Named person scheme not fully in place for murdered toddler Liam Fee

The two-year-old died after being subjected to a catalogue of abuse and neglect at the hands of his mother Rachel Trelfa or Fee, 31, and her partner Nyomi Fee, 29, who are now facing life in prison.

The family had lived in Fife, where the Scottish Government’s named person scheme – which will appoint a guardian for every child in the country – has been piloted.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon refused to say on Wednesday if a named person had been appointed in Liam’s case.

But John Swinney (pictured), Scotland’s new Education Secretary and Ms Sturgeon’s deputy, said: “Fife Council have indicated that Liam Fee did not have a named person in terms of the legislation that parliament has put in place.”

He told BBC Radio Scotland that while “a number of local authorities have been making progress towards some form of named person scheme”, the legislation which ensures the named person “has the ability to ensure that all public authorities are working together on a child’s behalf, was not in place”.

He added: “In Fife there was a contact point for every child within the system, as Fife Council have explained, but what is crucial about the named person, and this is the key point in this discussion, is that the named person brings with them… the ability to require other public authorities and public bodies to work with them to resolve the issues that are at stake.

“That is a crucial difference and as Fife Council have indicated, that was not in place for Liam Fee as is provided for in the legislation parliament has approved.”

He was speaking as Jackie Brock, chief executive of the charity Children in Scotland, said she cannot understand why concerns about Liam’s welfare had not been listened to after they were raised by his childminder and staff at a nursery he attended.

Ms Brock, who has led a review into how to protect vulnerable youngsters from abuse, said there had not yet been “full blown implementation” of the recommendations she made.

She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “My report found that the child protection system was basically sound but there were a number of actions that could have been taken forward.”

When asked if those had been taken forward, she added: “There are a lot of intentions to take those forward, I think in certain areas there are aspects being looked at, but overall there isn’t a full blown implementation of my report.”

In the wake of Liam’s murder, she stressed “the whole child protection improvements that we need to make really do now need to be focused on and prioritised”.

Ms Brock said: “What is really good is that it sounds like the nursery, the childminder, did pick up on problems, and they were well aware of it, and I don’t understand why they weren’t listened to and why that action wasn’t taken.”

She also highlighted the issue of resources, saying: “There have been significant cuts to local government and social workers, we’re seeing a decline in the number of children and family social workers.

“We’re seeing a perfect storm really, with a great system and a great set of principles in our legislation which I believe will make a fundamental difference to the way in which we protect children, but we are also in the context of cuts and I think we have to look at the way in which local authorities and health boards are resourcing children’s services.”

Mr Swinney said the Scottish Government is “working our way through the recommendations” contained in the Brock report.

He added that the review had led to “the current review of child protection arrangements that are in place in Scotland”, with the conclusions of this to “become clear towards the end of this year”.

The Education Secretary also said: “The number of social workers that are involved in children’s fieldwork services has grown in Scotland, the numbers grew by 7.5% between 2012 and 2014.”

Speaking during First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon said she hopes as much information as possible from the significant case review into Liam’s death will be published.

“My deepest sympathies go to everyone affected by this horrific crime, including of course the other two young boys who suffered appalling abuse and neglect,” she told MSPs.

“I very much welcome the announcement by the Fife Child Protection Committee that a significant case review will now be carried out.

“We fully support the publication of all appropriate findings from all significant case reviews.

“The decision on whether to publish the report will ultimately be for the relevant child protection committee and there will always be, in cases like this, sensitive information which cannot be shared.

“However taking that into account, we would hope and expect that the committee would decide to publish as much of the information as they possibly can.

“It is absolutely essential that any lessons that do need to be learned from this appalling tragedy are learned and acted upon very swiftly.”

She added: “The only people responsible for the death of Liam Fee are the people who were convicted of his murder – they are to blame and no one else – but there are questions rightly being asked about whether any more could or should have been done to protect this little boy.

“Those questions must be examined in detail and answers must be given.”