Subordinate Legislation
Public Services Reform (Functions of the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service) (Scotland) Order 2013 [Draft]
Item 2 is an evidence-taking session on a draft affirmative Scottish statutory instrument: the draft Public Services Reform (Functions of the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service) (Scotland) Order 2013. I hope that I will not need to say that again.
I welcome to the meeting Michael Matheson, Minister for Public Health, who is accompanied by Stuart Aitken, policy officer, directorate for finance, e-health and pharmaceuticals, and John Paterson, deputy director, legal directorate, Scottish Government. I invite the minister to make some opening remarks.
Good morning, convener, and thank you for the opportunity to talk about and speak in support of this draft order.
For the avoidance of doubt, although the draft order refers to the functions of the Common Services Agency, I will refer to the organisation by its more common title: NHS National Services Scotland or NSS. NSS is Scotland’s largest shared service body and supports Scotland’s health by delivering shared services and expertise that help other organisations to work more efficiently and save money. It provides national strategic support services and expert advice to all of NHS Scotland and plays an active and crucial role in the delivery of effective healthcare to patients and the public.
Current legislation dictates that, although NSS may provide goods and services to national health service bodies in Scotland in general, it has the power but not the function to provide a limited range of goods and services to a limited range of other public bodies. As that is considered to be a barrier to the ability of NSS and indeed other Scottish public bodies to be as efficient and productive as they might be, it therefore follows that the public sector in Scotland is being prevented from working as efficiently and productively as it might.
The order’s purpose is to enable NSS to move from being a provider of shared services to NHS bodies to being a provider of shared services to Scottish public bodies in general. The agency, which has a strong reputation for delivering shared services and is held in high regard by the public sector, has systems to ensure that standards are maintained across its full range of services and those systems have operated efficiently and effectively for a number of years for the wide range of public bodies to which the agency already provides services.
Clearly, there are opportunities for NSS to offer, for example, legal, procurement, counterfraud and information technology support services to the wider public sector, but I must point out that this is an enabling provision and does not impose any obligation on relevant bodies to take NSS services. Nevertheless, it is hoped that such a move will facilitate the greater use of shared services across Scotland’s public sector. Indeed, the order’s overarching purpose is to remove obstacles to the efficiency and productivity of NSS and other public bodies.
I am happy to answer committee members’ questions.
Thank you, minister. Do members have any questions?
Good morning. Can you give me a flavour of the other bodies that might receive goods and services from NSS?
We are principally talking about local authorities and supporting and assisting them in service delivery.
So this will apply just to the 32 councils in Scotland, then.
Not exclusively. Other non-departmental public bodies could be supplied with these services. It will principally be a combination of NDPBs and local authorities.
Will this be a reciprocal arrangement? Will the reverse apply? Will local authorities be able to procure services from the health service in the same way?
NSS already provides services to NHS Scotland but does not have the function to provide them to, say, local authorities or NDPBs. The order provides that function but, as the concept of shared services is based on co-operation and mutuality, there must be a shared interest. NSS is a national body that delivers services at the request of those who need them.
As there are no other questions, we move to the formal debate on the order. I remind members that, as this is a debate, members cannot ask the minister questions and officials are no longer able to speak.
Motion moved,
That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the Public Services Reform (Functions of the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft] be approved.—[Michael Matheson.]
I now invite members who wish to participate in the debate to indicate as much. Does anyone wish to participate? No?
I do not know how you can possibly sum up, minister, but you now have the opportunity to do so.
I will take members’ silence as a note of content, convener.
Motion agreed to.
I thank the minister and his officials for their attendance. I suspend the meeting to allow them to vacate their seats.
09:56
Meeting suspended.
09:58
On resuming—
Glasgow Commonwealth Games (Compensation for Enforcement Action) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/160)
National Health Service (Superannuation Scheme and Pension Scheme) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/168)
National Health Service Superannuation Scheme (2008 Section) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/174)
National Health Service (Free Prescriptions and Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/191)
Item 4 is consideration of four negative SSIs. No motion to annul any of these instruments has been lodged and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee—what is that?
It is the new name for the Subordinate Legislation Committee.
So the Subordinate Legislation Committee has changed its name. That took me by surprise.
The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has not drawn the Parliament’s attention to any of the instruments. If no member objects to me taking the four instruments en bloc, I ask the committee to agree that it has no recommendations to make on the instruments. Is that agreed?
Members indicated agreement.