David Cameron says the plan to assign a state guardian to every child in Scotland is “absurd”.
He entered the debate on the issue days before the scheme is challenged in the UK Supreme Court by The Christian Institute and others.
The Prime Minister was joined in his criticism by the Scottish Conservatives’ leader Ruth Davidson, who said the idea was unwieldy and unworkable.
Parents
Under the Scottish Government’s Named Person scheme, every child in Scotland is set to have a state guardian assigned to them to monitor their ‘wellbeing’.
In his speech today in Edinburgh at the Scottish Conservative Party Conference, the Prime Minister said the plans were unnecessary.
“There’s even this absurd Named Person policy, which ensures that every child is allocated a guardian – even if they have parents – and even if they have no need for this extra bureaucracy”, he said.
Bad law
Speaking ahead of the conference, Ruth Davidson blasted the plans as “utterly wrong”.
Describing the legislation introducing the Named Person as “bad law”, she said the blanket approach to assign a Named Person for every child was wrong.
Instead, she told the BBC, effort should be directed towards helping vulnerable children.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that schoolchildren in Scotland will be quizzed about their private lives and asked to fill out intrusive questionnaires under the Named Person scheme.
‘Foolhardy’
Sensitive information about children will then be stored on local authority databases and made available to named persons.
The plans, revealed by the Scottish Mail on Sunday, would see young children coaxed to divulge information through the use of prompt cards, songs and games.
Older children will face a series of questions on their home life, their sexual health and whether or not they feel close to their parents.
Simon Calvert, spokesman for the No to Named Persons campaign, said: “Psychologically manipulating youngsters so you can squeeze confidential information out of them is fundamentally wrong, but to store all this information on a giant council database is foolhardy.”