Protecting a child's rights to privacy in the Named Person
scheme
Who
CLAN Childlaw provide legal and advocacy services for children and young people in Scotland.
CLAN Childlaw provide legal and advocacy services for children and young people in Scotland.
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The issue
When the Named Person Scheme was proposed in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, CLAN Childlaw raised its concerns about the risk of sharing information about a child without their consent. They were concerned that it may make children and young people reluctant to access confidential services if they think their confidential information is going to be shared without their consent. |
The case
After the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 was adopted, it was challenged in court by the Christian Institute and others by judicial review. CLAN Childlaw intervened in this case as a third party to put forward the children's rights perspective. The case resulted in the Supreme Court finding the information sharing provisions of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 incompatible with the right to privacy in article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in line with our concerns. This means the information sharing part of the Named Person scheme cannot be implemented. |
The outcome
This resulted in the Scottish Government proposing new provisions on information sharing. Parliamentary scrutiny of these new provisions has been postponed until the Scottish Government publishes an authoritative draft Code of Practice to accompany the Bill (expected in September 2018). |
