Harry Potter and the named person secret
Officials were urged to enlist the support of Harry Potter author J K Rowling to boost support for the Scottish Government’s controversial named person proposals.
Papers released under Freedom of Information laws contain a note from a meeting with named person providers in August last year. The document said: “Get JK Rowling on board, countermine the likes of Alexander Mccall Smith – Z listers.”
Characters in Prof Mccall Smith’s writings have expressed reservations about the policy.
Scottish Government officials were urged to recruit J K Rowling in an attempt to popularise their controversial named person proposals, papers have revealed.
According to a Scottish Government document, the idea that a bit of Harry Potter magic could make the unpopular scheme more palatable was mentioned at a meeting last year.
The document, newly obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, is a note of a meeting with named person providers held in August last year as part of the Scottish Government’s getting it right for each child (GIRFEC) policy. A key part of GIRFEC is the scheme which will see every child given a named person, responsible for their welfare. Critics believe named persons will undermine family life and be an unwarranted intrusion by the state.
The document said: “Get JK Rowling on board, countermine the likes of Alexander Mccall Smith – Z listers.”
The reference to Professor Mccall Smith, another best-selling Scottish author, is thought to have arisen because a character in his 44 Scotland Street series had just been critical of the named person scheme. In a Scotland Street episode, serialised by The Scotsman in May last year, the scheme is mentioned by Professor Mccall Smith’s character Domenica, who said: “The named person legislation. Can you believe it? Can you believe that they’re insisting that every child in Scotland should have a sort of official guardian – because that’s what it amounts to. Can you conceive of a better way of insulting parents?”
In another episode there is an unflattering description of an unattractive character as an “archetypical named person.”
A spokesman for the antinamed person group NO2NP said the government had lost the battle for hearts and minds on named person, adding it would “take more than a trip to Hogwarts” to rescue the policy.
A spokesman for J K Rowling said he was not aware of the author being approached by the Scottish Government. A Scottish Government spokesman said: “This comment was not made by the Scottish Government – and nor does it in any way reflect our views. It was minuted within a summary of ideas put forward by external stakeholders. We recognise the important literacy contribution made by Alexander Mccall Smith – as illustrated by the reception in his honour hosted by the First Minister at Bute House.”