Named Person plans ‘costing public £61m’
MINISTERS have spent more than £61million on the policy behind t he Named Person scheme, campaigners claim.
They revealed the figure as they prepared to challenge the policy in the UK’s highest court.
The No to the Named Person (NO2NP) campaign said the £61.5million spent on Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) could have paid for 450 social workers or 370 police officers.
NO2NP said the Scottish Government had refused to say how much money had been spent on its plans to impose a ‘state snooper’ on every family – but had revealed the cost of GIRFEC in a Freedom of Information (FOI) response.
The Named Person scheme – which will see a state guardian assigned to every child under 18 from August – is a key plank of the wider GIRFEC policy.
A spokesman for NO2NP, which will take its case to the Supreme Court in London tomorrow, said: ‘This is a breathtaking amount of money on what has become one of this Government’s most controversial and accident-prone policies.
‘It has been quick to criticise the lack of funds available in the current economic climate for health, education and law and order. But it has seen fit to squander more than £ 60million of public money on a scheme feared by parents and resented by many of the health visitors and teachers forced to take on the Named Person role.’
According to an FOI response to NO2NP, the Scottish Government has spent £19.9million on GIRFEC in recent years. It has also set aside £41.6million to pay for extra health visitors connected to the policy.
The NO2NP spokesman said: ‘It is hard to comprehend that the Government thinks this illthought-out and flawed scheme is of more value than 450 social workers or 370 police officers.
‘This country is being presented with a huge white elephant which is taking money away from vulnerable children.
‘Appointing a state guardian for every single child is money down the drain. It’s totally unnecessary for the vast majority of families.’
Scottish Tory young people spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘Every- one knows this is a deeply unpopular and unnecessary policy. Now we learn it is costing the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.
‘This flies in the face of common sense. It is time for the SNP to scrap this dreadful policy.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘These claims are incorrect. The funding is for a forward commitment; it is wrong to suggest this is the “cost so far”.
‘This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that all our children get the best possible start in life. That is why we are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in services that support children and families, especially in their early years.’
The two- day Supreme Court hearing follows a judicial review in Scotland, which resulted in a victory for the Government.