National Care Service (Scotland) Bill

The Bill establishes the National Care Service.

The Bill allows Scottish Ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new, national service. This could include adult and children’s services, as well as areas such as justice social work. Scottish Ministers will also be able to transfer healthcare functions from the NHS to the National Care Service.

This is a Government bill

The Bill was introduced on 20 June 2022 and is at Stage 2

Stage: Introduced Stage: Stage 1 Stage: Stage 2 Stage: Stage 3 Stage: Act

This Bill is at Stage 2 of the process to decide if it should become an Act.

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Overview

The Bill establishes the National Care Service.

The Scottish Government would need to consult with the public before transferring responsibilities relating to children’s services or justice social work to the new service.

Scottish Ministers are also able to transfer healthcare functions from the NHS and health boards to the National Care Service.

Care or health services that are transferred to the new service could be delivered nationally or locally. New bodies called “care boards” would be responsible for delivering care locally.

As well as establishing the National Care Service, the Bill makes other changes including:

allowing information to be shared by the National Care Service and the NHS
introducing a right to breaks for carers
giving rights to people living in adult care homes to see the people important to them (known as “Anne’s Law”)

Why the Bill was created

The Scottish Government has introduced the Bill to improve the quality of social work and social care services in Scotland. It aims to make sure that these services are offered in the same way and at the same standard throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Government announced an Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) in September 2020. This is sometimes referred to as ‘The Feeley Review’, after its lead author, Derek Feeley. The review aimed to recommend improvements to adult social care in Scotland. In August 2021, the Scottish Government published a consultation on its proposals to improve social care delivery in Scotland, following the recommendations in the review.

This Bill has been developed in response to the review’s recommendations and the responses to the consultation.

All Bills introduced in the Parliament must be accompanied by specific documents. For most Bills, this includes:

Explanatory Notes: this document provides an overview of what the Bill does, plus a more detailed explanation of individual provisions.

Policy Memorandum: this sets out the objectives of the Bill. It also lists any alternatives considered, details of consultations, and an assessment of the effects of the Bill on a range of areas.

Financial Memorandum: this sets out estimates of costs, savings, and any changes to revenues expected to result from the Bill.

Delegated Powers Memorandum: this is needed if a Bill gives powers to make subordinate legislation or allows Scottish Ministers to issue directions, guidance or codes of practice.

Statements on legislative competence: two short statements, one by the Presiding Officer and one by the Member introducing the Bill. “Legislative competence” means the powers the Parliament has to make law.

Crown Consent

This Bill requires Crown consent. It is expected that this consent will be signified at Stage 3.

Crown consent is a process which requires Scottish Government ministers to seek the consent of the Crown in relation to certain Bills.  You can find out more in About Bills.

Financial Resolution

The Presiding Officer has decided under Rule 9.12 of Standing Orders that a financial resolution is required for this Bill.

For each Bill, the Presiding Officer must decide if a 'Financial Resolution' is required. The main reasons a Bill would need a Financial Resolution are that:

it would be likely to increase public spending significantly
it would be likely to increase taxation, or would require certain payments to be made.

If a Bill requires a Financial Resolution:

only the Scottish Government can propose it, usually at the end of Stage 1
until a Financial Resolution is agreed, Stage 2 can’t get under way.

Research on the Bill

The Scottish Parliament's Information Centre (SPICe) prepares impartial research and analysis to assist MSPs in their examination of Bills and other parliamentary business.

Research briefing on the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill

The Bill was introduced on 20 June 2022

At Stage 2, MSPs can propose changes to a Bill. These are called 'amendments'. Any MSP can suggest amendments but only members of the Stage 2 committee can decide on them.

Daily list of amendments

MSPs can currently submit amendments ("changes") to the Bill. A daily list of amendments will be published each day that amendments are lodged or withdrawn by MSPs. Following the deadline for amendments, the Marshalled List and Groupings of Amendments will be published to replace the daily lists.

The deadline for amendments will be added once the Stage 2 meeting date has been confirmed.

A Stage 2 'Marshalled List' is a list of all the amendments that have been lodged at Stage 2 (or, if the Stage is mid-way through, all those still to be dealt with). They are listed in the order in which they will be called by the convener and then decided on.

A 'Groupings' list shows how the amendments that are listed in the Marshalled List have been grouped together for debate. Each group contains amendments that are related to each other, even if they are at different places in the Marshalled List.

Call for views (closed)

In the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s Stage 1 report, a majority of Committee Members requested the Scottish Government provide the draft text of its Stage 2 amendments in advance of formal Stage 2 proceedings. This was to enable the Committee to take further evidence on the amendments prior to formal proceedings.

On 24 June 2024, the Committee received the following package of documents from the Scottish Government:

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: draft Stage 2 amendments

The Committee then sought views about the draft amendments the Scottish Government proposed to make to the Bill, at Stage 2.

Read responses to the call for views at Stage 2

The call for views closed on 20 September 2024.

National Care Service Scotland Bill: overview of draft amendments at Stage 2 (294KB, pdf) posted 21 November 2024

National Care Service Scotland Bill: draft amendments at Stage 2 - summary of evidence (1MB, pdf) posted 21 November 2024