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As you will know, we set out a financial memorandum this time last year. That was the envelope that was put forward with the original draft legislation, but it is changing as we develop the legislation. We are determined to develop a system that meets the needs of the population. You will be aware that there is a commitment at Government level to do that. I will continue to work closely with the Deputy First Minister to ensure that we are able to afford and deliver a national care service that works.

The focus of the discussion with COSLA has been not on cost but more on its concerns about the transfer of staff and its wanting to maintain its statutory responsibilities for commissioning and procurement. In other words, the focus was less on financial costs and more on power and assets. We have worked closely with our local authority partners, and the Verity house agreement has helped us in that respect.

We have also worked closely with unions that have been critical of our approach. As I have said, I feel that we are now in a much healthier place; we are working closely together—although we do not always agree—and our eyes are firmly on the goal of delivering an improved service that works for the people who access care and for those who work in care.

When we come back to you with the financial memorandum, I would certainly expect you to be able to have absolute confidence in what we produce.

No.

No. You will appreciate that when stage 1 happens is not entirely in my control but more in the Parliament’s control. However, we will certainly furnish you with a financial memorandum four weeks before, as promised.

I agree that it is less of a big bang, but I would also say that it is still bold and transformational. People have been very clear that they want change, particularly those people with lived experience who have accessed social care, and those who work in social care who we have engaged with over the course of the summer. They want the system to change because the status quo is not good enough. I think that what we deliver will be bold and transformative, but we will take a more phased approach. We are very keen to take people with us on the journey of transition.

When I became minister, just six months or so ago, we were in a very different place. It was not just the financial memorandum that was causing people concern—there was also lots of opposition to the bill. We have worked really hard with our partners over the course of the summer to ensure that we all agree the direction that we are pulling in. We are now all focused on delivering that transformative change that the people of Scotland are telling us very clearly that they want.

Thank you for inviting me to discuss spending on the national care service programme. The Government remains committed to delivering a national care service to improve the quality and consistency of community health and social care support across Scotland. Through our summer co-design activities, we have heard from hundreds of people with experience of accessing support or delivering it, and it is clearer than ever that the system needs to change if we are to deliver the services that people need.

That said, we are in a different situation from the one that we were in when the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill was introduced in June 2022. The timings for the bill have changed. We originally expected the bill’s passage to be completed by now. The delay has given us additional time to have deeper discussions with key partners and stakeholders, and to advance the co-design activities. However, it has obviously affected the profiling of expenditure, with development activities taking place over a longer time rather than our moving to implementation.

The fiscal circumstances are also different from those in June 2022. There is increased pressure to find different ways of working to make the best use of the available public funds. During its initial stages, the NCS programme involved a small number of consultancy projects that provided research and advice, but that work has significantly reduced in the current year, and we are focusing on providing the skills that are required through our own staff.

In addition to the internal spend on developing the national care service, the Government is increasing spend on front-line social care. More than £1.7 billion has been provided for social care and integration in 2023-24, and we are committed to increasing spend on social care by at least 25 per cent by the end of this parliamentary session—an increase of more than £840 million. So far, spend has increased by £800 million since 2021-22, so we are well ahead of that target.

However, simply spending more will not deliver. In order to make the improvements that people are calling for in relation to the quality of social care support and giving people choice and control over the support that they receive, we need to change the system. I believe that the new approach that we are developing, with greater national oversight and strengthened integration at the local level, is how we will achieve that.

A lot of the staff costs that are attributed to the programme relate to training and travel, and there will have been more training at the start of the transition than there will be as we progress. Fiona Bennett may want to give a bit more detail on that. Another factor probably relates to outturn and reconciliation.

Co-design is a new method of developing legislation. We have used it before in the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, but some of the training costs will have been on co-design methods to ensure that people were aware of how to engage with lived experience and how to make sure that that lived experience made its way to the heart of the legislation.

Donna Bell can give you a bit more detail on that.

With the exception of a very small dedicated bill management team, the majority of officials working on the national care service are involved in teams that combine policy development, co-design and implementation across a range of areas. Those activities will inform the development of the bill and the more detailed development of the national care service, which will be set out in secondary legislation, guidance and practice. They will also inform many areas that feed into improvements of the current service.

You have heard me say many times that we do not need to wait for the bill or primary legislation but that we can make improvements in the area now, and we seek the areas that we can improve without legislation on a regular basis. Officials continue to review priorities at all times in line with the current fiscal position in order to focus on improving services for people who access social care support. I am more than happy to furnish you with as much detail as we possibly can. I want you to be able to scrutinise the bill. We are not trying to hide anything from you, and we are keen to use your scrutiny to improve what we do.