Controversial Scottish Government plans to appoint a guardian for every child have been branded a "snooper's charter" by a former church leader.
The Rev Dr John Ross, a former moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, said plans to have a named person for every single youngster were "the sort of thing we would expect in a fascist or Marxist regime".
He is one of seven leading figures from the Free Church who have written to First Minister Alex Salmond, urging him to amend the legislation.
The proposal for every child to have a named person appointed for them is included in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, expected to be approved at Holyrood next week. The Bill says a named person, such as a health worker or headteacher, would be responsible for safeguarding a child's welfare and liaising with family.
The Free Church figures including current moderator the Reverend Angus Howat, are the latest to voice concerns about the move, following The Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates.
A Government spokesman said the move aimed to offer "early support, with a single point of contact, to help prevent emerging concerns becoming more acute". But Dr Ross, a minister in Drumnadrochit in the Highlands, said: "If this legislation is not amended, the Scottish Government will make itself the judge of every parent in this land."
He urged Mr Salmond to "do everything in his power to get rid of this snooper's charter and restore some common sense".
Bill Alexander, director of health and social care at Highland Council, where the system already operates, said: "The named person role was not introduced by the Scottish Government, but developed from practice. It operates effectively, and enables agencies to respond more quickly to parents who raise concerns about their child's wellbeing."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article