Part of First Minister's Question Time — Scottish executive – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:30 pm on 5 October 2000.
I hope that the Cabinet will discuss the bitter disappointment that many older people in Scotland will feel when they learn later this afternoon that the Scottish Executive will not implement for Scotland the Sutherland commission recommendation that all personal care costs should be met out of the national health service budget.
Last week, in the debate on the issue, we were told that Labour opposed that recommendation because it would benefit so-called rich pensioners. Does the First Minister consider the many thousands of pensioners who bought their council houses to be rich and that they should be forced to sell their houses to pay for their long-term care?