Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 29 February 2024
29 Feb 2024 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
As a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee who has been present during the entirety of the committee’s scrutiny of the bill and preparation of our stage 1 report, I welcome the fact that we are debating the bill at stage 1 today. I thank everyone who has been involved in providing evidence, the clerks and, of course, anyone who provides care for our people across Scotland.
We must remember that the bill is about a change that might be described as monumental, just as the creation of the national health service was. That was done through framework legislation, just like this bill.
The evidence that we have taken at committee has clearly demonstrated that the current social care landscape is cluttered and complex and that, fundamentally, it isnae working for those requiring care, who are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. The Parliament has a duty to those individuals to get the bill right and to create a social care system that meets the demands of our society and that is underpinned by the principles of human rights, respect and person-centred choices.
There is a need for standardisation of the social care system, employment practices, education for social care workers and social care standards across all of Scotland.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-12331, in the name of Maree Todd, on the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill at stage 1. I note that w...
The Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport (Maree Todd)
SNP
I thank everyone who has contributed to the consultation on the national care service, our co-design sessions, the annual forums and the many meetings that m...
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
As a disabled person and a user of social care, and as someone who gets a lot of representations on the subject in my inbox, as many of us do, I have to say ...
Maree Todd
SNP
I agree that people have waited a great deal of time for this change, but let me assure the member and the public that change is coming. Over the past 10 yea...
Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
SNP
Will the minister take an intervention on that point?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The minister is about to conclude.
Maree Todd
SNP
The experts are the people who use community health and social care, as well as unpaid carers and the staff who provide the care. I repeat that the status q...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I call Clare Haughey to speak on behalf of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. 15:03
Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP)
SNP
I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I hold a bank staff nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. I...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I am glad that Clare Haughey mentioned Anne’s law, and I welcome the report’s recommendations. I note that the committee agreed that Anne’s law should be ful...
Clare Haughey
SNP
The committee considered the bill in its entirety, including all the different sections, one of which concerns Anne’s law. The consensus agreement with the ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I call Kenneth Gibson to speak on behalf of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. 15:12
Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP)
SNP
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I apologise for missing the first minute of the minister’s opening speech. I also convey my thanks to the Finance and Public A...
Sandesh Gulhane (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I am a practising NHS general practitioner. I am also a member of the Parliament’s Heal...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
Social care is in crisis right now. Care packages for some of our most vulnerable people are being cut, almost 10,000 people are stuck waiting to receive ass...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
Here we are again, debating another iteration of what was, in essence, a line in the SNP’s manifesto in 2021. The election was three years ago, and we are he...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Mr Cole-Hamilton, you must conclude.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
That is what we should be focusing on today and not this ill-fated bureaucratic waste of time. 15:37
Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
As a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee who has been present during the entirety of the committee’s scrutiny of the bill and preparation o...
Gillian Mackay (Central Scotland) (Green)
Green
Does Emma Harper agree that, as part of that, we must also look at self-directed support and how that is delivered across the country? When we look at the na...
Emma Harper
SNP
I will come on to self-directed support, but it is part of the complex landscape that needs to be reformed, so that we can make changes and help to support t...
Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
When a major committee of this Parliament concludes that it is concerned that the Scottish Government has, so far, been unable to articulate and communicate ...
Ivan McKee (Glasgow Provan) (SNP)
SNP
I think that everyone agrees on the critical importance of social care. It is a requirement for more and more people in society, and that will continue, due ...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I understand that the member has been asking for the target operating model for some time. Does he think that it is acceptable that it appeared only yesterda...
Ivan McKee
SNP
As Jackie Baillie identifies, the committee has been asking for that information for a while, and I am glad that it came out before the debate. To be fair, t...
Carol Mochan (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the clerks and members for their participation in the process. The establishment of a national care service gives the Parliament the chance to be bol...
Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
SNP
The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill offers us the opportunity to build care services that truly reflect our shared values of dignity, fairness and resp...
Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con)
Con
What one difference will the bill make to somebody who is in receipt of social care today or tomorrow? What one difference will it make to their life?
Kevin Stewart
SNP
It will make a difference through having a care service that is not only fit for today but right for tomorrow. I know that the minister is working with great...
Gillian Mackay (Central Scotland) (Green)
Green
As a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, I echo my colleagues’ thanks to the clerks and those who gave evidence to the committee. There i...