Meeting of the Parliament 08 June 2016
When the Parliament passed the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 on 19 February 2014, we recognised that a policy that had been developed and tested over many years across several Administrations with cross-party support had reached a milestone. We believed that it was right for children and young people throughout Scotland to have the benefit of the named person service if and when they needed it. It was a deliberate, well-debated step, not one that was taken lightly. It had been informed by expert opinion across Scotland.
The policy has been long and passionately supported by professionals and our children’s charities. This morning, the leaders of a broad range of organisations that are dedicated to supporting our children made clear their firm and continued support for the policy. They wrote:
“We believe the Named Person provisions formalise the best practice of our education and health services, ensuring that every child, young person and their family has a primary point of contact available if and when they need it ... lt is a policy that protects vulnerable children and young people, taking a preventative, early interventionist approach, before any significant risks to their wellbeing escalate.”
To add to that endorsement, Theresa Fyffe of the Royal College of Nursing wrote on behalf of the health visiting profession:
“Our position is clear—we fully support the named person role and believe its intention to promote, support and safeguard the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland is the right approach.”
The policy embodies the principles we share as fundamental to supporting the lives of children and young people. It is founded on an agenda upon which I thought that we were all agreed in the Parliament. It is an agenda that enshrines the principle of early intervention that was championed by the Christie commission and embraced by this Parliament and several of its committees over many years of inquiry. I thought that we all understood that a timely and early offer of advice or help can prevent troubles from becoming crises and, in some cases, crises from becoming tragedies. As a single point of contact for families as well as professionals, the named person can make that principle not just best practice but common practice.