Meeting of the Parliament 08 June 2016
That view is largely related to the resources going into their professions and the authorities for which they work generally, and I will come to that point. However, we cannot deny that in Highland there is evidence that, if it is correctly and proportionately implemented, the policy can work.
Unfortunately, for some time there has also been evidence that the Government has made a disastrous mess of implementing the policy. John Swinney attacked the Tories for scaremongering throughout the election campaign. I will come to the Tories, but the SNP must take some responsibility too.
For months, wild and wilful distortions of what the policy would mean were allowed to run unchallenged and unchecked. Government officials produced guidance and training that, on occasion, fuelled those stories, rather than debunking them. Meanwhile, a budget that cut £500 million from local authorities and squeezed NHS budgets left the professionals involved questioning whether they had the resources to make the scheme—or indeed any service—work, even where they supported the principle. That is why we suggested a pause, a review of the guidance and implementation, and a commitment to adequate resourcing.
In its amendment, we finally get acknowledgement that the Government has lost parents’ confidence in the scheme, and that it needs to do something to fix that. That is a big step in the right direction, as is the Lib Dem amendment, which makes clear the need for resourcing. However, we remain convinced there should be a pause in implementation, to give families confidence that there is a real attempt to fix the policy.
We also believe that it is not enough to have the same officials who got us into this mess refresh their guidance. Some kind of external review is necessary—we have suggested a review by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, but there may be other possibilities.