Council faces hefty fine for Named Person error

DUNDEE: Details of vulnerable children revealed on website

Dundee City Council published potentially vulnerable children’s private information on its website during a pilot of the controversial Named Person scheme.

The authority is facing a potential £500,000 fine after names, addresses, schools, dates of birth and family details were made public online.

The Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported.

Simon Calvert, of the NO2NP campaign group, said: “This demonstrates at least one local authority running a Named Person scheme has shown a crassly insensitive and careless disregard for the private data of children and their families.”

The children featured in a “user guide’ to Getting It Right for Every Child, the wider SNP policy which includes Named Person. One of the youngsters was on the child protection register, which identifies those at risk of sexual, physical or emotional harm, or neglect.

His first name, date of birth and school were made public, along with his mother’s and brother’s first names.

The webpage also included two addresses and made clear the boy was “currently looked after”.

A second child’s full name, date of birth, address, school and several siblings’ names were published. A third’s full name and school were revealed.

Liz Smith, the Conservative education spokeswoman said: “This is a staggering breach of privacy, which opened up these young people and their families to all kinds of risks.”

Education Secretary John Swinney last week knocked back calls to ditch the scheme. He also revealed a further delay to its roll-out following a Supreme Court ruling that it was incompatible with human rights.

A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “As soon as this issue was brought to our attention, the information was removed from the website.

“We have approached the Information Commissioner about our data breach to explain exactly how it came about. The council is now looking at its internal procedures to prevent a reoccurrence.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We remain absolutely committed to the Named Person service. Public services must handle, store, process and share sensitive personal information in line with existing laws and guidance.”