Judges to give their verdict on child law

JUDGES will rule whether the Scottish Government’s controversial Named Person policy is legal next week, as the Supreme Court publishes the outcome of a final appeal against the law.

The case brought by the Christian Institute and three other charities was heard by five senior judges over two days in March after the groups claimed it amounted to an unjustified interference with family rights.

However their argument that the Scottish Government had exceeded its powers was rejected at the Court of Session which has twice dismissed the claims of campaigners. The law providing each child in Scotland with a Named Person to safeguard their wellbeing comes into effect on August 31. The Scottish Government had begun to make provisions for delaying the scheme if a ruling had not been received before the Supreme Court takes its summer break next month.

But if the appeal is rejected when the judges rule on Thursday, it is now expected to go ahead, with health visitors and head teachers primarily responsible for acting as Named Persons to children assigned to them. The Scottish Government said last night that ministers would not speculate ahead of the outcome and would comment once the Supreme Court’s decision is known.

The Christian Institute’s Director Colin Hart said: “We have long argued that the scheme breaches laws protecting privacy and contravenes the rights of both parents and children. The Scottish Government is rightly concerned about child protection, but by undermining parents it is going about it in completely the wrong way. A universal scheme is fatally flawed.”