SNP ordered to pay £350k legal fees of spy bid opponents

ministers were forced to pay £350,000 in taxpayers’ money to cover legal fees for campaigners who successfully challenged the named Person scheme.

the scottish Government had to overhaul its initiative to force state guardians on to families after the scheme was ruled unlawful by the supreme Court.

ministers were challenged by the Christian institute over the bid to appoint a ‘named person’ – such as a teacher – to ensure the wellbeing of every child.

But judges in London ruled some aspects would breach rights to privacy and a family life under the european Convention on Human rights, namely the proposal which would allow information sharing between public bodies without the consent of parents.

Campaigners disclosed yesterday that the Government had been ordered to pay back its legal fees of £350,000 and that it had finally done this.

simon Calvert, deputy director of the Christian institute, said: ‘the scottish Government has paid £350,000 towards the legal costs of the petitioners for the two hearings at the Court of session – inner and Outer House – plus the further hearing at the UK supreme Court in London.

‘this represents almost all of what petitioners spent.’

this comes only weeks after it was disclosed that the cost of the Government’s legal fees for the court battle topped £480,000.

mr Calvert claimed more than £61million of taxpayers’ money had been allocated to the policy, with £10million spent on training – before the court ruled the proposal was unlawful.

this means more money will be needed for training if the initiative is brought into effect. mr Calvert said: ‘the legal costs of losing the court challenge to the scheme are just a drop in the bucket.

‘the scottish Government have thrown millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money at this white elephant scheme. they spent years training people in a wrong understanding of the law.’

mr Calvert added: ‘they have announced they’ll spend yet more on retraining to undo the damage. they need to give up and scrap the scheme.’

education secretary John swinney has had to radically overhaul the scheme in an effort to save it.

But this has raised fears among teachers, health visitors, social workers and lawyers who worry that those carrying out the named person role could be held legally responsible over decisions made on information sharing.

Under mr swinney’s new plan, a named person would be expected to decide whether or not to share information about children without consent. However, there are concerns about the code of conduct and rules surrounding this.

Campaigners have written to Lord Advocate James Wolffe claiming their legal advice suggests good prospects of a successful challenge because of the Government’s failure to adequately redraft the legislation.

scottish tory education spokesman Liz smith said: ‘the named Person scheme has done more to keep lawyers in work than protect vulnerable children and parents are naturally concerned that £350,000 of taxpayers’ money has been spent on legal fees.’

A spokesman for the scottish Government said: ‘the named Person service will ensure children and young people and their families get access to the right support at the right time from the right people.

‘the Children and Young People (information sharing) (scotland) Bill is currently subject to scrutiny by the scottish parliament.’

‘Give up and scrap the scheme’