By Bill Heaney
Such are the widespread concerns about the SNP government’s National Care Service (Scotland) Bill that speculation that it will soon be scrapped is mounting rapidly.
Dumbarton MSP and Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie asked the Holyrood government this week what further policy changes it plans to bring forward to address reported concerns regarding the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.
The Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, Maree Todd, responded unconvincingly: “The Scottish Government remains committed to the plans for a national care service and to working with lived-experience and stakeholder partners to design and implement social care support improvement as quickly and as effectively as possible.
Dame Jackie Baillie, SNP Minister Maree Todd and LibDem Alex Douglkas-Hamilton.
“I need to take some time to fully reflect those views in our approach in order to get this right for the people of Scotland. Yesterday, I wrote to the convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, setting out that I do not intend to start stage 2 of the bill on 26 November.”
Which left the media to report that the axe which has been hanging over the bill for months was about to drop.
Jackie Baillie told MSPs: “Three years on and three health secretaries later, this is now the longest-running bill in the Parliament—directionless, unworkable and criticised by experts as policy making on the hoof.
“The Scottish National Party Government is kicking the can down the road, because it knows that the bill is destined to fail.
“However, we [Scottish Labour] can deliver the things that will make a real difference to social care right now. We have the power to deliver a right to respite care using the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016; fair pay and ethical commissioning using procurement reform; and Anne’s law through the Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011.
“At a time when people’s care packages are being cut, will the minister stop wasting money and time on a failed bill and make the changes that we all agree with right now?”
Maree Todd rebutted the assertion, however. She said: “The member will be aware that we have not been waiting for a national care service to resolve the current issues. The Scottish Government is working right now to tackle the current issues that do not need primary legislation.
“As everyone agrees, the social care system in Scotland needs urgent reform to improve people’s lives and to ensure consistency of care across Scotland.
“We have worked constructively and intensively with stakeholders over the past two years, and I have been clear in my discussions with them that there is space for dialogue and agreement around the provisions in the bill.
“I have heard directly from hundreds of people, and the bill team has heard from thousands of people, who access social care across Scotland. They are being badly let down by our current system.
“Thousands have told us that social care and community health need to change. Collectively, we all have a responsibility to act on those concerns and to make every effort to improve the lives of the communities that we serve.”
In a bid to divert the criticism of the bill and the time it is taking to process, David Torrance (Kirkcaldy) (SNP) said: “A strong workforce is vital in the delivery of high-quality social care, which is why a key part of a national care service is the improvement of working conditions for carers.
“Alarmingly, over the past few weeks, we have loudly and clearly heard concerns from stakeholders such as the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland about the United Kingdom Labour Government’s plans to increase employer’s national insurance contributions, which the coalition says could be catastrophic for many voluntary sector care providers.
“Can the minister provide an update on the estimated impact that the UK Government’s increases in national insurance contributions will have on the care sector in Scotland?
Maree Todd said: “I agree that a strong social care workforce is necessary, and I put on record my thanks to all social care workers for the fantastic job that they do. I absolutely agree with the member that the impact that the national insurance increase will have on our social care providers is very worrying.
“There are more than 1,000 care providers throughout Scotland, and it is not easy to estimate the impact that the increase will have on each of them individually. We are looking closely at the issue as a matter of urgency, and we are liaising with the sector, including with the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland.”
Meanwhile, speaking in the Scottish Parliament during First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said: “We need to fix the care sector in our country, but the SNP have now wasted £30 million and four years on the wrong solution. I hope very much that this ministerial takeover of social care will now be allowed to wither on the vine.
Family carers pictured at a meeting in Dumbarton with Labour councillors Michelle McGinty, Clare Steel and Hazel Sorrell.
“Family carers are the backbone of support for thousands of Scots. Without their love and their commitment, our health and social care services would collapse. But just a third of them say they have the support that they need.
“Thanks to the Liberal Democrats, they now have the right to Carer’s Leave, to better balance work and caring responsibilities. And thanks to Ed Davey, carers in England will now be allowed to earn more at work before they lose their Carer’s Allowance.
“They deserve that same deal here in Scotland – the right to earn more, to make life a bit easier, without the fear of having that government support taken away from them.
“So, with this crucial benefit being fully devolved to Scotland this winter, will the First Minister lift the earnings limit and end the cliff edge that is forcing so many carers into poverty?”