MSPs have now voted to formally postpone the Bill to establish a National Care Service for Scotland until the end of June, in the face of “complex and extensive” scrutiny of the proposals.

A debate on the legislation was due to take place later this month but MSPs have now voted to pause Stage 1 considerations until the 30^th of June.

George Adam, Minister for Parliamentary Business, says the extension will allow the lead scrutiny committee more time to work on its Stage 1 report and ensure the government can “comprehensively” consider its response.

However, opposition MSPs say this timeframe is not long enough for the full redraft of the Bill they feel is needed.

Scottish Labour Social Care Spokesperson, Paul O’Kane, told parliament that an extension until June is “politically expedient” for the SNP leadership election, as he called for a pause of the Bill until November.

He told MSPs:

“How can this Bill proceed on a June timetable?

“We need a proper pause to allow opportunity for stakeholders to get back around the table and get the bill right.”

Over the last seven months, the Scottish parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee – which  scrutiny of the Bill – has taken evidence from a range of stakeholders and people with lived experience.

Issues with the co-design process and a lack of clarity within the Bill of how the service would work in practice were two key concerns in the evidence sessions.

Calls to pause the Bill have come from members of Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee, as well as from a group of trade unions, charities and professional bodies.

Experts across the sector came together last week to call for any delay in the Bill to be used as an opportunity to improve the proposals.

Mr Adam says the Scottish government remains “absolutely committed” to delivering a National Care Service, telling MSPs:

 “Extending the stage 1 deadline for the NCS bill is necessary due to the – rightly – complex and extensive scrutiny by several committees.

“Doing so will allow the lead committee more time to work on its stage 1 report while also ensuring that government can comprehensively consider the report and its repsonse.”

A total of 55 MSPs voted for a longer extension until the 1st of November, but this was defeated in favour of the June extension now in place.

Scottish Conservative Craig Hoy told MSPs that the plans should be scrapped altogether:

“The National Care Service is clearly wrong for Scotland. What this parliament should be deciding today is to scrap the SNP’s failing social care plans because social care in Scotland is in crisis and the last thing that carers, patients, and staff need is a major bureaucratic overhaul of the service.

“The Scottish government must come before this parliament, make its position clear, and allow members to ask the questions that councils, carers, the third sector and those who rely on care now want answers to. It should be ditched; it should not just be delayed.”

 

Read more: Don’t let social care ‘sink back to the shadows’; Call to fix date for ending care charges; Where is lived experience in care regulation review?; Lived experiences must be platformed in NCS debate; Pressure mounts to pause NCS

 

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