FMQs: John Swinney defends plans for National Care Service

First Minister John Swinney has defended his government’s efforts to create a National Care Service after both the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour called the plans into question.

Russell Findlay, making his debut at FMQs as the new Tory leader, said the new body would be “another expensive, bloated and wasteful quango”.

And Anas Sarwar, whose party supports the creation of a National Care Service in principle, said that “no good idea ever survives [the SNP’s] incompetence”.

Swinney said the plans were a product of “consultation and dialogue” with the public during the independent adult social care review, which concluded that such a service was a “necessity” to ensure all parts of Scotland received high quality social care.

The National Care Service Bill is currently stuck at stage two of parliamentary scrutiny following numerous concerns being raised by local authorities, trade unions and others about the plans.

Council umbrella body Cosla last week withdrew support for the bill, despite efforts by ministers to bring council leaders back on side with a series of amendments.

Cosla’s health and social care spokesperson Cllr Paul Kelly said: “Local government has been committed to working in partnership with the Scottish Government to develop proposals to deliver a National Care Service, but unfortunately the revised legislation does not effectively represent that partnership.”

Findlay accused the first minister of “pushing ahead with a plan that nobody seems to want”, and highlighted ongoing problems with delayed discharge from hospitals due to a lack of social care services.

He said: “Scotland’s care sector is collapsing today. People need action today. Every penny should be spent helping them today, not waiting years on yet another SNP pet project that is doomed to fail. Why can’t the first minister see that?”

Sarwar said the plans were in “disarray” and it would create a “National Care Service in name only, that does nothing to actually fix the problem, fund a single extra care worker, or improve services”.

Swinney said he was “very, very concerned” about delayed discharge, but the level of variation across the country proved why the NCS was required.

He argued service users want such a service and committed the Scottish Government to continued engagement in an effort to get the bill passed.

The first minister also said his government had met its manifesto pledge to increase spending on social care by 25 per cent two years ahead of schedule. He added: “What the government has done is invest in a system to ensure that we can support the system and deliver on expectations, but we face a higher demand as a consequence of Covid.”