Controversial scheme is dropped as campaign group claims its pressure made the Scottish Government rethink
Campaigners are claiming victory after the Scottish Government scrapped the controversial named person bill.
John Swinney, Deputy first minister, announced that the bill will be scrapped after an expert panel was unable to find a solution to fix the information sharing aspects of the bill, which were struck down by the UK Supreme Court three years ago.
The scheme would have seen a named person - usually a teacher or health visitor - act as a point of contact for every child from birth until the age of 18.
However an expert panel convened by the Scottish Government was unable to write a workable code of practice on information sharing, and concluded that doing so "would not be desirable" as the complexity would make it difficult to understand or apply in practice.
While the bill was welcomed by many of the country’s biggest care charities, other campaigners, led by the No to Named Persons (NO2NP) coalition, stanchly opposed it.
The group argued that the legislation would lead to "unjustified and unjustifiable state interference with family rights" and that responsibility for monitoring a child's wellbeing should be the role of the parent, not the state.
NO2NP spokesman Simon Calvert said: “We mustn’t forget that the Supreme Court ruled that Swinney’s legislation breached the human rights of families, and he’s never apologised for that.
“He’s eventually done the right thing, but he has done a lot of damage to public trust over the last couple of years by trying to prop up the scheme.
“Nevertheless, this is good news for families all across Scotland and it’s a great relief for a lot of people.”
He continued: “The question now is what is the Scottish Government going to do to unpick all of the legally inaccurate training that it’s been giving to local authority and health board officials over the last five years?
“There’s a big job of work to do to make clear to those people that they don’t have the powers that the Scottish Government wanted them to have.”
The Scottish Parent Teacher Council published the results of an online survey in 2013 which it said suggested "high levels of concern" from parents about the proposals.
However Barnardo's, Aberlour, Action for Children and Children 1st backed the scheme against what they claimed was misinformation by opponents.
Teachers’ union the EIS said child protection must still remain top priority.
General secretary Larry Flanagan said: “Although the named person scheme became a highly controversial subject, it was originally conceived as a genuine attempt to ensure that the protection afforded to vulnerable and at-risk young people across Scotland was as robust as it could be.
“We must not lose sight of the need that still exists to deliver on that ambition.”
