National Care Service (Scotland) Bill (Detailed)

• The Policy Memorandum accompanying the Bill describes its purpose as being “to improve the quality and consistency of social work and social care services in Scotland”. Will the Bill, as introduced, be successful in achieving this purpose? If not, why not? 

• Is the Bill the best way to improve the quality and consistency of social work and social care services? If not, what alternative approach should be taken? 

• Are there any specific aspects of the Bill which you disagree with or that you would like to see amended? 

• Is there anything additional you would like to see included in the Bill and is anything missing? 

• The Scottish Government proposes that the details of many aspects of the proposed National Care Service will be outlined in future secondary legislation rather than being included in the Bill itself. Do you have any comments on this approach? Are there any aspects of the Bill where you would like to have seen more detail in the Bill itself? 

• The Bill proposes to give Scottish Ministers powers to transfer a broad range of social care, social work and community health functions to the National Care Service using future secondary legislation. Do you have any views about the services that may or may not be included in the National Care Service, either now or in the future? 

• Do you have any general comments on financial implications of the Bill and the proposed creation of a National Care Service for the long-term funding of social care, social work and community healthcare? 

• The Bill is accompanied by the following impact assessments: 

• Equality impact assessment 

• Business and regulatory impact assessment 

• Child rights and wellbeing impact assessment 

• Data protection impact assessment 

• Fairer Scotland duty assessment 

• Island communities impact assessment 

• Do you have any comments on the contents and conclusions of these impact assessments or about the potential impact of the Bill on specific groups or sectors? 

Financial memorandum questions 

• Did you take part in any consultation exercise preceding the Bill and, if so, did you comment on the financial assumptions made? 
   
• If applicable, do you believe your comments on the financial assumptions have been accurately reflected in the financial memorandum (FM)? 
   
• Did you have sufficient time to contribute to the consultation exercise? 
   
• If the Bill has any financial implications for you or your organisation, do you believe that they have been accurately reflected in the FM? If not, please provide details.
   
• Do you consider that the estimated costs and savings set out in the FM are reasonable and accurate? 
   
• If applicable, are you content that your organisation can meet any financial costs that it might incur as a result of the Bill? If not, how do you think these costs should be met? 
   
• Does the FM accurately reflect the margins of uncertainty associated with the Bill’s estimated costs and with the timescales over which they would be expected to arise? 

Questions on specific provisions 

There is also the option to give your views on specific provisions in the Bill. There is no obligation to complete this section of the call for views and respondents can choose to restrict their comments to certain sections of the Bill.

In providing comments on specific sections of the Bill, please consider:

• Whether you agree with provisions being proposed? 

• Whether there is anything important missing from these sections of the Bill? 

• Whether there is anything you would disagree with or there are amendments you would wish to propose to these sections of the Bill? 

• Whether an alternative approach would be preferable?