‘Plan to salvage doomed Named Person scheme shrouded in secrecy’
from The Christian Institute:
The Scottish Government has drawn a “veil of secrecy” around plans to salvage the embattled Named Person scheme, campaigners have said.
Last year, Education Secretary John Swinney ordered three months of “intense engagement” with key stakeholders, after the UK Supreme Court declared the scheme to be illegal.
Officials stated that Mr Swinney would return to Holyrood before the end of the year, to update MSPs on the “next steps”, but two months into 2017, there has still been no news from the Government.
‘Sham consultation’
Opponents of the plans, including the No to Named Persons campaign (NO2NP), were blocked from participating in the consultation. Due to this, NO2NP supporters filed a freedom of information request asking for minutes from the meetings – but their request was denied.
Spokesman for NO2NP, Simon Calvert, said: “The engagement period was really a sham consultation because Mr Swinney only wanted to deal with those who support the scheme and organisations mainly funded by the Government.
“He refused to engage with us even though we represent an important cross-section of Scottish society, huge numbers of parents and more than 35,000 people who signed our petition.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
