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Funnily enough, that was going to be my next question, so I may as well ask it now. What should and should not be in the FM? Is there anything in it that should not be there and what additional content should there be?

If that is the case and the true cost base is accepted, where will the resources come from to fund it?

I know that you have not. I am just saying that the way in which that part of the financial memorandum is written suggests that it is a case of, “If it happens that way, it happens that way.” I am fully aware that you will have spent countless hours on this, but it jumped out at me that there seemed to be a feeling, “Well, we’ll just have to work it out some other way.” Therefore, I am a wee bit alarmed about what the probability is that the issue will be resolved, given the financial impact that it will have.

I will ask just a couple more questions, because I want colleagues to be able to come in. One is about charging. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy has said that there is

“Concern that the recommendation to increase Free Personal and Nursing Care for self-funders will not necessarily deliver a reduction to the amount paid by self-funders.”

What is the thinking behind that?

My question is whether the viability of local authorities will be taken into account or whether all this will be taken forward as a result of some purely isolated look at the delivery of the service.

It has been a fairly long session, and I thank Donna Bell and Fiona Bennett for their evidence.

We will now have a five-minute break, after which we will take further evidence.

We continue our evidence taking on the financial memorandum to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. I welcome Sarah Watters, director of membership and resources at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; Sharon Wearing, chair of the integrated joint boards chief finance officer section, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy; and Paul Manning, executive director of finance and corporate resources and deputy chief executive, South Lanarkshire Council, representing SOLACE Scotland.

We move straight to questions. What do you believe has motivated the Scottish Government to take such momentous steps in bringing forward the bill?

It seems that you all want to take the fifth amendment, so I will help you out. The Government has said that the bill seeks to ensure consistency and quality of services. In what way do the services lack the quality and consistency that we all want to see?

Go on, Paul Manning—I know that you are desperate to speak first.

Sarah Watters, is that COSLA’s view? There is an element of frustration, I understand, among Scottish ministers and other MSPs, with the fact that there is still inconsistency and that there is not the same level of quality everywhere. For example, as you will have noted, the bill team talked about specific issues across boundaries. I do not know how big an issue that is.

I do not necessarily speak for all my colleagues, but I think that I would be on safe ground to say that we were all concerned about that particular aspect of the FM.

I have a question about viability before I move to other colleagues. I have asked it of the bill team, which did not give a particularly comprehensive response.

Paul, you mentioned that point the last time you were in the committee, so we will kick off with you. What is your view on the impacts on viability, particularly for smaller local authorities, and the economies of scale that other local authorities, such as South Lanarkshire, would have?

That concludes questions from colleagues. I just have three more questions—one for each of you—which I hope will not take too long.

The first question is for Sarah Watters. It is about paragraph 67 of the financial memorandum, which says that

“it will take approximately ten years to reach the steady state number of carers with plans and statements”.

It continues:

“This assumes the right to personalised short breaks support under the Carers Act, established by the Bill, is implemented from April 2025”,

although that date is still to be decided.

Given your comments about demography and rising demand, generally speaking, without including that right, is it a realistic timescale to deliver that by 2035?