The Scottish minister for mental wellbeing and social care Kevin Stewart has confirmed a ‘further procurement exercise’ is underway to employ management consultants to work on setting up a National Care Service.

Mr Stewart said the government had a duty to design the new care system with people who would use it, and suggested Professor Ian Welsh of Scotland’s Health and Social care third sector Alliance would be involved in the evaluation panel for the procurement exercise.

It follows an outcry after healthandcare.scot reported an initial design contract had been awarded to PwC.

The contract came as a surprise to members of the government’s own advisory panel made up of people who use or work in social care, one member said.

Nicola Sturgeon has described the new system as the biggest public sector reform since the creation of the NHS in 1948.

A consultation exercise closed this week and is set to report in January 2022.

In a bid to head off further criticism, social care minister Kevin Stewart this week wrote to the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, revealing further consultancy work was in the pipeline.

The letter states: ‘…I also want to advise the Committee of the publication of a further procurement exercise under the Management Consultancy Framework.

‘This seeks bids for the development of a Target Operating Model for an NCS, delivery of a Programme Business Case, and input to and verification of Current Operating Models for Social Care.

‘These will provide a baseline and framework on which we will build the new system through the co-design approach outlined above.’

No details on the costs of the contract were provided, though the letter states this will be published online.

The minister wrote this work was ‘standard practice in the progress of any such large scale change and provides [an] independent assessment of the planned change’.

He added: ‘I am clear that we have a duty to co-design a new system for social care with people who access care and support and, with the social care workforce.’

‘…For that reason, I have [asked] a member of the Social Covenant Steering Group, and Ian Welsh OBE from the Alliance, an organisation which represents a wide range of lived and living experience, to participate in the evaluation panel for this, most recent, procurement exercise.’

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