Admit defeat on named person scheme, Scottish Government urged

The Scottish Government has been urged to admit defeat over its efforts to implement the named person scheme after an expert group suggested a key element would not be workable.

The policy set out to appoint a single point of contact, such as a teacher or health visitor, to look out for the welfare of children up to the age of 18.

It had been due to come into force in August 2016 but was delayed after a legal challenge by campaigners, who argued the information-sharing elements of the scheme were contrary to parts of the European Convention on Human Rights.

An independent panel was set up by Education Secretary John Swinney in November 2017 after the Scottish Parliament's Education Committee called for an "authoritative" code of practice on information sharing.

The panel was given responsibility for producing a draft code of practice for information sharing.

In minutes published last week relating to a meeting of the panel in March this year, members found "a statutory Code of Practice that must be applied in all situations is not the right thing to do at this time."

It was noted that the panel chairman "wants to ensure the report is clear that although a code of practice could be produced to support the legislation, it would not be desirable as the complexity of this would mean it would not be easy to understand or apply in practice".

Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said taxpayers' money had been wasted by the Government in pursuing the policy.

"The named person scheme was the most unpopular and unworkable of all the SNP's policies," she said.

"It is therefore no surprise at all that the expert panel has come to such a decisive conclusion.

"A huge amount of taxpayers' money has been wasted on the SNP's foolish pursuit of this policy."

She added: "Meanwhile, standards in Scottish education have been declining and teacher numbers have been falling.

"The SNP must now finally admit defeat and consign this policy to the dustbin.''

Simon Calvert, from the No to the Named Person campaign (NO2NP) said: "This might just be the knockout blow to the Scottish Government's state snooper scheme.

"Mr Swinney promised they would develop a workable, comprehensive and user friendly code of practice.

"They have, unsurprisingly, concluded that this is impossible."

He added: "Time's well and truly up now. This exercise in social engineering has finally hit the buffers and must be dumped."

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "Ministers are currently considering the advice and recommendations of the expert panel.

"We remain committed to promoting good information-sharing practice in the best interests of Scotland's children and families."