'No evidence' National Care Service will deliver better service, claims councils chief

The creation of a nationwide, centralised adult social care service is a “distraction” from Covid recovery and not based in evidence, MSPs have been told.
The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a National Care Service.The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a National Care Service.
The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a National Care Service.

President of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Councillor Alison Evison, said there had been “no engagement at all" with councils about which services would fall under a new National Care Service, and warned the structural change required would take years.

Speaking at Holyrood’s new local government, housing and planning committee, she also encouraged MSPs to secure guarantees from the government that funding for local authorities which has been “in steep decline” would be improved.

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Her comments came as the Auditor General Stephen Boyle said there was a "mismatch” between the Scottish Government’s vision for Scotland “where poverty is reduced and economic growth is sustainable” and “how we assess public sector performance”.

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In a blog post on the need for change in public services, he said Scotland “remains riven by inequalities” and criticised a "major implementation gap between policy ambitions and delivery on the ground.”

He also said a greater influence by community groups and the third sector was needed to plan and deliver local services.

His remarks echoed those of Ms Evison, who told MSPs that localism was under “attack” and pointed to the creation of a National Care Service as a prime example.

"The National Care Service is something that's been looked at and considered for many years,” she said.

"There are good reasons maybe to look at things like having a monitoring system, a good reason to look at workforce planning and working as well, on improvement at a national level, they are things that can be looked at from a centralised point of view that would have benefits for for the whole running of care.

"If it’s things like that we're talking about but with the services to local people, or communities locally delivered, then there are huge advantages within that.

"But what we actually need to do is get things better, we need to look at outcomes and we need to deliver things that improve outcomes and help that recovery that we are part of at the moment.”

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Ms Evison said there was “no evidence at the moment that centralisation will deliver better outcomes".

“That’s not something that that's ever been made clear. We need to make sure that what we are doing is outcome focused and not a distraction from recovery,” she said.

“In many ways national care as its proposed is an attack on localism, is an attack on the local communities and an attack on place-based work.”

The Cosla leader said she did not believe structural reorganisation was the way to improve services, as it “takes away that localism, that local choice, that local involvement that place based work, which is so essential".

She told MSPs: “I think what was particularly concerning is how there was no prior engagement with Cosla at all about the nature of what is now being put into a National Care Service.”

The Scottish Government has said it is committed to delivering a National Care Service by 2026 and the current consultation “is an opportunity for everyone to have a say in building a social care system that delivers what people need”.

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