Named Person Scheme costs and status: FOI release

Information requested

You asked, "Please provide details of the costs incurred by the Scottish Government for the readiness of the Named Person Scheme in Scotland.

My understanding is the policy has now been abandoned for the time being but I am interested in the costs thusfar."

Response

In September, the Deputy First Minister announced the withdrawal of the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) Bill and his intention to seek to repeal Parts 4 and 5 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. The named person approach will continue on a non-statutory basis as good practice which is now well embedded and can be delivered within existing legislation, in partnership with families.

The information you have requested is available already under previous Freedom of Information request publications, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-201900000319/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-01704/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-17-02462/

The first link provides information on the cost of the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) Practice Development Panel and its Legal Focus Group, which was convened in order to develop an
authoritative Code of Practice on information sharing to assist the Education and Skills Committee’s considerations of the Information Sharing Bill.

The second link relates to the costs of preparing for implementation of named person and child’s plan policy and, finally, the third relates to legal costs incurred through legal proceedings in the Courts of Session and Supreme Court.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.