Humiliated SNP will delay Named Persons for a year
Swinney admits scheme has lost parents’ confidence
CONTROVERSIAL plans to appoint a ‘state guardian’ for every child in Scotland will be delayed until next August – after ministers finally admitted the scheme had lost the confidence of many parents.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney yesterday confirmed another pause in the SNP’s Named Person scheme.
In a major climbdown, he admitted that parts of the plan need to be changed as he pledged an ‘intense’ three-month consultation with parents, teachers, police, social workers and others.
It is a humiliating blow for the SNP, after it resolutely stood by the policy despite vehement opposition from those who fear it would infringe on parents’ rights.
They only finally backtracked after the Supreme Court ruled in July that elements of it would be unlawful.
The SNP will now fundamentally overhaul the scheme, before bringing forward entirely new legislation at Holyrood next year.
Campaigners yesterday welcomed the overhaul of the scheme – but said Mr Swinney is wrong to insist that it will definitely still go ahead next August.
Addressing MSPs six weeks after the damning Supreme Court ruling, Mr Swinney said: ‘For the avoidance of doubt, the Government remains absolutely committed to the Named Person service.
‘The Supreme Court judgment does not dilute our commitment, but it has required us to revise part of the legislation to ensure that it is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.’
He said that he will launch a three-month period of ‘intense engagement’ with ‘practitioners as well as parents’.
Mr Swinney said: ‘Once that engagement ends and we have agreed a way to proceed, I will return to Parliament and announce the next steps. However, it is my ambition to work towards a commencement date of August 2017 for the legislative provisions.’ After being told by Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray that the scheme had ‘lost the confidence of many Scottish families’, Mr Swinney admitted: ‘I agree that there is a need to gain confidence in the Named Person policy. I intend to build confidence in the application of the policy.’
However, the Education Secretary was criticised for saying that councils which already had A Named Person scheme should ‘continue to deliver a Named Person service’ as long as they meet the ‘existing legal framework’.
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘Councils already running the scheme are being told to keep on with it – even though elements of it have been ruled unlawful. It’s not clear how the Scottish Government can delay the scheme’s implementation for a year, yet tell those already doing it to continue.’
Yesterday’s announcement of a consultation and an overhaul of the scheme represents a major turnaround compared to the Scottish Government’s initial response to the Supreme Court verdict, when it issued a press release headed: ‘Legal bid to scrap NP scheme fails’.
Simon Calvert, spokesman for the No To Named Persons campaign, said: ‘This would be laughable if it were not so offensive to the parents whose human rights were so
I agree there is a real need to gain confidence in the policy. I intend to build confidence in the application of the policy Admission: John Swinney ‘Human rights were ignored’
cavalierly ignored in the drafting of the Named Person law.
‘Instead of focusing on saving face, the Government should be apologising to parents for ignoring their human rights.’
Scottish Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins said: ‘Any suggestion that the Supreme Court judgment requires a mere tidying up of Named Person does not understand the magnitude of what the Supreme Court said. It requires a wholesale rethink of the scheme.
‘I think that probably will happen, but the Scottish Government will pretend it is a mere tidying up because they want to save face.’