Children's 'Named Person' Scheme Loses In Court

A scheme to give every child in Scotland a named person to monitor their welfare has been ruled incompatible with human rights law.

Four charities and three individuals appealed to the Supreme Court over the plans, which have already been approved by the Scottish Parliament.

Ministers say they will amend the scheme and introduce it "at the earliest possible date".

It would see a single point of contact, for example a health visitor or teacher, being assigned to monitor the safety of under-18s.

Ministers say it would be a safety net for children or families if they need help, but opponents successfully argued it would breach human rights laws.

The named person would be required, for example, to provide advice, support or information to help or protect the child's welfare.

But the Supreme Court said the plans could result in disproportionate interference with the right to a family and private life, under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

"Within limits families must be left to bring up their children in their own way," the court said in its ruling.

It said areas of the scheme on information sharing were "defective" and that it could not be introduced.

The court has given the Scottish Parliament "an opportunity to address the matters raised in the judgment".

It now has 42 days to come up with a way to make the scheme - contained in the the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 - compatible with the law.

"We all accept the good intentions behind this law but a universal data-gathering scheme like this was always going to cause major problems," said Colin Hart from The Christian Institute - which co-ordinated the legal action.

"Today's ruling will come as a great relief to millions of people.

"Innocent Scottish families no longer have to wonder whether police, health and education officials are legally allowed to pass around sensitive medical data and family histories behind their backs. They are not.

"This ruling is crystal clear that the named person scheme's cavalier approach to handling private information is unlawful and must not happen."

But Scotland's Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the scheme had been developed after years of consultation and would be amended and still go ahead.

He said the ruling simply meant "greater clarity" was needed on how information would be shared and received.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also tweeted to point out that the court had called the scheme a "legitimate" policy.