The Scottish Government is facing further embarrassment over its contentious Named Person scheme after a new setback.
Holyrood’s Education and Skills Committee has refused to allow the Bill to proceed until they know how the scheme will operate.
The demand means another major delay for the policy which was declared illegal by the UK Supreme Court last year.
Cannot proceed
James Dornan, Convener of the Education and Skills Committee, wrote to Deputy First Minister John Swinney yesterday saying that the committee cannot recommend that Parliament approve the Named Person legislation in principle until it has received an “authoritative draft of the code”.
Swinney has said he is “not minded” to consult on the code of practice before the legislation has passed.
The best way out of this mess is for the Scottish government to ditch the bill…
Responding to the news, MSPs on both sides of the political spectrum questioned whether the Named Person scheme can be salvaged at all.
‘Shambolic’
Liz Smith MSP, who sits on the Education and Skills Committee, said: “This situation is serious and it is a damning indictment of the SNP’s failure to understand what practitioners have been saying to them, namely that the bill is full of holes and does not fully address the findings of the Supreme Court.
“The best way out of this mess is for the Scottish government to ditch the bill and completely rethink how we should be supporting our most vulnerable children.”
…there have to be questions now as to whether this policy is saveable at all.
Education spokesman for Scottish Labour Iain Gray said the “shambolic, incompetent roll out” of the policy had gone from bad to worse.
Irredeemable
“With yet more questions to be answered, a clear failure to address the committee’s concerns and no tangible progress in building public trust, there have to be questions now as to whether this policy is saveable at all.”
The No to Named Persons (NO2NP) campaign group said: “This is further evidence of the terrible handling of this policy.
“John Swinney cannot ignore this and must act on the committee’s letter. He kept MSPs, parents and practitioners in the dark.
“It’s time he saw the light and consigned this appalling legislation into the Holyrood dustbin.”
‘Persuasion panel’
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said ministers would carefully consider the letter and respond in due course.
However, the Scottish Government will set up a ‘persuasion panel’ to try and convince the public that the Named Person policy is workable.