial Named Person scheme.

Education minister John Swinney told the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday he remains committed to the policy, which would see each child in Scotland allocated a named person to ensure their well-being.

The Scottish Government was dealt a major blow last year when the Supreme Court ruled parts of the legislation breached the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Swinney has pledged to introduce revised legislation that will limit how much information about a child can be shared between agencies but campaigners opposed to the policy say the Scottish Government should abandon its plans altogether.

Dr Stuart Waiton, a senior lecturer in Abertay University’s division of sociology, has been one of the most prominent voices in the campaign against Named Persons and was at the Supreme Court for last year’s judgement.

He said: “Swinney and the Scottish government are obsessed with early intervention.

“They seem to think, not that families are positive and important and generally good but that they are ticking time bombs, sites of abuse or just bad or inadequate parenting, that need an army of experts in waiting, keeping a constant check on us all so that they can give us that ‘extra help’ when they think we need it.

“The Named Person in any form is an imposition on families and a threat to our private lives. Swinney needs to scrap the Named Person and the Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) approach, stop trying to monitor all of our children and focus resources on those children and families who really need it.”

Simon Calvert, spokesman for No To Named Persons (NO2NP), said: “However they try to spin it, this is a major climb down by the Scottish Government.

“After two years of causing fear and confusion amongst parents, they are now conceding that they cannot lower the threshold for non-consensual disclosure of personal information on families.

“They are reverting to the existing threshold of ‘risk of harm’. It’s about time.

“It all goes to show what a complete waste of time and money it has been to try to create a system to allow officials to pass round confidential personal information on children and families almost at will.”

Mr Swinney told Holyrood: “Last year the Supreme Court ruled definitively that the intention of providing a Named Person for every child to promote and safeguard their well-being was ‘unquestionably legitimate and benign’.

“However, their judgement required us to change the provisions relating to information sharing. This has presented us with the opportunity to improve the service and reassure parents and practitioners and the wider public that it will work with and for families.

“Young people and families should have confidence that information will be shared only where this can be done in a manner which respects their rights under data protection law, human rights and the law of confidentiality.”