By Maggie Mellon Supporters of the Named Person (NP) scheme, who relied mainly on assurances given by the Government and NP’s architects and supporters, might have been surprised by the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that the law needed to be dropped or substantially revised. It was, however, not the assurances that were the subject of the challenge and the Supreme Court ruling. Why the Government and its supporters chose not to refer...
DEAR John Swinney, You have asked for engagement on the future of the Named Person following the ruling of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled the information sharing provisions unlawful and also cautioned that parental or child consent to share personal information should not be obtained by the threat of any possible consequences. Read more – Swinney defends Named Person scheme in wake of Supreme Court ruling Your decision to decline to...
Independent Social Services Consultant Maggie Mellon explains her problems with the Named Person scheme to an audience at a roadshow event in Inverness, 1st October 2014. https://youtu.be/kLsQn_8Xrlg
Keywords Named Person, Getting It Right For Every Child, Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, parents. Corresponding author: Maggie Mellon,Independent consultant on social work practice and public policy. My four main reasons for opposing the Named Person Firstly, there is no evidence to support introducing Named Persons in legislation. Secondly, the legislation does not say what it claims that it does. Thirdly, this is neither early...
Feminist campaigner and social worker Maggie Mellon makes the case against the Scottish Government's 'Named Person' scheme SCOTLAND, like the rest of the UK and much of Europe, is an increasingly unequal society. Poverty and inequality are what stunt children's lives and these things cannot be tackled by caseworking the entire population of children. Instead, housing, jobs, income, education, health services and the environment are the...
Feminist campaigner Maggie Mellon explains why she believes short term prison sentences are unhelpful - even in domestic abuse cases SCOTLAND may be poised to take a big step away from having one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Europe. Eighty-four per cent of respondents in a recent government consultation favoured a presumption against short prison sentences - which basically means encouraging the courts not to hand down short jail...
In this blog, I am going to write about not just my own experience and views but also cover some of the issues that we all have encountered and the experiences of women in a number of courts. A fair hearing? Readers who have not been in a criminal court will have seen film and TV court scenes. In these the public gallery can hear everything clearly and understand it too. But its not like that at all. Those who have been in an actual court will...
Maggie Mellon (CQSW, MSc, Dip Child Protection) is a social worker with many years’ experience in both Scotland and England. She has been vice chair of the British Association of Social Workers since 2014, and also chairs the Association’s Ethics and Human Rights Committee. She was formerly Director of Services for Children 1st and Head of Public Policy for NCH Action for Children in Scotland. Chair of the Scottish Child Law Centre from 2009 -12. Currently non–executive Director of NHS Health Scotland and a member of the editorial Board of Scottish Justice Matters. Maggie now works independently as a consultant on social work practice and public policy.