Government urged to abandon moves to bring back Named Person

Scott Machae

"The government has been urged to abandon moves to bring back plans for a named person for all children in Scotland."

"The controversial scheme was derailed when the UK Supreme Court ruled the legislation was not competent over the prospect of personal data being widely shared among schools, the NHS and social workers."

"Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars warned yesterday that education secretary John Swinney will face a backlash from Scottish parents if he presses ahead with plans to revise the plans and reintroduce them next year."

"Instead he said the Deputy First Minister should `do a Hammond` and ditch the plans as Chancellor Philip Hammond did with his controversial National Insurance hike for the self-employed in the recent Budget. Speaking at a conference organised by the No to Named Persons group (NO2NP), Mr Sillars also encouraged campaigners to lobby SNP backbenchers to defy ministers over fresh legislation aimed at getting the scheme up and running next year."

"He said: `My advice would be to do a Hammond. Last week the government at Westminster was in a hole. It had the brains to stop digging and my advice to this government is this isn`t going to work`."

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-should-do-a-hammond-over-named-person-scheme-sillars-1-4398108