Committee thwarts Named Person scheme progress

The Named Person scheme hit another roadblock when a Holyrood committee stalled its progress.

MSPS voted against endorsing a new approach yesterday. It was drawn up by the Scottish Government in response to a Supreme Court ruling that some informationsharing provisions were unlawful.

It is yet another delay to the scheme, which was approved by the parliament in 2014 but has faced legal hurdles from campaigners fearing intrusion into family life.

The controversial initiative assigns a named person, usually a teacher or health visitor, to every child in Scotland to oversee their welfare.

The Scottish Parliament’s education committee said it could not wave through the bill to the next stage because the draft code of practice that named persons must follow is still not clear enough.

Liz Smith, for the Scottish Conservatives, said the redrawn code had not addressed the fears raised by those set to be named persons.

“Frankly, this whole parliamentary process is a mess and the responsibility for that lies solely with the Scottish Government,” she added.

Ross Greer, for the Scottish Greens, said: “The mess made by the Scottish Government over this information-sharing bill should not be seen as a reflection on the principles of the much needed Named Persons scheme.”

Education Secretary John Swinney said the delay was not necessary, that the committee has been asked to “signal its support for the general principles of the legislation” and there will be further opportunity to scrutinise the code of practice.