NAMED PERSON SCHEME PLUNGED INTO FRESH CHAOS

December 8, 2017 by martinrooney2014 Leave a comment

The SNP’s attempt to save the Named Person scheme was plunged into fresh chaos today, as Holyrood’s Education Committee refused to back a government fix to the legislation.

The Committee refused to submit a Stage 1 report to the full Parliament on a new Bill proposed to resolve the information sharing element of the government’s Named Person legislation.

The Bill was required after the Supreme Court ruled the original legislation broke data protection law.

Holyrood committees normally produce a report prior to Stage 1 of the legislative process for new laws, but the cross-party Education Committee could not recommend that the law proposed by John Swinney should progress further.

The Committee said they believed the legislation’s credibility was dependent on critical guidance which the Education Secretary has refused to produce before September 2018.

SNP MSPs pushed the issue to a vote at Committee this morning, but were defeated six votes to five by opposition MSPs.

Scottish Labour’s education spokesperson, Iain Gray, said:

“Labour supports the principles behind the Named Persons policy, to ensure the most vulnerable children do not fall through the cracks.

“But John Swinney’s cack-handed incompetence has created a situation where his own policy is falling apart.

“Mr Swinney’s Bill as it stands is unworkable and deemed illegal – and now he has failed to convince the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee that he knows how to fix it.

“They wrote to him to say they are not able to recommend that the general principles of the Bill be approved and demanded a pause until he brings forward critical guidance – something he says he cannot do until September next year.

“Rather than trying to force this faulty legislation through without addressing the concerns of parents, practitioners or the courts, John Swinney should take responsibility and sort out this mess.”

Notes

See minutes from the Education committee here – http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Education/Minutes/20171206_ES_Minutes.pdf