Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2024
No.
Those are more broken promises, and more people who feel left behind or ignored.
There is also the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. The social care sector is on its knees, we have record levels of delayed discharge and self-directed support is not fit for purpose. Scores of people with complex care needs are languishing in hospital settings because of delayed discharge, and they are crying out for care packages. The coming home implementation programme has clearly failed.
What is the SNP’s solution? It is to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on flawed and unworkable legislation, which has cost the support of everyone—sorry, which has lost the support of everyone—[Laughter.] It has lost the support of everyone except SNP ministers. I do not think that that is much to laugh about.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Human Rights Commission has raised significant concerns about people’s rights and rural proofing. Its report, “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands”, which was published last month, found that, in the Highlands and Islands, the minimum core obligation in relation to the right to food and housing was not being met, while the obligation in relation to the right to health was being only partially met.
In my region, NHS Grampian has the lowest bed base in Scotland. That means that patients in the north of Scotland are suffering the pain and indignity of corridor care and ambulance stacking. That is not just a crisis in health and social care; it is a human rights crisis.
After trying to invoke a constitutional grievance with the UK Government over the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, it took the SNP 709 days to remedy the legislation. The SNP played constitutional games with the rights of children.
Meanwhile, the SNP rushed—