Now even key SNP MSPs reject named person plans
CONTROVERSIAL plans to appoint a state snooper for every child in Scotland descended deeper into chaos as an SNP-led Holyrood committee refused to offer its support.
In a major setback to Deputy First Minister John Swinney’s renewed bid to salvage the Named Person scheme, the education committee said yesterday it could not endorse his legislation as it stands.
MSPs on the committee are furious the Scottish Government has not published a detailed code of practice setting out the rules and guidance around the role of teachers and health visitors who will act as Named Persons.
Convener James Dornan said the proposals would not be approved until an ‘authoritative draft’ of the code was published. It is the biggest setback for the scheme since Mr Swinney was forced to overhaul his proposals after they were ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court last year.
Failure to secure the support of the committee would put the scheme in jeopardy by leaving the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill facing almost inevitable defeat when it is voted on by parliament.
Scottish Tory education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘This situation is serious and it is a damning indictment of the SNP’s failure to understand what practitioners have been saying to them, namely that the Bill is full of holes and does not fully address the findings of the Supreme Court.’
She added: ‘The best way out of this mess is for the Scottish Government to ditch the Bill and completely rethink how we should be supporting our most vulnerable children.’ The EIS teaching union has criticised the ‘illustrative code of practice’, telling MSPs: ‘The language is highly technical and legalistic and would present barriers to time-pressed teachers as users of the code.’
Earlier this month, Mr Swinney apologised to MSPs for providing a draft code of practice for the revised scheme which caused ‘confusion and uncertainty’. But he had also said he was not minded to hold consultations on a final code of practice until the legislation had passed.
In his letter to Mr Swinney, published yesterday, Mr Dornan said: ‘On the evidence heard to date, the majority of the committee do not consider they are able to make a decision on whether to recommend that the general principles of the Bill be approved at stage one until the Scottish Government has provided the committee with an authoritative draft of the code.
‘By an authoritative draft, the committee means a draft that reflects changes in data protection law which will result from the passage of the UK Data Protection Bill and the subsequent Scottish Government consultation on a draft code.’
He also raised concerns from committee members that the Scottish Government may have been trying to ‘influence’ outside groups by holding meetings with them before they appeared before the committee.
Simon Calvert, spokesman for the No to Named Persons campaign group, said: ‘This is further evidence of the terrible handling of this policy.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Scottish Government will carefully consider this letter from the education and skills committee and respond in due course.’