Scottish Government Delays National Care Service Bill Yet Again

23rd April 2023

Health unions including the RCN have welcomed the Scottish Government's decision to further postpone a vote on the controversial National Care Service Bill.

In a letter published this week, Scotland's minister for social care, mental wellbeing and sport, Maree Todd, said pushing back the vote would help "find compromise and reach consensus" with those who have raised concerns about the bill.

The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill would allow Scottish ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new National Care Service. There will be many consequences for local authority budgets for this huge centralisation.

Under the legislation, ministers would also be able to transfer health and care services from the NHS and health boards to the National Care Service and new care boards, which would be responsible for delivering care locally.

"Ministers need to focus now on tackling the workforce crisis in social care and community health"

Nursing staff currently working for the NHS would still be employed by the NHS, but could be required to deliver services for which the National Care Service is responsible.

So far the bill is at 'stage one' of parliamentary scrutiny, where Scottish Government committees gather views on the legislation before presenting it to MSPs to debate.

Last month the Scottish Government pushed the stage one debate back until June, following extensive scrutiny of the proposals.

This week the care minister wrote to the health, social care and sport committee, which is leading the bill, to announce that she would be looking to push the debate back even further.

In the letter, Ms Todd, who will be in charge of the bill going forwards, said: "This government remains committed to delivering a National Care Service to improve quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals' needs.

"The scale of this ambition will require the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill to progress in order to ensure sustainable social care services moving forward."

Ms Todd explained that the government wished to use the time ahead of the stage one debate "to find compromise and reach consensus" with those who have raised concerns so far.

She added: “The stage one debate is currently timetabled for the end of June.

“However, we see value in continuing engagement and co-design activities through summer before moving to the next stage of the bill."

Scotland's first minister, Humza Yousaf, confirmed in his big statement that the National Care Service bill would be delayed.

He told MSPs in Holyrood: “A key way of improving consistency of care is through the National Care Service in a way that commands consensus amongst our key partners - including the trade unions, and including local government.

“Yesterday I confirmed that we would ask parliament for an extension to the scrutiny process for the legislation, to help us to build that consensus.

“The aim of the National Care Service legislation - ensuring that consistently high standards for care across the country - is one which attracts wide support.

“My hope is that by taking slightly more time to agree a way forward, we can ensure that that we agree and achieve that aim.”

Health trade unions in Scotland, including the RCN and Unison, have been among those raising concerns about the bill.

While the RCN supports the Scottish Government's desire to improve the quality and consistency of social care services, it said it was unclear how the current bill would achieve this.

Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland director, told Nursing Times that he welcomed the Scottish Government’s decision to further pause the debate on the legislation.

He said: “The RCN has serious concerns about the bill and we are calling for the Scottish Government to take time to engage properly with stakeholders - including staff working at all levels within the social care and community health sectors - to develop detailed plans for reform prior to taking forward primary legislation.

“Rather than simply pushing through expensive and disruptive structural overhaul without a clear understanding of how to fix the current problems facing the sector, ministers need to focus now on tackling the workforce crisis in social care and community health.”

Meanwhile, Unison Scotland has also expressed concerns about the legislation and has warned that, currently, the bill is unfit for purpose and should be withdrawn.

Unison Scotland’s regional secretary, Tracey Dalling, said: “The Scottish Government should scrap the current bill and get involved with unions and others to build a National Care Service worthy of its name.”

Ms Dalling told Nursing Times that social care needed to be reformed in Scotland, warning that funding contracts “generally go to the lowest bidder and staff welfare is almost an afterthought".

She said: “Low pay and poor conditions are the root cause of the staffing crisis in the sector.

“It’s now time for the Scottish Government deliver its promise to care workers.”