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I will go back to a point that the convener led on, which was the scale of potential change to local government staff budgets and the services that they provide. Was there any consideration given to producing an impact assessment on local government when it came to the drafting of this legislation?

Thank you.

Because of the way in which the legislation has been drafted, witnesses at a number of our evidence sessions have said that they have not been able to go into great detail about what the impacts of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will be. I know that the minister has talked a lot about co-design when it comes to secondary legislation, regulation and guidance. What consideration was given to co-design of the bill?

The minister gives the example of the NHS, but we had a framework bill in the previous session that set up a whole new social security system but still included elements of the priorities that the Government and Parliament would want to see in that system. When we think about some of the high-level principles and things such as Anne’s law or independent advocacy, which I know that the Government was committed to for the social security system, I wonder why they were not considered for inclusion on the face of the bill.

I appreciate that clarity. As you say, the witnesses we have been hearing from have had concerns about the impact, so it is helpful for you to confirm that any transfer of staff or assets is only essentially an act of last resort for a failure in service

Eddie Follan, are you able to touch on child protection?

I want to ask about the impact on the council services that would be left behind after a national care service was set up. There are synergies in place in local government and services that work well together by having everyone under one roof. What will be the impact on the services that will be left with local government if this goes ahead? I am thinking specifically of housing and education.

Perhaps Eddie Fraser can respond first, to be followed by Eddie Follan.

Audit Scotland’s response to the call for views says:

“There is a risk of fragmentation of local services”.

Can Carol Calder expand on that and say in which areas the risk is greatest?

I was going to continue with the line of questioning that I began with the previous panel on the impact on the remainder of services that will be left with councils, but the panel has already covered a lot of that. As a result, I will ask about the impact on local government in its entirety.

We have had police and fire service nationalisation and we are now looking at social work and social care. We have educational regional collaboratives and chat about a national education service. Is this a return to district councils by stealth? Is it appropriate to change the whole landscape of local government in such a piecemeal way, or should we be taking a wider look at local government?

Going back to the impact on individual services, I think that I have heard from the panel here in person, but I would like to ask Douglas Hendry to set out the perspective of a rural and island authority, in particular. What will the impact be on the services that are left over? If we go forward with the national care service, what will the impact be on housing, education and leisure in your authority?