The human cost of the Named Person scheme

[Daily Mail: comment by NO2NP spokesman Simon Calvert]

"The Scottish Government and the Scottish courts were proven wrong in the highest court in the land when NO2NP took the case to the UK Supreme Court, where five judges handed down their verdict which effectively emasculated the scheme."

"For at its insidious heart lay the requirement to use the law to gain access to every house in the land to allow state snoopers unbridled and unwelcome access to every part of a family`s life."

"The court decision meant the Named Person proposals as enshrined in the Scottish legislation were dead in the water. And this new proposal confirms that the Named Person scheme, as originally designed, is history..."

"But at what cost?  Many families have already been victimised and demonised by state guardians in the areas where this perverse scheme has been trialed and tested."

"Decisions have been taken by snoopers which have had dreadful consequences on families, some of whom have even been forced to move home to escape the clutches of their state-sponsored tormentors..."

"Polls have revealed that two-thirds of Scots think the original scheme was an unacceptable intrusion into family life - and that includes 55 per cent of the SNP Government`s own supporters."

"Finally acknowledging the scale of the protest against the scheme, Mr Swinney said yesterday: `We must ensure that we get it right for every child... but in a way that respects the rights of families fully`."

"We should also remember that last year Mr Swinney angrily berated those who pointed out that murdered toddler Liam Fee had been subject to an early version of the Named Person scheme in Fife..."

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A recent review report has understood that the additional layer of a Named Person in what was actually a child protection case caused confusion among professionals.

 "The role of the Named Person under the principles of Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) policy was relatively new in Fife at the time and not always fully understood by professionals, and may have contributed to confusion as to who was coordinating care for the family."

http://publications.fifedirect.org.uk/c64_FinalFifeSCRLF-LearningSummary20.06.17.pdf

 

Liam Fee case review, BBC