The decision by the Scottish Government to bring forward new legislation after their named person proposals were declared unlawful by the UK Supreme Court, is to be welcomed.
While acknowledging the Scottish Government’s desire to protect vulnerable children, legislation must always 
balance protection with the right of parents and children to live a family life in private.
The original legislation failed to strike a reasonable balance, hopefully the proposed changes will remedy this failure. Ensuring that public bodies can only share information about children if it is likely to “promote, support or safeguard the wellbeing” of the child, seems a more sensible approach.
It is reassuring to know that public bodies must consider whether sharing the information would be compatible with data protection, human rights and confidentiality laws. Respect for parental primacy must be at the heart of all government action, in this context, the fact that parents will not be forced to take advice of a named person, as stated in the policy memorandum is also welcomed.
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