Meeting of the Parliament 08 February 2023
We keep a close eye on social care vacancies. There are vacancies around the country. That is why a recruitment process is going on at this moment, backed by the Scottish Government and our resources.
The principle of financial sustainability is set out in the bill. We need to ensure that we can deliver continuity and security of service for the people who access the services. The Government has already committed itself to increase spend in social care by 25 per cent by the end of this session of Parliament, to help to lay the groundwork for the establishment of the national care service.
Through plans for an ethical commissioning framework, we will ensure increased financial transparency, allowing us to prioritise quality of care and to better understand cost and profit across the mixed economy of providers.
The focus of the national care service is to meet people’s needs. In doing so, it must strike the right balance between local flexibility and national consistency. That is why the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill has provided for services to be planned and commissioned locally by care boards, with ministers being ultimately accountable.
Local delivery will be vitally important, and we will promote local responsibility for the design and delivery of health and care support with, and for, our communities through the establishment of new local community health and care boards. [Interruption.]