Scotland's 'Named Person' scheme under renewed fire

The Scottish Government is under renewed pressure to revise its controversial “Named Person” scheme, following a barrage of concerns raised by teachers, police, parents and others.

Under the scheme, all children in Scotland will be allocated a “Named Person”, usually a teacher or health worker, to act as a state-appointed guardian of their wellbeing.

The nominated individual will have to monitor the child’s welfare against eight “indicators”, including “safe” and “included”. To that end, the individual will be given access to confidential records and be expected to report any concerns to police.

The responsibility, which was created under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, does not come into force until August 2016, but the Scottish Government has recently consulted on detailed proposals for the scheme.

133 individuals responded to the consultation, of whom only 2% were in favour. 149 organisations also responded, of which 55% backed it.

A spokesman for the No to Named Persons (NO2NP) coalition said that the responses by individuals suggest that parents have started a “fight back against the Named Person scheme.”

“On some questions, these individuals are almost unanimous in their disagreement with the Government. The Government analysis tries to sweep these figures under the rug but there is no getting away from it: the public do not like the Named Person,” he said.

‘Eroding trust’

The plans also faced criticism from members of the public on a recent BBC radio phone-in programme. One caller described them as “gross interference” and said that they “smacked of big brother”.

Another suggested that “by imposing this formality of a guardianship … with no input from the parent whatsoever, no choice in the matter, I think that that will erode that trust, and it will make people very suspicious, very frightened and in many cases, more reluctant to approach a school-teacher or a doctor or a health-visitor.”

‘Takes the focus away from at-risk children’

Labour MSP, Ken McIntosh, a contender for the leadership of Scottish Labour and a father of six, has recently expressed his reservations about the scheme, saying:

"My biggest worry is that this measure will take the focus of social workers and other practitioners away from at-risk children, which will ultimately make it harder to monitor and support those who really do need this kind of involvement.

"I am certainly not going to lay claim to being a perfect parent, but is this really the best use of taxpayers' money and teachers' time? At the very least we need to clarify what this additional duty as a Named Person will mean."

‘Increasing concern’

Concerns about the resource requirements of the scheme have been raised by various groups.

In a paper submitted to the Scottish Police Authority, Chief Superintendent Alan Waddell of Police Scotland said: “There is a lack of clarity as to the expectations, roles and responsibilities; therefore it is unknown at this time if current systems, models and process in [Police Scotland] can support this legislative change.”

Meanwhile, Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, The Educational Institute of Scotland, said in a statement: “Teachers are becoming increasingly concerned about the demands likely to be made of them which will have implications for workload and potentially for conditions of service.”

‘Legal challenge’

The “Named Person” scheme is currently subject to a legal challenge led by the NO2NP coalition. An application for judicial review was turned down in January of this year but is being appealed.

A petition on the group’s website has already collected 10,000 signatures from Scottish residents who are opposed to the scheme.

‘£100k on PR’

In spite of many expressed concerns, however, the Scottish Government has indicated that it intends to continue to progress and promote the plans.

Last week, a newspaper revealed that the Scottish Government had spent more than £100,000 on PR for the scheme.

Those opposed to the plans, however, have criticised the Scottish Government’s presentation of the proposals as misleading.

After a minister appeared on a BBC radio show to defend the scheme, a spokesperson for the NO2AP group said:

“It was striking that the scheme the Minister was defending is not the same as the scheme her Government has actually legislated for.

“She thinks the Named Person is just someone parents and kids can ask for help.

“But the Named Person is legally empowered to monitor parents and children, to share their confidential data, and to put services in place, all without parental consent and even in defiance of parental wishes.

“The Government actually put out a leaflet for parents saying the Named Person is there to monitor children’s happiness.

“It said this means the Named Person will check ‘Your child gets a say in things like how their room is decorated and what to watch on TV’, ‘You trust your child to do the right thing’. This is an outrageous invasion of private family life.

“If you give a government official the duties of a parent, they will act like a parent. They will escalate issues that should be left to parents.

“Social workers’ desks are going to be overflowing with reports from Named Persons of all kinds of tittle tattle that should be beneath their notice.

“That means children who are neglected or abused are going to be even more likely to be overlooked because social services are going to be overwhelmed with Named Person reports about kids who weren’t allowed to watch their favourite TV programme.”

Related coverage:
Legal challenge to Scottish 'state monitoring' of children