A legal challenge to the Scottish Government plans for every child in Scotland to have a “named person” is to be challenged this week. Campaign Group The Christian Institute is to file papers at the Court of Session seeking judicial review of Part 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.
The legislation passed in February, states that every person under the age of 18 will have a teacher, health visitor or midwife as their named person. The idea behind the provision is to provide a more effective single point of contact and support for families earlier on in the life of the family.
The Christian Institute seek to argue that the provision is an unlawful interference in the right to private and family life, under the European Convention on Human Rights. Also, the group seek to voice concerns about the sharing of data under the act which may be contrary to data protection laws.
The group have raised enough to fund the first part of the action only, but Director Colin Hart states the group will exhaust every avenue, even going to the European Courts if necessary. Mr Hart said:
“There’s a range of things a court could do. If it does nothing, we can go to a higher level. I don’t think that is going to happen, I think the court could say there must be safeguards – you must now impose safeguards on this, this and this – so it could require the Scottish Government to bring forward safeguards because at the moment, they really aren’t there at all, it is just a complete nonsense.”
However, the Scottish Government have insisted the legislation is compliant and has widespread support. The Scottish Government has also legally backed the proposal stating that actions from the names person must be fair, proportionate and respectful of the rights of the child, - in line with the ECHR. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said:
“We are confident that the legislation is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights. The legislation was supported by the majority of responses to the public consultation, backed by a wide range of children’s charities and professionals working daily to support families across the country, and endorsed by the Parliament.”
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