Council may face Named Person risk

Named Persons campaigners say councils trialling the controversial scheme should be “quaking in their boots” over legal action.

The UK Supreme Court last week ordered an overhaul of the Scottish Government’s flagship campaign, which would see a state- appointed guardian assigned to every child.

But South Ayrshire Council is among the authorities which have have been trialling the scheme and a pressure group warns it could spell trouble.

Simon Calvert from the No to Named Persons campaign, said: “They have in practice been sharing data at the much lower level enshrined in the Named Person law. What the Supreme Court said is that kind of data sharing is unlawful.

“Those authorities should be quaking in their boots. They should be worried, very worried, about parents making subject access requests and finding out data has been shared on them in breach of the data protection and human rights law. They should be worried parents are going to sue them.”

The Named Person scheme has been gradually introduced in South Ayrshire since 2011 and the council say they remain committed to the approach.

A council spokesman said: “The Scottish G o v e r n m e n t h a s signalled that it remains fully committed to the introduction of the Named Person approach.

“We will be examining carefully any current practice to ensure compliance with the law and will await further advice from the Scottish Government on future direction.”

Scottish ministers were warned by the Supreme Court that the law had too low a threshold for sharing sensitive information about young people.

John Swinney, the deputy first minister, said: “The court’s ruling requires us to provide greater clarity about the basis on which health visitors, teachers and other professionals supporting families will share and receive information in their Named Person role.

“We will start work on this immediately so we can make the necessary legislative amendments.”