Meeting of the Parliament 08 June 2016
I will not at this stage; I have taken three interventions and I want to make some progress.
The First Minister has confused the issue. She says that engagement with named persons is not compulsory but her legislation is not designed accordingly. She tells us that named persons are not about child protection, but she defends the policy against all her critics with that constantly in mind. It is little wonder that parents and professionals are confused.
Today in John Swinney’s amendment, we learn that the guidance is to be reviewed. To our mind, that is a recognition that the current guidance is not fit for purpose.
We know that the EIS does not want its members to be named persons during the holidays—a position with which I have some sympathy. What will happen during the holidays? Who will take over as the named person? It seems that the local authority will have to provide a named person by using other staff. It is a bureaucratic nightmare, which serves to illustrate one of the fundamental flaws with the workability of the policy.
Colleges and employers have similar concerns about where their responsibilities lie. That exposes just how daft it is to have named persons for all 16 to 18-year-olds—the cohort that the Scottish Government says is mature enough to vote and is able to get married or fight for their country.
I return to my initial theme. The debate is surely about the best interests of our children and families and about the ability of our professionals to deliver the care that children deserve. It is about supporting agencies to solve genuine problems, rather than asking the state to determine that all children are always at risk. Everybody in the chamber as well as the wider public know that the Conservatives have consistently been, and remain, fundamentally opposed to the named person policy. However, we also have an obligation to address the practical concerns of professionals and parents about the policy’s workability. It is interesting to see from the amendments that the other parties also recognise that, as they did during the election campaign. If those concerns are not dealt with, they could seriously undermine the welfare of children throughout Scotland. That outcome would be unforgivable, and that is why we ask parties in the Parliament to support our motion.
I move,
That the Parliament, irrespective of whether or not individual MSPs support the principle of the Named Person policy, recognises the extent of concerns being expressed by many professionals who believe that there are practical difficulties ahead in relation to the delivery of a universal provision of Named Persons in August 2016; notes that there is confusion among parents about whether engagement with their child’s Named Person is compulsory, and believes that, in light of these significant concerns, there is an urgent need to pause the implementation of the policy and debate whether or not the policy in its current form is workable in the best interests of Scotland’s young people.
15:26