Minister challenged over financial implications of delay to social care reform

The Scottish Government is being challenged to reveal the “full financial implications” of delaying its flagship legislation to reform social care.

Kenneth Gibson, the SNP MSP who is the convener of Holyrood’s Finance Committee, has written to social care minister Kevin Stewart to request the details, as well as a breakdown on how much has been spent on plans for the National Care Service (NCS) to date.

It comes after it was confirmed that the deadline for the current phase of the legislation to set up the NCS is being extended to the end of June.

The Scottish Government said the delay was because not all of the Holyrood committees scrutinising the controversial proposals have completed their reports.

But with the Finance Committee having already raised “significant concerns” about what it said is a lack of detailed costs for the shake-up, Mr Gibson called for the Government to provide more information.

He told Mr Stewart the committee wants a “full response”, saying MSPs expect to receive this information “at least one month” before the plans have their first vote at Holyrood.

Mr Gibson insisted the move is necessary to “provide sufficient time for proper scrutiny”.

He also pressed Mr Stewart on the “late notice” MSPs had been given that the National Care Service Bill was being delayed, saying the committee was informed “less than two days” before its original deadline to be given more details.

Mr Gibson said his committee wants “details of the full financial implications of the delay and a breakdown of how much has been spent on the project to date”.

He added: “We also seek details of how any unspent funding will be reallocated and how future spending will be reprofiled in light of the delay.”

The plans for the NCS were developed by the Scottish Government in the wake of the Covid pandemic, but since then the policy has come under heavy criticism, with trade unions, local government and opposition politicians at Holyrood amongst those raising concerns.

Mr Stewart said he would respond to the committee’s letter “in due course”.

The minister said: “I am pleased that this week Parliament supported the additional time requested for the stage 1 debate to allow detailed analysis of all the evidence and reports resulting from the stage 1 scrutiny process.

“We have also been clear that given the scale of change proposed, we will take the necessary time to properly reflect on this complex matter.

“The published 2023-24 Scottish budget includes funding for the NCS and social care investment, with no unspent funding relating to the NCS, and the overall Scottish Government budget is fully committed.”