National Care Service (Scotland) Bill
The Bill establishes the National Care Service.
The Bill allows Scottish Ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new, national service. This could include adult and children’s services, as well as areas such as justice social work. Scottish Ministers will also be able to transfer healthcare functions from the NHS to the National Care Service.
The Bill is at Stage 2
Contents
Overview
The Bill establishes the National Care Service.
The Bill allows Scottish Ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new, national service. This could include adult and children’s services, as well as areas such as justice social work.
The Scottish Government would need to consult with the public before transferring responsibilities relating to children’s services or justice social work to the new service.
Scottish Ministers are also able to transfer healthcare functions from the NHS and health boards to the National Care Service.
Care or health services that are transferred to the new service could be delivered nationally or locally. New bodies called “care boards” would be responsible for delivering care locally.
As well as establishing the National Care Service, the Bill makes other changes including:
- allowing information to be shared by the National Care Service and the NHS
- introducing a right to breaks for carers
- giving rights to people living in adult care homes to see the people important to them (known as “Anne’s Law”)
You can read more about what this Bill does in the Explanatory Notes (238KB, pdf) posted 20 June 2022
Why the Bill was created
The Scottish Government has introduced the Bill to improve the quality of social work and social care services in Scotland. It aims to make sure that these services are offered in the same way and at the same standard throughout Scotland.
The Scottish Government announced an Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) in September 2020. This is sometimes referred to as ‘The Feeley Review’, after its lead author, Derek Feeley. The review aimed to recommend improvements to adult social care in Scotland. In August 2021, the Scottish Government published a consultation on its proposals to improve social care delivery in Scotland, following the recommendations in the review.
This Bill has been developed in response to the review’s recommendations and the responses to the consultation.
You can read more about why this Bill has been created in the Policy Memorandum (419KB, pdf) posted 20 June 2022