Seòmar agus comataidhean

The next item on our agenda is a concluding evidence session that forms part of our scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s proposed stage 2 amendments to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. I welcome to the committee Eddie Follan, who is the chief officer in health and social care, and Councillor Paul Kelly, who is spokesperson for health and social care, both from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We are also expecting Louise Long, who is the chief executive of Inverclyde Council, to join us. She will be representing the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers in Scotland. We will move straight to questions.

That was in February initially, but significant amendments to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill were published in response to that over the summer, which is essentially why the committee is sitting here rescrutinising the proposals.

Councillor Kelly, you mentioned that service users direct us at local level—you said how important service users’ input is into providing services. What discussions has COSLA had with stakeholder groups about the withdrawal of support from the NCS bill, either before or since?

We may come back to some of that if our members have questions.

So, if things remain as is, we can expect to see COSLA amendments.

So, you did not have discussions before, and you have not had them since, specifically on that issue.

You may have been very clear with the Government, but your position is not clear to me. What will it take for COSLA to get back round the table?

Are those the issues?

Emma Harper has a supplementary question.

For the record, the amendments have not yet been lodged. They are proposed amendments. I say that to keep us all correct.

I thank the witnesses for their evidence. We will suspend briefly to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

We continue our scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s proposed stage 2 amendments to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill with a second panel of witnesses. I welcome to the committee Rachel Cackett, chief executive officer, Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland; Rob Gowans, policy and public affairs manager, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland; and Karen Hedge, deputy chief executive, Scottish Care.

We will move straight to questions.