MSP backlash over changes to SNP state snooper plans
PLANS to appoint a state snooper for every child in Scotland have been criticised by a major Holyrood committee – as Nicola Sturgeon confirmed she will consider more changes to the chaotic scheme.
Ministers have been told Named Person proposals could ‘add to the pressure’ on teachers and health visitors.
The concerns from the Scottish parliament’s education committee come after nursing leaders warned a new code of practice could leave staff ‘defensive’ and ‘nervous’.
The SNP has been forced to overhaul the scheme after it was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court last year. But lawyers have claimed the adapted plans still risk ‘undermining the trust of families’.
At First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Miss Sturgeon admitted changes may be needed – but rejected calls to scrap the scheme.
MSPs on the education committee yesterday wrote to Education Secretary John Swinney to raise fears about a revised ‘code of practice’ for teachers and health visitors, following damning evidence heard this week.
In the letter, Nationalist MSP James Dornan, convener of the committee, asks for more details about how parents, young people and named persons will be consulted.
He added: ‘The committee has repeatedly raised issues with you in relation to teacher workload and appreciates you have acknowledged and acted on this matter previously.
‘The requirements of the Bill appear potentially to add to the pressures on the workforce, including requiring teachers, among others, to have training on the first and subsequent iterations of the code of practice.’
Under the scheme, every child will have a single point of contact, such as a teacher or health visitor, who is appointed to look out for their welfare.
The committee has heard that due to the complexity of the legislation, named persons were likely to have their legal department ‘on speed dial’.
The new Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill aims to address the Supreme Court’s findings – that parts of the original legislation were incompatible with the right to privacy and family life as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights.
One of the changes proposed is that a duty to share information which could support, promote or safeguard a child’s well-being becomes a duty to consider whether to share that knowledge. Professionals will have to follow a code of practice, but there are concerns the draft code drawn up by the Government does not sufficiently clarify how information should be shared.
At Holyrood yesterday, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson warned Miss Sturgeon the plans could leave health and education workers in a ‘legal minefield’.
She said: ‘Can we not just start again with a blank sheet of paper? All of us in this chamber want to protect vulnerable children, but we need to do it within the law.’
Miss Davidson added: ‘The Named Person scheme as designed simply won’t work.’
Miss Sturgeon rejected calls to scrap the scheme but indicated changes were possible.
She said: ‘Ruth Davidson shouldn’t try to give the impression that the Supreme Court somehow said the whole scheme was illegal because it did not do that.
‘We will continue to proceed here to make sure all of the provisions are clearly within the law. We will consider all views that are raised, but we will also continue to go forward with that central purpose firmly in mind – this is about the greater protection of vulnerable children.’
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