The Named Persons getting just 3 hours’ training for the job
NAMED Persons are being given less than three hours’ training before they are allowed to become state guardians, it has emerged.
A postcode lottery has opened up across Scotland, with some ‘state snoopers’ undergoing just 165 minutes of training for the job.
Elsewhere, courses are lasting five days, raising fears that some Named Persons – with the power to report parents’ treatment of children – are getting far less instruction than others.
It comes as a date has been set for the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of Named Persons. The judgment, set to be published next Thursday, could represent a major victory for ordinary families if it overturns the SNP’s flagship scheme.
Last night, critics hit out at the vast state powers which, if the court challenge fails, could be conferred on individuals next month after just two-andthree-quarter hours of training – the duration reported in the Borders.
The brief training comes despite the need to ensure health visitors – the Named Persons for pre-school children – have been trained to assess the development, speech and needs of children and parents.
The Scottish Government insists that health visitors, and teachers for schoolchildren, are already highly trained.
But the importance of proper guidance was highlighted last month when senior youth work practitioner Dr Simon Knight warned of fears that overzealous state guardians could bring their ‘prejudices’ to the job and act on behaviour they simply don’t like, such as a parent drinking a glass of wine in front of their child.
Simon Calvert, of campaign group No to Named Persons, said: ‘It takes a minimum of five years to train a social worker specialising in child protection.
‘Yet on the basis of just a few hours’ instruction, the Named Person is sold as a life-saving child protection scheme.
‘The expectation ministers have built up around the Named Person policy is putting huge pressure on teachers and health visitors who, whilst they may be brilliant in their chosen profession, are not trained, experienced child protection experts in the way that social workers are.’
The shortest period of training offered is in the Scottish Borders, where it lasts just three hours – including a 15-minute coffee break.
Not every council and health board were able to provide training times, but Fife, Perth and Kinross and Midlothian councils also offered three hours.
However, health visitors in Greater Glasgow and Clyde underwent five days of professional instruction, with NHS Lothian giving staff three days.
The wide variation in preparation ranges between two-and-three-quarter hours in the Borders and 32.5 hours in West Dunbartonshire for the councils that responded.
Conservative education spokesman Liz Smith said last night: ‘Parents already have grave concerns about this policy. They will have even more concerns if they feel Named Persons are not receiving adequate training.’
Councils said their staff are already highly trained and had worked on Getting it Right for Every Child, the legislation behind Named Persons, for several years.
In a joint statement, NHS Borders and Scottish Borders Council said that, in addition to the three-hour training sessions earlier this year, staff are getting ongoing training.
The statement added: ‘This includes information sharing briefings and a mandatory online training module, and brings the training time up to approximately twelve hours.’
Meanwhile, a Fife Council spokesman said: ‘Many of the principles now being brought into legislation are well established and understood in our schools, and teachers’ roles will not change greatly.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The role of the Named Person is delivered within existing roles. That means that health visitors and promoted teachers have already had the required training through their education and professional development to enable them to provide the required help and support.’
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