Lesley Scott

Lesley Scott represents a charity providing support services for families with children suffering from ME. She says the Named Person scheme will only make matters worse for such families, as there is already a constant battle between parents of ME sufferers and the state over how the condition should be categorised and treated.

Lesley explained that often if parents chose not to accept the advice given to them this would lead to concern within the agencies that “something else was going on”.

“The parents’ authority is being undermined by this legislation”, Lesley said, “and it makes it extremely difficult for them to take care of their child in the way they feel is most beneficial if they have a state guardian looking over their shoulder”.

She added: “The problem by widening the net so much that you are looking into every child in Scotland and every associated adult is that you make resources much scarcer and that makes it, I think, much more likely that you will miss really vulnerable children”.