Another video from the Scottish Liberty Forum

 

Dr Stuart Waiton has useful things to say about the altered relationship between the individual and the state but I do not agree with his view about why the Named Person has been put in place. True, we live in a risk averse culture but this culture did not arise in a vacuum and has been designed and long in the planning. The children`s workforce has been attending meetings and conferences so that by the time parents caught up with what was going on, they found the workforce was speaking the language of SHANARRI. That does not mean these ideas came from them as stakeholders. They were led by the nose at conferences run by other people; for instance, see Sir Harry Burns.
 
It is not the case, necessarily, that the children`s workforce believe they are doing their best and are shocked that parents take a different point of view. Many of them are parents themselves. When they discussed Curriculum for Excellence, mature teachers in particular, were very negative in the Tes forums about GIRFEC and all the rest, and could see right through it. Over time their preoccupations have changed. Worries are more about how to implement these changes. When your job depends on it and you have a mortgage people tend to acquiesce.

I would suggest that those in power want to maintain their grip. The Named Person has been put in place to get the data and so the idea of the autonomous individual and privacy rights had to be undermined.  Risk culture can do that. Computing power and big data analytics are at an advanced stage. So the time was right.