WHAT IS THE NAMED PERSON SCHEME?

Parliament has already passed legislation to appoint a Named Person in Scotland for every child under 18.

A Named Person is a state official tasked with looking after a child’s “well-being”. This is a fancy way of saying their “happiness”. This state guardian is assigned regardless of whether or not children or paren ts wish to have one and regardless of whether there is any need for state intervention.

The central data-sharing provisions on which the Named Person Scheme relies have been declared illegal by the United Kingdom Supreme Court. This declaration prevented the scheme from coming into force as planned on 31 August 2016. If  Scotland introduced a new scheme, it will not be able to operate as the Scottish Government had intended.

With this said, there is still cause for concern, because Named Person pilot schemes are already operating across Scotland.

WHAT WILL A ‘NAMED PERSON’ IN SCOTLAND DO?

The Named Person is given many of the responsibilities of parents.  A Government leaflet said this includes checking that children get a say in how their room’s decorated and what they watch on TV.

A Named Person will have the power to speak to a child and provide advice about very personal issues without obtaining parental consent.

8 REASONS WHY THIS IS A PROBLEM

1. Named Person in Scotland undermines parents and permits the state to pry into the privacy of families.
2. The Government keeps saying there’s no need for families to use the Named Person, however, the scheme is compulsory. Every child will have a Named Person by law. They will have power to talk to a child without their parents agreeing with what they say.
3. It’s already extremely difficult to protect vulnerable children. The Scottish Government is stretching limited resources even further by creating a scheme that applies to all children regardless of need. Named Persons are likely to be over-cautious in referring issues to social services, which creates unnecessary work for social workers instead of allowing them to help vulnerable children.
4. One piece of Government guidance says a Named Person has “responsibility for overall monitoring of the child’s well-being and outcomes”. This is the role of a parent, not a government official.
5. The Named Person is tasked with monitoring the well-being of Scottish children. Government-funded guidance says “well-being is another word for happiness”. How can the state monitor the happiness of every child?
6. Teachers are busy enough without becoming a Named Person responsible for monitoring the well-being of hundreds of children.
7. These plans could result in children feeling their privacy has been invaded. This discomfort could lead to them shunning helplines and advisory services.
8. The current law says social services can intervene where a child is at risk of significant harm. But Named Persons can intervene merely where there are concerns about a child’s “happiness”.