Joint Letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

Dear First Minister,

We, the undersigned, are concerned about both the content and the process of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill and are writing to ask that the parliamentary process is paused.

The views of STUC, Common Weal and our co-signatories have been well documented in recent months. While these published opinions about the proposals and process are sometimes in agreement and sometimes differ, almost all express serious concerns. These concerns are shared by our trade union affiliates and the workforce, representative organisations concerned with the delivery and management of social care and social work, political parties, and representatives at both local and national levels, as well as service users and their relatives and countless individuals who are concerned about how the NCS Bill might affect them now or in the future.

We want to emphasise that we share the Scottish Government’s desire to create a National Care Service. This should be an exciting and visionary project of huge importance, not least because of the strain that the National Health Service is under just now, and we believe that a better considered plan and eventual legislation could create a system that would sit as a worthy partner to an effective NHS.

While as organisations and as individuals we have engaged with the consultation processes provided by your government, we believe this is such an important and complex matter that significantly more time is required to adequately co-design the foundations and architecture of an NCS we can all feel proud of, one that will provide workable solutions to current problems and issues.

We are therefore very concerned that despite an absence of support for the content of the NCS Bill outside Scottish Government circles, plans are proceeding apace. These risk creating a schism between the Scottish Government and civic society. Hence our request that the current parliamentary timetable, including the first reading of the NCS Bill which is due in March, is set aside for further consultation, consideration and resolution of our major concerns.

This should not prevent the Scottish government pressing ahead with implementing specific policy commitments which are not dependent on the Bill, such as Fair Work in Social Care. Nor need it delay the Scottish Parliament considering specific legislative reforms such as Anne’s Law and the right to respite, which have their origins prior to the Bill and have been developed through a more extensive co-design process.

Yours Sincerely