New social care service vote pushed back again

The first vote on the new care service for Scotland is to be pushed back until after the Holyrood summer recess.

In a letter, newly appointed Social Care Minister Maree Todd said this would allow for "compromise" to be reached with its critics.

The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill has been criticised for its lack of detail and last month the bill was paused until 28 June.

Local authorities and trade unions are among those raising concerns.

Under the changes, adult social care - and potentially other areas including drug and alcohol services and children's services - would be taken out of the hands of local authorities and given to newly-formed, regional care boards which would ultimately be responsible to ministers.

In a letter to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Ms Todd said: "This government remains committed to delivering a National Care Service to improve quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals' needs.

"The scale of this ambition will require the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill to progress in order to ensure sustainable social care services moving forward.

"We wish to use the time ahead of the stage one debate to find compromise and reach consensus with those who have raised concerns during the stage one scrutiny undertaken so far."

She said she planned to secure parliamentary approval to extend the stage one deadline beyond June.

It is not yet clear when the Scottish government now intends to hold the first vote.

It has come under fire for its co-design approach to the bill, which will see framework legislation passed by MSPs before ministers use regulations to fill in the detail of the care service.

Ms Todd said the government would "continue and deepen" its co-design efforts, by holding a series of "regional forums".

The government has said the new service will be the most significant change to care in Scotland since the creation of the NHS.

It initially said it could cost up to £500m to deliver, but Scottish Parliament researchers have estimated that the total bill over five years could be between £664m and £1.26bn.

Scottish Tory social care spokesman Craig Hoy said the delay was "not good enough from the SNP".

"Every stakeholder has lined up against these proposals to centralise care services but still the SNP refuse to listen," he said.

He added: "Social care services are in crisis across Scotland on the SNP's watch and the last thing they need is this bureaucratic nightmare and more oversight from SNP ministers."