John Swinney says he will consider removing 16 to 18 years olds from Named Person plan

credit - Scottish government flickr

Deputy First Minister John Swinney has said the Scottish Government will consider removing older teenagers from the remit of its Named Person plan.

Swinney, who is also Scotland’s education secretary, said he would look at "addressing concerns" about the policy while changes are made after a court ruling.

Swinney admitted that there had not been clear enough communication about what the scheme really entails, and stressed that it was a "voluntary" system which parents could opt out of.

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Amendments are to be made before the Named Person plan is rolled out after parts of it were ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.

The Scottish Government is seeking to clarify details of the scheme in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that the legislation, as it was passed by Holyrood, is “incompatible’’ with European human rights laws and would need to be amended to proceed.

Scottish Labour and the Conservatives want to see 16 to 18-year-olds excluded from the scheme.

Labour education spokesperson Iain Gray has writing to Swinney claiming that the inclusion of 16 to 18 years-olds would be “absurd” and pointing out that these teenagers are old enough to vote and get married.

The Scottish Government has said that all under 18s were considered children under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

However, Swinney told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme that he would "certainly give consideration" to the suggested changes.

He said: "I am anxious to move forward the named person policy and to implement that, and in the process of addressing the implications of the Supreme Court judgement I want to make sure that we address the concerns and issues that have been raised about the guidance that Iain Gray has raised, and I'll give consideration to this particular point that's been raised.

"When I became education secretary I indicated that I would refresh the guidance available for the implementation of the policy, that because of a lot of the political and media traffic around the policy we should reaffirm to members of the public the importance of the named person policy and the great asset it would be to individuals and families who face difficulties within our society."

Opponents of the scheme say it could intrude into family life, with groups like the No to Named Persons campaign calling for it to be scrapped altogether.

Swinney accepted that there had not been clear communication about what the system would actually mean for families.

He said: "We need to get across our message very clearly about the purpose of the named person. For me, it's to give every child in our country and their families a contact point within our public services who will be able to act on their behalf, and give them advice and guidance and signpost them to services if they face difficulties. That is the primary role of the named person service.

"The reason why it's available to every child in our country is to make sure that whenever a child gets into some difficulty, however minor it is, we can address that quickly and effectively so it doesn't escalate into a deeper problem.

"If we can get that service right and communicate it properly, I think it becomes a real asset to the young people of Scotland."

Scottish Conservative shadow education spokeswoman Liz Smith welcomed Swinney's remarks, but claimed Labour and the Liberal Democrats have now changed their mind on Named Person, as she suggested the parties previously rejected moves to either drop or pause the scheme.

Smith said: “We welcome the fact that John Swinney now seems to be prepared to remove 16 to 18-year-olds from the named person policy.

“This could have happened three years ago if the SNP had not dismissed Scottish Conservative amendments to the legislation out of hand.

“However, the Supreme Court ruling makes plain that there are far more problems with the policy than just this.

“At the heart of it is the single point of contact and the information sharing that would necessarily accompany that.

“On the latter point, the policy has been judged to be unlawful.

“Making tweaks to the legislation will not solve the problem.

“The comments over the last few days from Labour and the Liberal Democrats make it very clear that political support as well as public support is draining away fast.

“If the SNP was really listening, it would scrap the whole thing.”