Social work scandals a blow for SNP spying plan

‘Confusion about Liam’s care’

MORE than one in five social workers disciplined in Scotland in the past three years were with a council that piloted the SNP’s state snooper scheme, it was claimed yesterday.

Fife Council is mired in controversy over three child deaths which raise major questions about social work failures.

The families of Liam Fee, Madison Horn and Mikaeel Kular say more should have been done to protect the toddlers.

A former social worker in Fife also alleged that the council put its own needs ‘before the needs of the children’.

The findings are a blow for the SNP’s Named Person scheme, trialled in Fife from 2009. It was later judged to be unlawful by the Supreme Court.

In June, a Significant Case Review into Liam’s murder – after prolonged abuse by his mother and her civil partner – singled out the SNP policy as having ‘contributed to confusion’ about his care.

Last night, a BBC Scotland documentary included figures from regulator the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), which show that more than one in five social workers disciplined in the past three years in Scotland had worked in Fife.

The BBC also revealed SSSC documentation which found a criminal justice social worker failed to protect an unnamed mother and child in Fife from a new partner with a violent past – which it linked to the death of Madison, who was killed by her mother’s criminal boyfriend.

Fife Council said: ‘An inspection of our children’s services published in 2016 found a positive picture of children’s services in Fife.’