Opposition attempt to refer care service Bill back to committee fails

An attempt by opposition parties to send the National Care Service Bill back to committee has failed.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie and Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane attempted to have the Bill “referred back” to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on Wednesday, ahead of the expected first debate on the proposals on Thursday.

The plans, they said, had undergone substantial changes since being lodged, with amendments expected at stage two from the Government.

MSPs voted by 64 to 52 despite Dame Jackie’s and Dr Gulhane’s pleas to break with party lines.

Speaking in the chamber, Dame Jackie said she has supported the idea of a National Care Service for a decade.

“This Parliament is a relatively young institution,” she said.

“We don’t have a second revising chamber – it is therefore important that we take the time to get things right.”

She added: “I want to support this Bill, but it is currently a mess.”

The “real problem” with the Bill, Dame Jackie said, stems from a deal with local authority body Cosla, which changed the planned governance structure of the future service, creating a single national care board as opposed to multiple regional ones, and left staff and assets under the stewardship of councils.

“Whether you agree or disagree (with the deal), that is not the point,” she said.

“The point is that the (Health, Social Care and Sport Committee) has been unable to scrutinise this as the Scottish Government has been unwilling to share its amendments before stage two.”

Dr Gulhane accused the Scottish Government of being “secretive”.

The Tory MSP, also a member of the committee, said opposition members dissented from the report’s recommendations up to 46 times, including the general principles of the Bill.

“It’s not right to push through a Bill that the Government itself can’t even articulate,” he said.

He added: “I ask members across this chamber to vote not along party lines, but on the principle that committees and scrutiny of legislation are important.”

Defending the proposals, social care minister Maree Todd said the attempt to “essentially delay” the plans was “disappointing”.

“People need change and they are telling us they need it now,” she said about the Bill, which she added would not be in place until 2029.

“Of the many thousands of people I have spoken to who are trying to access social care in Scotland now, none are telling me to slow down, everyone is telling me to speed up.”

MSPs “getting tangled up in procedural delay” would be “letting people down”, the minister added.