Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Official Report 597KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Sports Grounds and Sporting Events (Designation) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2022 (SSI 2022/86)

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National Health Service Pension Schemes (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (SSI 2022/100)

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National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (2022/114)

Item 4 is consideration of three negative instruments. The first instrument is the Sports Grounds and Sporting Events (Designation) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2022, which updates the Sports Grounds and Sporting Events (Designation) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2014, which is also known as the 2014 order, so that it properly reflects the current lists of grounds and events to which the act should apply. The 2014 order also needs to be updated to include football matches in the competition in the Union of European Football Associations Europa Conference League. The 2022 order will achieve that.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the order and made no recommendations, and no motions to annul the order have been lodged. As members have no comments, I propose that the committee makes no recommendations on the order.

Members indicated agreement.

The second negative instrument is the National Health Service Pension Schemes (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022, which implement reforms to the national health service pension schemes for NHS workers in Scotland. The purpose of the regulations is to close the legacy scheme on 31 March 2022, and move all active members to the 2015 scheme on 1 April 2022 to ensure that rules around additional pension elections and transfers into the existing scheme for transitional members are applied consistently to those who were previously classed as full protection members.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the regulations and made no recommendations, and no motions to annul the regulations have been lodged. Do any members have any comments?

I note the work that we are doing and the reasons that we are doing it, but we are not doing enough on pensions. The current NHS pension scheme is hindering NHS consultants from doing extra work, because essentially, they are having to pay to go to work. We also need—and I would love it if we could do that in the committee—to have an employers’ contribution recycling scheme, as we have in Wales, to enable consultants to do more work. I would like to see more work being done on that and for the committee to write to the cabinet secretary about that.

Occupational pensions are reserved to the UK Government, although that does not refer to the regulations that we are considering. However, your comments are on the record.

I propose that the committee does not make any recommendations on the regulations. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

The third and final negative instrument for consideration is the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022, which will ensure that overseas visitors from Ukraine who have been displaced as a result of the on-going conflict can receive relevant healthcare services provided by NHS Scotland at no charge.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the regulations and made no recommendations, and no motion to annul the regulations has been lodged. Do members wish to make any comments?

I note that councils will be granted about £10,000 to look after the health needs of each person who comes from Ukraine. Is that money being used in the regulations and is it ring fenced to help people from Ukraine to address their healthcare needs?

We will have to write to the Government about that so that we can take the matter forward.

I welcome the measure in the regulations. It is the right thing to do for people who are probably suffering a great degree of trauma as a result of their experiences in their home country.

Does the committee agree to make no recommendation on the regulations?

Members indicated agreement.

At its next meeting, on 26 April, the committee will consider its approach to an inquiry into health inequalities and a draft report on its inquiry into the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

11:31 Meeting continued in private until 11:49.