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Meeting of the Parliament 25 September 2013

25 Sep 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Children and Young People (Named Persons)

Baxter, Jayne Lab Mid Scotland and Fife Watch on SPTV

I welcome the opportunity to open this debate for the Scottish Labour Party. We support the principles of getting it right for every child and welcome the move to incorporate elements of GIRFEC into statute. However, there is a host of views on the issue of the named person, ranging from those of the wide range of children’s organisations that support the approach, to the concerns of parents and others about the rights and responsibilities of parents, the rights of children, the need to protect confidentiality and the capacity of universal services—namely health and education—to take on the role.

I believe that everyone in the chamber would want to see the bill focus absolutely on how we can best support families and children, and in particular how we can improve the life chances of Scotland’s poorest and most disadvantaged children. With that in mind, the Labour amendment highlights that we are still in the committee scrutiny stages of the bill; indeed, we are barely midway through stage 1. Members of the Education and Culture Committee have heard, and will continue to hear, evidence about the philosophy and principles of the bill and the practicalities of the named person approach. I fully expect a number of amendments to be lodged at later stages.

While it is so fresh in our minds, I propose to refer to some of the evidence that has been provided to the Education and Culture Committee up to now. At yesterday’s meeting, we heard from Highland Council, which was the pathfinder authority for GIRFEC in 2006. At that time, there was no mention of a named person, but the value of the role emerged as the model was developed, and was fully implemented by the council in 2010.

Both the written and oral evidence from Highland Council to the committee highlighted the reduced bureaucracy, improvements in outcomes for children and families and empowerment of staff that have arisen from the named person approach, which have allowed the council to reinvest resources in, for example, additional health visitors.

It remains to be seen how transferable that experience would be to other parts of Scotland, especially given the resource concerns that are being expressed widely. This week, colleagues on the Finance Committee scrutinised the bill’s resource implications and the assumptions that are made in the financial memorandum. For example, funding for training of the education staff who will be expected to carry out GIRFEC functions seems to have been budgeted for as a one-off cost in the financial memorandum. I presume that it is expected that the cost will in later years be absorbed into budgets. If the training is not seen as additional and funded appropriately, something will have to give to make way for it in future years—but what? Training is clearly essential to enable the named person to adapt to the new role, but also to enable them to make judgments on cases as they arise.

Thus we see that the named person proposal clearly has implications for the staff who will be expected to take on the role. The Educational Institute of Scotland and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children have both raised concerns about resources, and the Royal College of Nursing has estimated that an additional 450 health visitors will be required to fulfil the requirements of the named person role as outlined in the bill. Unison has stated:

“As they stand, the responsibilities will require additional front-line time and administrative support and it is unlikely that agencies will be able to easily allocate those resources.”

In its written evidence, Unison highlighted the need for clarification of the role of the named person and, crucially, of where and how the role relates to the lead professional. Our amendment calls for that clarity.

It is clear from the number of questions that are being asked that the role of the named person must be further explained and clearly defined. There is a strong commitment from all sides to improving life chances for children and families in Scotland; I see the strong engagement around the issue as a measure of the commitment that is shown by organisations in the public and third sectors in advocating on behalf of the children of Scotland.

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Meeting of the Parliament 25 September 2013

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