By Bill Heaney
Dumbarton constituency Labour MSP_Jackie Baillie, keen to get her oar in first, raised this contentious matter in the Scottish Parliament just before the Easter holidays.
She asked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon: “How much has been spent on private sector contracts in the preparation of the proposed national care service.”
Nicola Sturgeon’s brief but abrupt and certainly unhelpful response was this: “I refer Jackie Baillie to the public contracts Scotland website, where the details that she has asked for are published.”
Imagine having to go all the way to Edinburgh to be told that? It was as if she had never heard of corruption in the construction business. Thanks for that Nicola.
Who cares? First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Labour’s Jackie Baillie and poorly paid care workers.
Ms Sturgeon added: “It is entirely appropriate for the Government to procure specialist services to support the development of our national care service proposals. We must ensure robust review of the evidence and future principles for outcome-focused person-centred design to ensure success.
“All contracts awarded by the Scottish Government are subject to robust contract management and adhere to the principles of transparency. Any outputs procured in relation to the national care service will be published to ensure that they are publicly available.”
In Sturgeon’s Secret Scotland? I very much doubt that.
Unlike, I suppose, those contracts that were handed out by West Dunbartonshire Council when unbelievably there were no procurement policies in place, and council officers were playing golf on costly to play manicured greens, and ordering double portions of the finest meat and fish dishes, washed down with champagne and wine.
Jackie Baillie didn’t put the stiletto in as she should have done. She told MSPs: “I welcome the First Minister’s support for Labour’s proposals for a national care service, which she rejected 10 years ago—I always welcome late converts.
“How disappointing then that, so far, £700,000 has been outsourced to big, private sector consultancy firms to develop the national care service.
“KPMG alone was awarded a contract of £500,000 to develop the business case. Now I discover that the private sector is lining up to benefit from a multi-million pound contract for information technology and data services for the national care service.
“Why is that happening at a time when KPMG is not bidding for UK Government contracts because it has been suspended pending investigation? Why is the First Minister using private sector consultancies when there is a wealth of expertise in the social care sector that understands what needs to be done?
“Finally, how can the First Minister find millions of pounds for private sector contracts, but hardworking social care workers have to settle for a measly 48p pay rise?”
The First Minister rocked back on her feet: “Where it makes sense to use external expertise to free up civil servants to focus on policy development and implementation, we will do that. Other Governments do that, too.
“Let me give one example of the kind of contracts that Jackie Baillie is talking about: a contract to analyse the consultation responses. It is routine for analysis of consultation responses to be undertaken independently.
“That work is often put out to an open and fair procurement process, and that independence is normally considered to be a good thing.
“I can only imagine the howls of “Bias!” that we would hear from Jackie Baillie had we decided to analyse the consultation responses internally instead of having that done independently.
“Jackie Baillie talked about changes of heart. I want to come on to that point briefly. She now seems to think that Government should always do such work itself. However, as a minister, she did not have that view.
“When Communities Scotland was being set up, the Labour social justice minister at the time told the Parliament that external consultants’ costs were part of the tens of thousands of pounds spent to establish it. The minister responsible back then was, in case members have not guessed it by now, one Jackie Baillie.”
Former First Minister Alex Salmond, LibDem Willie Rennie and loadsamoney for contracts.
LibDem Willie Rennie accused Ms Sturgeon of “ making the same mistake with the formation of the national care service that her predecessor, Alex Salmond, made with the formation of the national police service.
“Does she not realise that wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on a national care service—a big bang reorganisation—is disrespectful to the workers who deserve a decent pay rise now? She should be investing in the care service rather than creating a national care service monolith that will not help people right now.”
The First Minister replied: “As I listened to Willie Rennie, I could only conclude that, if the Parliament had existed and he had been in it back in the days of the establishment of the national health service, he would have opposed that, because he would no doubt have used the same arguments then.
The opportunity to create a national care service to mirror the national health service is one that we should seize and grasp with both hands. It is vital that we get it right, and all members of the Scottish Parliament will have the opportunity to contribute to that.
Willie Rennie should listen to more people around the country about the care service that they want to see in the future—he should reflect on that. In the meantime, we will get on with increasing investment in social care and increasing the pay of those who do such a fantastic job working in it.