Chamber and committees

As others have done, I start by saying thank you to all those who have provided care to our fellow Scots throughout the pandemic. We have faced significant challenges from the outset of the public health emergency, and the negative impact on all our care systems across Scotland, but perhaps most important on those who provide unpaid care, has been at the forefront of our concerns. I am disappointed that we have not really heard ministers outline that today.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were an estimated 788,000 carers, including 44,000 young carers, in Scotland. The pandemic has significantly increased the numbers of unpaid carers in our country, with social care support packages being cut or reduced, respite care being reduced and childcare and school facilities being closed. The pandemic has resulted in a significant expansion of unpaid carers. Research in June 2020 showed that about 392,000 more of our fellow Scots, 60 per cent of whom were women, had become unpaid carers, taking the total number of people in our society who had taken on a caring role for a family member or loved one to 1.1 million. I believe that the Parliament must focus on that group of people and not on top-down reforms.

Unpaid carers have reported significant challenges, with nearly two thirds highlighting the financial impact of additional costs and the impact on family budgets. The economic value of the unpaid care that is provided in Scotland is now estimated to be £37 billion a year.

I want to look at the consensus that we can find across the Parliament, especially on the development of a national care service—or standard, on which we are probably all on the same page. As we come out of the pandemic, we have an opportunity to take forward a number of reforms that will be welcome. We on the Conservative benches have argued in the chamber and in committee for the development of a national clinical standard for social care. That is long overdue and I hope that we will see work progress urgently on it.

In addition, the Parliament has got workforce planning wrong for too long. The Scottish Government needs to look at how we can ensure that the right workforce is put in place for social care but also that career pathways are developed so that people can progress in their chosen career and caring becomes the career pathway that we all want it to be.

As we have heard in the debate, it will be unacceptable if SNP and Green ministers look to take away all local accountability, undertaking a power grab and removing local decision making and choice from care. The proposed scope of the national care service represents a significant expansion of the recommendations in the independent review of adult social care and what the Scottish Government outlined previously, yet we have heard no explanation today of why that is the case.

Local government is only just starting to recover from the pandemic. Ministers have said previously that local government is crucial to Covid recovery, and we hear ministers talk about community wealth building, whereby local authorities should be focused on partnerships and local spend of budgets. As Craig Hoy and Katy Clark both mentioned, a total restructuring of social care in Scotland will be destabilising and will present many significant challenges. The debate has also brought forward some questions to which I hope we will soon hear answers from ministers.

A national care service would involve staff in a change of employer, terms and conditions of employment and pension rights. Likewise, we have neither seen nor heard any detail of what a national care service means for the infrastructure that is in place—for example, council-owned properties, and procurement contracts, which are legally binding documents. How will those things be unpicked? That bureaucratic issue for councils is something on which ministers also need to start answering questions.

Above all, another thing that has not been looked at is what the integration of health and social care has meant. Is the Government turning its back on that flagship project?

Scotland’s local authorities and our vital third sector have been simply outstanding during the pandemic. The can-do attitude with which they have mobilised services for our fellow Scots has been invaluable during the national response. Are SNP ministers truly saying to them that the centralisation of power and top-down reform is the thanks that they can expect? The genuine partnership working that there has been during the pandemic now seems to be under threat. The SNP-Green coalition’s centralising approach is clearly starting to generate serious concern across local government. It is little wonder that COSLA has described the Scottish Government proposals as an

"attack on localism"

that could spell

“the end for anything other than central control in Scotland.”

Those concerns are real and valid, and we have heard no answers today on any of them. Not only are the concerns of local government simply dismissed by ministers; we are not hearing of any opportunity to make sure that their powers are protected.

Scottish Conservatives believe that local delivery and the local accountability of our health and social care services are vital. As the reforms are progressed and brought forward to the Parliament, we will make sure that Scotland’s carers and our local councils are, as is right, at the heart of any national care service.

I support the amendment in my colleague Craig Hoy’s name.

The pandemic has demonstrated the negative impact of coping with bereavement, with families limited to how many people can attend funerals, and people not being able to say a proper goodbye to their loved ones in care homes and hospitals. In particular, it has impacted those who provide care for a loved one.

When does the Scottish Government plan to introduce the extension of carers allowance for six months after a bereavement?

The tragic death of Sarah Harding has once again highlighted the devastating impact of breast cancer, and it has resulted in UK cancer charities seeing an increase of more than 800 per cent in contacts. Concerns have been expressed about breast cancer screening programmes here in Scotland potentially not returning to full service for years to come, and the limited options for women under 50 or over 70 to self-refer. When will breast cancer services across Scotland be fully restored? For women under 50 or over 70 who have a history of breast cancer in their family, what referral screening pathways will now be urgently developed?

I want to follow the line of questioning that Willie Coffey has begun. As the cabinet secretary who is responsible for local government around the Cabinet table, is it your principle that, during this session of Parliament, local government will have more powers and not fewer, and that it will have more control over budgets, or are you willing to see that centralised to the Scottish Parliament?

I have a couple of questions relating to the emergency response to rough sleeping and homelessness during the pandemic, which we all welcomed. What consideration has the Scottish Government given to the proposals for legislative changes to improve homelessness prevention? Given what was set out in the final report of the homelessness prevention review group, what proposals might be introduced in this parliamentary session?

I think that we were all taken by your strongly worded statement on behalf of COSLA. I would like your views on whether integration of health and social care has worked and whether that is what is driving consideration of a move to a centralising approach. I will put to you the question that I put to the cabinet secretary: will local government have more or fewer powers and more or less control over budgets by the end of this parliamentary session?

Shelter Scotland has recommended a pledge on annual housing and social justice reporting. Is the Scottish Government looking at producing a report to Parliament, so that we are able to benchmark and see how progress on the building of social housing is being made across Scotland? If so, will the report be wider and include information on marginalised groups? Specifically, what assessments and benchmarking will the Government take forward and how can the committee play a role in that?

Good morning. I want to start by putting on record the committee’s thanks to councillors across Scotland for the additional work that they have done and the support that they have provided to their communities during the pandemic. It is important to recognise that.

As we look towards next year’s council elections, what additional things could the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament do to help to encourage higher voter turnout and to encourage more people to take up the challenge of becoming a local councillor?

That was a very helpful answer.

I want to pursue the issue of remuneration for councillors. Some people might not want to discuss that issue, but since local government was reformed to create larger wards with three or four members, it has become a focus. I know from the information about age range that was gathered for the research that was published in 2018 that standing as a councillor has become something that people do in later life.

Do you have any views on support for councillors and the remuneration that they receive for the work that they do?

That is helpful. It would be useful for you to provide the committee with information on what independent evaluation—as opposed to internal evaluation—has taken place. If the cost is associated with evaluation by independent organisations, it would be useful for us to have that information.

What reporting duty is there—I did not see any attached to the bill—in relation to progress towards taking over and delivering other devolved benefits? Is that something that you would engage with committee members on?