Repealing of parts 4 & 5 of Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014: FOI release

Information requested

Per FOISA, please advise me of all information contained in your records regarding Repealing of Parts 4 & 5 of CYPA Scotland 2014.

1. Please confirm the dates from when the existing named person or child’s plan commenced practice?

2. Please confirm the whether the existing named person or child’s plan is still in practice?

3. Is the rebranded Key Worker the existing named person?

4. Please advise if the Scottish Government has Sought to determine a suitable legislative vehicle to repeal parts 4 and 5 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to date?

5. As this law has never been in force, Mr Swinney stated this does not affect the existing named person or child’s plan practice, only the legislation that would have made it law. Therefore is the existence of the existing named person or child plan practice being in practice breach the Supreme Court Ruling and an unlawful practice as not repealing parts 4 and 5 of Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 is not law enacted and never been in force?

Response

Some of the information you requested is in the public domain and can be found here FOI202100145467+-+Information+released.pdf (www.gov.scot). I enclose a copy of the information you requested that is not readily available.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because of exemptions under sections:

Section 38(1)(b) (personal information)

The reasons why that exemptions applies are explained in the Annex.

You asked for the dates that the existing named person or child’s plan commenced practice.

The named person and child’s plan provisions within the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 have not been commenced. As this law has never been in force, this does not affect the existing named person or child’s plan practice.

Community Planning Partnerships across Scotland began working on GIRFEC implementation following the Highland Pathfinder between 2006 and 2009 which was the pilot site for GIRFEC.

You asked whether the existing named person or child’s plan is still in practice.

Whilst there is an intention to repeal Parts 4 and 5 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 20142, on named person and child’s plans (which were never implemented and are therefore not currently in force), the commitment remains to deliver these core components of GIRFEC within existing law. As such, the policy approach for the named person service recognises that the service, in accordance with local arrangements in exercise of existing powers, is provided by the relevant NHS Health Board, Integration Joint Board/Health and Social Care Partnership or local authority area. Therefore, while key individuals will be identified in the valued role of a named person, it is for the local authority and health board to determine how named person services should be carried out and take responsibility for that. Children’s Services Planning Partnerships should have oversight of local GIRFEC arrangements to support a joined-up whole systems approach to it's implementation.

You asked if the key worker was the existing named person.

The term key worker could describe a wide range of roles and responsibilities. For example if a Health Visitor is known as the key worker, they could sometimes also be known as the named person. The terms key worker and named person are not interchangeable. If this doesn’t provide the information you were looking for then please get in touch to let us know which key worker you are referring to.

You also asked if the Scottish Government has Sought to determine a suitable legislative vehicle to repeal parts 4 and 5 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to date.

The Scottish Government is still actively considering a suitable legislative vehicle for that purpose. As soon as it has done so it will publish an update about these matters.

Your last question asked if the existence of the existing named person or child plan practice was in breach the Supreme Court Ruling and an unlawful practice, as not repealing parts 4 and 5 of Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 is not law enacted and never been in force.

No, the 2017 policy update supported Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) in providing a named person service as a clear point of contact in reliance of their existing powers. It is entirely up to those CPP’s whether a named person is in place or not. Children and families should be made aware of the help and support that is available, including the named person and child’s plan but there is no requirement to accept help offered by the named person. The announcement that the Scottish Government intend to repeal Parts 4 and 5 does not alter this. Named person is in accordance with the GIRFEC approach and the forthcoming refresh of GIRFEC will continue to reflect this. The parliamentary statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education & Skills on 19 September 2019 referred to the advantages of current practice in relation to the child’s plan “The child’s plan is also being used across children’s services and has been well received. Children and families are already benefitting from practitioners working closer together in a coordinated way to support children in all aspects of their wellbeing.” This continues to be the case in many areas throughout Scotland.

ANNEX
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

An exemption applies
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. the names and contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

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.

FOI202100234636 - Information released

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