Meeting of the Parliament 08 June 2016
There are two issues in Liz Smith’s comment. One is the issue about workload, to which I will come. We have to take that into account, which is why my amendment is framed as it is. However, when Liz Smith comes to the Parliament and asks me why I think that there is opposition to the policy in Scotland, I say that it is because the Conservative Party has gone round the country for months utterly misrepresenting it.
The named person approach recognises that the children who most need help—those who can become the most vulnerable in our society—are not always easy to identify. Named persons are there to act not for people who do not need them but for those who do, whenever and for however long they need them.
Liz Smith just asked about universalism. Some have argued that we do not need a universal named person service because most children and young people are unlikely to require it. However, if we apply the same argument to access to a general practitioner or the provision of a fire service, the importance of universalism is clear. I rarely go to my GP but I like to be able to go to one when I need to. The point is pretty simple—we believe that all of Scotland’s children should have access to the service by right, and it should be there to be used as and when they and their families require it. It reflects an agenda—