Finance Committee expresses its “significant concerns” over lack of detailed costs for the National Care Service Bill

In a report published today, the Committee says that without an indication of the potential scale of all costs associated with the Bill, it is difficult to assess whether the proposed National Care Service is either affordable or sustainable.

The cross-party Committee is therefore calling on the Scottish Government to provide “much needed clarity” and to bring forward fully costed plans at least two weeks before the Stage 1 vote on the Bill, scheduled for March 2023.

Finance & Public Administration Committee Convener Kenneth Gibson said:

"The Finance Committee has significant concerns over the costings in the Financial Memorandum (FM) to this Bill.  The FM in its present form does not provide an overall estimate of the cost of creating a National Care Service.

“A large number of decisions are yet to be made, and no estimate of costings has been provided for VAT liability, transfer of assets and staff, and the creation of a nation-wide digital health and social care record.  All of which has the potential to result in significant costs.

“The Committee appreciates the Scottish Government’s intention to co-design the service with those most closely affected. That work could, however, have been undertaken prior to the introduction of primary legislation.

“Major Bills should not be implemented via secondary legislation, or through business cases, which cannot be subject to the same in-depth, formal scrutiny as Financial Memorandums to bills.

“The significant gaps highlighted throughout our report have frustrated the parliamentary scrutiny process.

“We are therefore calling for a revised Financial Memorandum, with detailed costings, at least two weeks before Parliament considers the Bill at Stage 1.”