Scottish charities said at the start of September that an SNP plan to allocate a ‘state guardian’ to all under 18-year-olds is rushed, unhealthy and unnecessary. The Scottish Parent Teacher Council described the plan as ‘ill thought through and offers no benefit to the majority of children, whose “named person” is already in place — their parent or carer’. The Autism Rights charity warned that the idea was ‘as unhealthy as it is impracticable’. Christian charity CARE for Scotland warned that the plan could result in young people being given contraception or abortions against the desires of their parents.
Morag Driscoll, from the Law Society of Scotland, said: ‘The proposals could interfere with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to respect for private and family life’.