Health and Sport Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Official Report 630KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2019 [Draft]

Good morning, and welcome to the fifth meeting in 2019 of the Health and Sport Committee. I ask everyone in the room to ensure that their phones are off or in silent mode, and not to use them for photography or for recording proceedings. We have received apologies from David Torrance.

The first item on the agenda is subordinate legislation. The committee will consider the draft Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2019, which are subject to affirmative procedure. As usual with affirmative instruments, we will hear first from the cabinet secretary and her officials. Once all members’ questions have been answered, we will move to the formal debate on the motion.

I welcome to the committee the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Jeane Freeman; Mike Liddle from the adult social care policy branch of the Scottish Government; and Anne Mathie from the Scottish Government’s legal directorate. I believe that the cabinet secretary will make a brief opening statement.

Thank you very much, convener. Good morning.

I am grateful to the committee for the opportunity to speak briefly about the amendment regulations, which reflect our continued intention to increase free personal and nursing care payments in line with inflation. If they are approved, the regulations will continue to benefit self-funding adults who are resident in care homes. The rates are calculated using the gross domestic product deflator inflation tool, which this year has produced an increase of 1.57 per cent. That means that the weekly payment for personal care will rise from £174 to £177 and the nursing care component will rise from £79 to £80 per week.

The committee will be aware that, from 1 April, our policy of free personal care will extend to under-65s, and that the weekly payment rates will be the same for people who are over 65 as it is for those who are under 65. It is estimated that that will cost £1.9 million, which includes the estimated costs for self-funders under the age of 65 following the extension of free personal care.

As part of our 2019-20 draft budget, £160 million will be transferred in-year from the health portfolio to local authorities for investment in integration, including delivery of the living wage, uprating free personal care and extending it to under-65s, and school counselling services.

I am happy to take questions on the regulations.

Thank you, cabinet secretary.

I have a technical question, to which I genuinely do not know the answer. Measures of inflation are very important, and I am obviously aware of the GDP deflator, which has produced an inflation figure of 1.57 per cent, as you have said.

What room for manoeuvre do you have in respect of using that measure? If we jump to the pieces of subordinate legislation that we will consider next on the agenda, we see that there are other measures of inflation. The consumer prices index produces a figure for inflation of 2.4 per cent and average earnings produce a figure of 2.7 per cent. The inflation figure depends on what we decide to measure. From having worked on the United Kingdom Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee, I know that there is a long-term issue in respect of the measure of inflation that is used. Could you have used a measure of inflation other than the GDP deflator?

The GDP deflator is the standard measure that is used by the Scottish Government to measure inflation, and it is used for creating real-time comparisons. If the CPI were to be used to uprate free personal and nursing care, it would increase the £174 carers allowance payment to £178 and the £79 payment for nursing care to £81. There are variations, but the overall standard that is used by the Scottish Government is the GDP deflator. The final decision about what we use sits with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work.

We are obviously not on the next agenda item yet, but the instruments that we will consider then use different measures—the CPI and average earnings—which give different results.

Yes.

As there are no other questions from members, we will move to the formal debate on the instrument about which we have just heard from the cabinet secretary. I remind colleagues that members should not put questions to the cabinet secretary or to officials during the formal debate. I invite the cabinet secretary to move the motion.

Motion moved,

That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2019 [draft] be approved.—[Jeane Freeman]

Thank you. Colleagues have no contributions to make. Has the cabinet secretary anything to say before we move to a decision?

The only thing to say is that the provisions are dependent on Parliament approving the 2019-20 budget later this week.

Motion agreed to,

That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2019 [draft] be approved.

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National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2019 (SSI 2019/12)

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National Assistance (Sums for Personal Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 (SSI 2019/13)

The next item is consideration of two instruments that are subject to negative procedure. The first is the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2019 (SSI 2019/12). No motion to annul the regulations has been lodged, and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has made no comment on the instrument.

Members have no comments, so does the committee agree to make no recommendations?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you.

The second instrument is the National Assistance (Sums for Personal Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 (SSI 2019/13). No motion to annul the regulations has been lodged and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has made no comment on the instrument.

As there are no comments from members, does the committee agree to make no recommendations?

Members indicated agreement.

I suspend the meeting to allow a change of officials.

10:08 Meeting suspended.  

10:10 On resuming—