Fundamentalists who fought Named Person law face financial probe
THE evangelical Christian campaigning. Most notoriously it charity that led the legal produced an organ-donor style plasaction against the Scottish tic card that read: “In the event of my Government on the condeath, I do not want my children to troversial Named Person be adopted by homosexuals.” legislation is to be investigated over In 2010, the institute paid the dewhether it misused funds in pursufence of two Christian hoteliers acing the case. cused under the Equality Act after
The Christian Institute, a creationthey had refused to allow a gay couist charity that believes in the Bible ple in a civil partnership to stay in as fact, joined with other charities, a double room. They lost the case. and three individuals, to try to stop The CI is also funding the appeal by the Scottish Government introducthe family that owns Ashers Baking ing the nation-wide welfare scheme Company in Belfast. They were confor all children. Their appeal against victed because they refused to decoit was successful in the Supreme rate a cake with “Support Gay MarCourt on Thursday. riage” for a male couple’s wedding.
The Charity Commission, which The appeal judgement is still being governs charities, will now have to considered. decide whether the Christian InstiDespite the Government’s embartute’s spending on the case, and that rassment over being forced to remodel of its three other charity partners, the legislation there is still a Holyrood met strict rules concerning political majority for the plan. The original campaigning and spending, which is act was passed without a single vote only permitted when it is in pursuit against it. of the charity’s aims and objectives. The Tories abstained but two years The institute has been criticised in later scrapping it became a key plank the past by the commission for inapin their election manifesto. Labour propriate campaigning. also backed the scheme, but midway
A Charity Commission spokesperthrough May’s election campaign reson confirmed that as a result of the versed support and called for a review court case the inquiry into funding of the “absolute mess” they had once would be opened. for.voted
The Christian Institute and the other groups who took the legal action, including the Family Education Trust and CARE, Christian Action Research and Education, also came together to form the campaigning group No To Named Person, or NO2NP. According to the group’s website, more than 35,000 people have signed a petition against the scheme. Under it a mentor, usually a teacher, is responsible for the well-being of a child and has access to a wide range of information.
In court in London judges ruled that while the provision in the 2014 Children and Young People Act was “unquestionably legitimate and benign” it breached Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to a private and family life. The court was concerned about how private information was shared and who had access to it. The Government has six weeks to amend proposals.
The case has so far cost opponents about £300,000, and is likely to rise to £500,000, which the institute and the other charities have underwritten. According to the institute’s latest accounts, income for the year 2014 was more than £2.6 million.
The institute has campaigned vigorously against homosexuality. It sought to raise the age of consent for gay people, it opposed civil partnerships and same sex marriages, as well as legislation to allow gay couples to adopt. As a charity it has been censured by the Charity Commission for breaching rules on overt political
THE scheme is already being piloted in several Scottish local authority areas, including Edinburgh and Fife. NO2NP waded into the controversy over the murder of two-year-old Liam Fee by questioning whether the scheme had obstructed targeted intervention. The child was battered to death in 2014 by his mother Rachel and her partner Nyomi Fee.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney reiterated that the Government remains committed it. He said: “I have already spoken directly with senior figures from the public and third sectors including NHS, local authorities and Police Scotland to discuss our next steps.”
Simon Calvert, who is NO2NP spokesman as well as deputy director of the Christian Institute responded: “We have had to drag Government and their supporters through the courts to prove what we have been saying for two years was correct and that the named person scheme as enacted is illegal.
“People have the right to request copies of any personal information an organisation may be holding about them through a Subject Access Request.” He added: “All the information which has been gathered in recent years should be handed over to families and any data which is held by public bodies should be removed and destroyed.”