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Saturday 30 April 2016

Ministers prepare to promote the unpopular Named Person scheme

"SNP ministers are preparing to fight back against critics of its controversial `named person` scheme by launching a major new information campaign to win over the public."

"Senior figures in the administration have approved a public relations blitz designed to tell Scots what the named person scheme is and how it works."

"It was derided last night by opponents of the scheme who condemned the use of taxpayersmoney to promote what they said was an unpopular policy."

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/taxpayers-to-fund-named-person-pr-campaign-6mn0stxmd?acs_cjd=true

Will this appear as the Scots are told how it works?
There is much in Scotland to be proud of, but frankly many aspects of our culture and behaviours, the level of some of our social problems and, not least, our failure to give some children the most basic level of protection and support should be cause for us to hang our heads in shame. It is not enough just to turn away, to blame the Government of the day or to leave this to others to sort. We can all do better.
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/343337/0114216.pdf
Or this?
The Named Person offers a signpost to assistance. Parents need to call on that support and, when necessary, be directed and empowered towards a different path. The Named Person is about facilitating a nudge or as it would probably be in Scotland, a shove within the system, to make sure families get the services they need, when they need them...

Like Harry Burns at the launch of the Early Years Collaborative: shaming, nudging, shoving?  I doubt that will be part of a campaign.

So which version of the Named Person scheme will be used in the public relations blitz? The single point of contact version which involves multiple contacts over the weekend and summer holidays? The optional version, unless the Named Person has a number of wellbeing concerns and needs to get the bigger picture? Or could it be the working in partnership version -  and your views really count - unless, of course, ChildrenCount needs to check how many times your kid has had anal sex in the last thirty days?

Let`s skip over the proportionate data sharing that amounts to a non consensual sixty pages on a family`s file, and all the rest, because it`s getting more than a bit seedy, and do think plants !  No PR campaign is going to blot out parental awareness of the devious scheming that has been going on, and for what ? For data that is none of the government`s business.

As for Harry Burns, he should not have been going to Europe and the rest of the world promising them the results of the great Scottish experiment before he`s even asked for parental consent. After all, that is not something a government has the right to give. [Article 8, ECHR]

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