SCRAP this 'SNOOPERS' scheme NOW: SNP under pressure to axe state guardian plan
JOHN Swinney will come under renewed pressure to scrap the SNP's state guardian scheme today.
John Swinney will come under renewed pressure to scrap the SNP's state guardian scheme
The Education Secretary is due to update MSPs after the government's defeat at the Supreme Court.
He has promised to tweak the controversial legislation in the wake of a ruling it breached European human rights laws.
Around one million youngsters from birth to 18 were last month due to be given a Named Person, usually a health visitor or teacher, to help safeguard their wellbeing.
A revised version of the scheme is expected to come back before the Scottish Parliament for further scrutiny this autumn.
Opposition within Holyrood is growing, with the Lib Dems withdrawing support and Labour demanding concessions.
Tories - who have consistently opposed the scheme - said it should be scrapped.
But the party's education spokeswoman Liz Smith will also demand answers to a string of key questions.
Mr Swinney has promised to tweak the controversial legislation
She wants to know if councils running pilot schemes were acting lawfully.
Mr Swinney will be challenged to reveal legal advice and information given to ministers to ensure it was legally sound.
And he has been urged to accept that one of the policy's main problems was using the ill-defined to term wellbeing.
Ms Smith said: "We have said from the outset that named person must be scrapped, and we will repeat that to the education secretary as part of this debate.
Jon Stewart praises Nicola Sturgeon for SNP success
Around one million youngsters from birth to 18 were last month due to be given a Named Person
It's what parents, teachers and other professionals want
"It's what parents, teachers and other professionals want.
"In additional, the Scottish Government has a lot of explaining to do about why it has found itself in this situation."
Mr Swinney has already agreed to consider Labour's demand for making 16 and 17-year-olds exempt from the policy, and the party is now seeking more concessions.
Iain Gray, Scottish Labour's education spokesman: "The SNP Government has effectively been forced to pause this legislation.
The Scottish Government has said it is committed to making sure the scheme would go ahead
"The SNP should use that pause to make the changes needed to win back the public confidence that has been lost by the mess they have made of implementing the scheme."
The Scottish Government has said it is committed to making sure the scheme would go ahead.
The Supreme Court ruled that national data-sharing by Named Persons could breach families' right to privacy.
Judges also warned that the "first thing that a totalitarian regime tries to do is get at the children" and "within limits, families must be left to bring up their children in their own way".