Prof David Anderson

Professor David Anderson is a father of two young boys and an academic at a leading Scottish university.

In a 60-page document compiled on him and his family over two years and without his knowledge, a note was written referring to a blister that appeared on his two-year-old’s thumb as a result of sucking it. The note read: “[Mr Smith] feels it is impossible to stop his youngest son from sucking his thumb as he needs it for comfort. Did not appear to take advice on board fully.”

A separate note suggested that a case of nappy rash “suggests infrequent changes of soiled nappy though difficult to assess this”. Another example of the indiscriminate power the Named Person scheme allows state guardians to wield over the minutiae of everyday life.

“I felt shocked and vulnerable. Then I felt angry and powerless when I saw these notes made of very trivial things and constant surveillance of small things that are part of everyday parenting – a total lack of respect and confidence in the parents” he told the Scotland on Sunday newspaper.

“I have provided them with independent accounts that show that some of those statements are false, but they refuse to enter them.”

Revealed: what can happen when a Named Person reports on your children The Scotsman, 02 April 2016