A further five-month delay means MSPs will now wait until next year before they get to vote on legislation to set up a National Care Service.

A third delay, now until January 2024, to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill was quietly passed by MSPs on Wednesday.

A debate and vote on the general principles at Stage 1 of the National Care Service (Scotland Bill) was originally due to take place in March 2023.

Parliamentary committees responsible for scrutinising the bill and a number of charities, trade unions and professional bodies have called for the Bill’s progress through parliament to be paused, to allow for ‘significantly more time’ to develop the proposals.

In March, Ministers decided to extend the time given for scrutiny until the end of June.

The Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, Maree Todd, wrote to the committee leading scrutiny of the Bill the following month to say engagement and co-design of the service would continue throughout the summer.

Ms Todd told Holyrood’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee that this time would be used “to find compromise and reach consensus with those who have raised concerns”.

Now, in a third delay, Ministers confirm further parliamentary consideration of the National Care Service Bill will not take place until next year – almost a year-on from the original timeline.

The Scottish government says the addiitonal time "will mean we can have more direct engagement with people with lived experience, our workforce, unions and local government to make the Bill as robust as possible, and allows parliament time to consider the outcome of those discussions".

The delay comes days after Ms Todd revealed in parliamentary written answers that almost £10m has been spent on the 170 people strong civil service team working on the National Care Service plans.

 

A new financial plan?

The Minister was last month branded as ‘discourteous’ by members of the Scottish parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee, after she delayed in updating them on plans for a new financial memorandum.

Ms Todd last month turned down a request from the committee to provide an updated financial memorandum for the proposals, saying she ‘does not wish to confuse matters by providing multiple versions’.

The Scottish government has confiremd that additional information will be provided to the committee at least four weeks prior to the Stage 1 debate.

MSPs have highlighted significant gaps in the financial figures provided by the government to accompany the Bill.

The lead scrutiny committee, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, is yet to publish its report.

The Scottish government said:

“We recognise there is an urgent need to make improvements to social care now and are determined to deliver a National Care Service that ensures consistent, high quality social care and community healthcare support that meets peoples’ needs.

"It is likely our discussions over summer with key stakeholders will lead to further changes or clarification of some aspects of the NCS, which could have financial implications."

 

Read More: NCS civil service costs head for £10 million; National care service delayed again; Ministers refuse to update NCS costings;

 

 

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