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There is a budget cycle that we will be involved in. There are negotiations and discussions going on within Government about budget at the moment.

Last year was a really challenging financial year for the Scottish Government, in that the budget was set and fixed very early on in the year, then the Tory cost of living crisis, energy costs, the increase in people’s wages and inflation meant that, very quickly—within months of that budget being set—it was worth significantly less than it had been at the time when it was set. That was hugely impactful with regard to our having to make tough decisions and work hard to rebalance that budget in-year.

We are being quicker in the negotiations this year—the same financial headwinds are not blowing at the moment—and we are working really hard across Government to make the changes as soon as possible.

Absolutely. I will say that the focus on delayed discharge is slightly unhelpful. When I think about social care, I think about the entire picture. Much as in healthcare, we need to get involved in prevention. I am sure that you agree with that.

We need to think about spending the money upstream. We need to go back to the Christie principles and think not just about the back door of the hospital—when people have reached crisis, been admitted to hospital and we are then unable to move them out of hospital. We need to think about all the things that help people to live healthy independent lives at home, with support in their own community, before they ever reach crisis point and have to go into hospital. I am absolutely certain that we can do better at that.

I think that I will be back and forward to the committee a lot; you will see plenty of me over the next wee while. I know that the subject is an interest of yours, and I am keen to find political allies in making such brave changes and investments.

I see social care not as a drain but as an investment in our society. I feel as though I have a vested interest. In particular—to go back to my being a highlander—I want to grow old in my own community. It is brutal when people have to be uprooted from their communities and go elsewhere for care at the end of their lives. I am keen for the system to work well and to deliver for its citizens, of whom I am one.

The legislation currently allows for the recognition of Scottish powers of attorney in England and Wales. Paragraph 13 of schedule 3 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 states that

“if the correct process has been followed for the Power of Attorney to be created in Scotland, it would be legally recognised in England and Wales without the need for further action from either the Court of Protection or Office of the Public Guardian ... for England and Wales.”

Given that there is already legislation in place that provides recognition of Scottish powers of attorney in England and Wales, I am not persuaded that further legislation is the answer. However, this is about ensuring that institutions and organisations have awareness and are educated on the legal status of Scottish powers of attorney.

I would liken the debate to the debate about accepting Scottish £10 notes in England. They are legal tender, but they look unfamiliar and people are not aware of them. The point is that it is not the law that we need to change; we need to change the understanding of what the Scottish powers of attorney are and of the fact that they look just a little bit different.

We would be keen to commit to working with third-party organisations to raise awareness through publicity about the validity of Scottish powers of attorney in England and Wales rather than change the law, because the law already allows for recognition of those powers.

We expect to engage with all our key partners. We have already had a brief informal discussion with some of our local authority partners and unions, but we expect to have more formal and regular engagement with all of them in the summer.

We are also looking to set up regional opportunities for people who have an interest in the care service to gather together so that we capture the experience of the entirety of the country. As members might imagine, being a Highland MSP, I am keen to hear about the experience of social care in every part of the country as well as from each of our individual valued stakeholders.

Anna Kynaston or Donna Bell, do you want to say a little bit more about the regional engagement that is planned for the summer?

Yes, although we expect to capture the learning as we go, and we will be happy to give you an update on where we are and what the plans are before the close of Parliament and the summer recess. We want to make sure that you are aware of the work that is going on and can plan your work, because I know that the committee has a great deal of legislation going through. The bill is one of the most important things in the suite of work that I am doing, and I think that it is one of the most important priorities for the Government and Parliament, but it has to be balanced with a host of other work. We are therefore keen to keep the committee informed so that you can balance your workload.

Absolutely. Donna Bell will probably want to say a bit more about this, but we are very keen to hear from people who are employed in the care system about what works for them and what does not work for them. Over the past few years, the Scottish Government has done a lot of work on ensuring that everyone working in social care is in a regulated profession. Everybody is registered with the Scottish Social Services Council and there are continuous professional development requirements, but we could do more to support individuals to fulfil their potential in their role and more to make it clear what career paths are available for people to progress to other roles in the national care service, which is a really important aspect of it.

As someone who worked as a health professional in the national health service, I know that the level of variation across the country in the social work profession—in terms of the postgraduate qualifications that are required to do different roles, and the different types of training—definitely raises concerns about governance, quality and standards, and the lack of clarity for the people who are pursuing those professions. People might become qualified in a certain area in one local authority but find that those skills are not transferable to others and that they do not have the right qualifications to work in the next-door local authority. We need to maximise the opportunities for people and reward them for the extra efforts that they are putting into postgraduate qualifications, and we need to make sure that things are clear in terms of governance and what standards we expect everybody to meet across the country. That is something that we can definitely do, nationally.

We are keen to hear from people who are working in social care because we know that, although there is an awful lot of political focus on pay and conditions—rightly so; that is a really high priority—there is also concern about the differences in what is expected in terms of training, what the minimum standards of training are and what potential there is for people to do extra all over the country. It would be good to give some clarity around that.

They certainly raised concerns, yes. This is how we develop legislation in this country, is it not?

Pausing and re-engaging is part of the process of addressing COSLA’s concerns. We hear those concerns loud and clear, and we are keen to work with COSLA to see where we can achieve consensus and agreement.

I understand the point about the national health service having variation. However, the NHS has been trying to tackle the question of unnecessary variation for many years. I think that I have said already to the committee that there are times when variation is necessary, perhaps because of geography, the estate or what is available in the local area, but there are other times when variation is simply down to historical practice. Such variation can present a barrier to people trying to access care.

One example that is often cited to me is that of younger people who have a social care package and who want to move around the country. Perhaps the person lives in Ullapool in the north-west Highlands, where I live, and they want to go to university in Edinburgh. The systems are so completely different that it is almost impossible for them to move—they are almost limited to remaining in their own geography because the systems are so difficult to navigate. I think that we can improve on that.

That is not what it is like in the NHS. There are not those barriers. There are some barriers, but it is not quite such an impossible task and, for the user, it does not feel as though they have to learn to navigate an entirely new system. There is enough commonality between the ways in which healthcare is delivered in each area for the system to appear navigable and coherent to the people who are trying to access the care.

There are things that we can improve on. The people who access social care are very clear that things need to change and improve. We hear them, and I am sure that COSLA hears them, too. We will find a way to work together to ensure that those improvements happen.

Operational delivery will undoubtedly be by local organisations. Health and social care partnerships and local care boards will be involved in designing and delivering local services. However, currently, there is a perception among the general population and within politics that ministers have responsibility. Ministers do not have direct responsibility for all sorts of things. I am asked questions in Parliament all the time that are the responsibility of local health and social care partnerships. There needs to be clarity about who is responsible. I think that there is a general wish for ministers to be held responsible for decisions but, if we are going to be held responsible, we need to have the powers to make a difference. That is the challenge.

I am keen to hear from local government over the summer about how it thinks partnership should work. I have no interest in Edinburgh designing in operational detail the minuscule micromanagement of services in every local area, but clear lines of governance are needed. Even for national workforce planning, central Government needs to have a better grasp and understanding of what the national workforce picture looks like. We do not have that because we do not have the responsibility for it.