Swinney promises "intense engagement" on revised named person provisions

Three months of "intense engagement" with interested parties on the named person service will precede revised proposals to take account of the UK Supreme Court's ruling against the present scheme, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

Making a statement to MSPs on the future of the scheme in the wake of the ruling that its information sharing provisions were incompatible with European Convention on Human Rights protections of privacy and family life, Mr Swinney said the Government would "discuss the principles that should underpin the legislation, and the development of a code of practice to set out how information should be shared under the legislation".

He again confirmed that the Government remained "absolutely committed" to the named person service, pointing out that the court had upheld the principle of the scheme as compatible with human rights and EU law, and also as falling within devolved competence. "The Supreme Court judgment does not dilute our commitment but it has required us to revise part of the legislation to ensure that it is compatible with the ECHR", he stated.

Views will be sought from practitioners undertaking the named person role, parents, charities, young people, those who support the policy and those with concerns. The Children’s Commissioner and the Information Commissioner will also be involved.

Mr Swinney continued: "In order to address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court we will discuss the principles that should underpin the legislation, and the development of a code of practice to set out how information should be shared under the legislation. This work will be taken forward by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years and by me.

"Once that engagement ends and we have an agreed way to proceed I will return to Parliament and announce the next steps in terms of legislation. However it is my ambition to work towards a commencement date for the legislation of August 2017."

Answering questions, Mr Swinney said he was prepared to look again at the inclusion of 16 and 17 year olds in the scheme, but pointed out that many young people of that age were still vulnerable and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defined "child" as anyone up to the age of 18.

He also acknowledged the importance of addressing the issue of thresholds and proportionality, raised by the Supreme Court.

Simon Calvert of the No to Named Person campaign commented: ""The consultation, and the acknowledgment that it will take a year to draw up and implement the new proposals, is an admission that they have to heavily rewrite key aspects of the Nsmed Person policy."