Seòmar agus comataidhean

I was not minister at the beginning of the bill, but going forward from now, I am certainly very keen—

Yes, it is.

I am not sure who would be most appropriate to answer that question—I think that it might be Fiona Bennett—but I think that it comes down to the spend being reprofiled. When we introduced the bill last year, we expected that it would have completed its passage through Parliament by now and that we would be in the implementation phase of the legislation. That has not occurred, which is why the predictions for the spend at each stage have turned out not to be the case. We have done things at a very different pace and have taken the opportunity to develop expertise in Government so that we get the best value for money as we move along.

Fiona, do you want to say more about that?

Absolutely.

Gosh. For a start, we will be more able to update everyone as we go along, as there will be better communication and information flow. We are developing our approach to the bill in response to the information that we have received, and we are taking lived experience on board, too. There will also be more time to ensure that we inform those who need to know of the changes and the evolution that are occurring.

There are always risks with a bill of this complexity, and risks remain. However, I am absolutely confident that we will deliver and that we have the right people with the right skill set. We are now motoring together to deliver something that will be transformative for the people of Scotland, and it is really exciting to be involved in it.

I am confident that we will be able to provide you with an updated financial memorandum that will give you sufficient comfort four weeks before the stage 1 debate.

To reassure you, Fiona Bennett can give you a little bit more information about what we are doing and how we will do it.

We have talked a little bit about the oversight of secondary legislation. Under the rules of the Parliament and the normal procedure, there is a minimum level of scrutiny for secondary legislation, but I would be very comfortable with enhancing that scrutiny to ensure that the Parliament is comfortable with what we are doing. We welcome your scrutiny—we want to work with you to make this the best bill possible, because we want to deliver improvement for the people of Scotland. We can definitely ensure that you are comfortable with the level of scrutiny that you will have across the board on all the legislation.

One of the key pieces of work that the committee will be interested in is the business case. It is a dynamic document and, as you will expect, we regularly update it. We will ensure that we keep you apprised of how the business case is looking.

I am not sure whether Fiona Bennett wants to come in on that. I think that we will be able to reassure you when we publish the financial memorandum.

What is missing from your question is the value of social care; in some ways, you are looking entirely at the acquisition cost. If we get social care right, what it delivers is of huge value to the nation. I would expect that a national care service will make a difference not just to the individuals who access care but to their families and communities.

There are some gains to be had from spending more. I would expect to see an increase in productivity. For example, I would expect that all the people who tell me that they cannot work because of their caring duties could be supported into employment.

Increasing the wages of the lowest-paid people in our country will bring an economic benefit. You are looking only at one side of the balance sheet at the moment but I expect there to be another side of it. Of course, as well as current ways of raising money, there may well be different ways of raising money in the future. However, that is well outside my portfolio. Fiona may want to add something.

We are keen to work with you—those letters back and forth are very helpful—and we will try to furnish you with whatever information you need to scrutinise the bill, because we want the bill to be the best that it can possibly be.

I imagine that that would be part of the UK Government’s normal post-legislative scrutiny process.