To ask the Scottish Government how reform across health and social care will progress, following the decision not to proceed with part 1 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. (S6O-04298)

Last week, the First Minister announced plans to drive down waiting times and reduce pressure on front-line services, and our draft budget sets out almost £2.2 billion of investment in social care and integration.

We have revised our approach to the national care service. Parts 2 and 3 of the bill will go ahead, reforming information records and standards and introducing Anne’s law and the right to a break for unpaid carers. We will establish a non-statutory advisory board to drive improvement and ensure that services are consistent, fair and of high quality across Scotland.

The Edinburgh integration joint board is facing another budget gap in the financial year ahead, requiring gross savings of £51 million. The previous chief officer indicated that integration has not been functioning properly in Edinburgh, with issues dating back to when the Scottish Government established the Edinburgh IJB in 2015. In November 2023, the City of Edinburgh Council unanimously agreed a cross-party motion to review the integration scheme, but more than a year later, it has been alleged that NHS Lothian is pushing back against that review as the current scheme sees the council being required to continually bail out the IJB in Edinburgh. What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that the integration scheme is working fairly for the city of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian?

As the member will be aware, decisions on funding the integration joint board when it was set up and annual decisions on funding, which comes from both the local authority and NHS Lothian, were and are for local leaders, and those leaders are democratically accountable to the local population. I am more than happy to look at how the integration scheme works; whether it is delivering for NHS Lothian; and, as the member has asked me to, whether it is working well for others. Efforts to look at that are in our programme for work, and I would be happy to pick that up.

Change in social care is needed, and we must all work to secure improvement. I understand from the minister’s statement that was delivered earlier this month that a new non-statutory advisory board will be established to drive improvement in the sector. Will the minister advise when that board is expected to meet and how quickly it will be able to deliver vital reform?

We are moving quickly to establish a non-statutory advisory board that has lived experience at its heart. We expect the board to meet for the first time in March 2025, and it will be critical to the national care service’s efforts to drive improvement and ensure that services are consistent, fair and of high quality.

Strengthening national support and oversight of the system remains our core intention. Membership of the advisory board will include people with lived experience of accessing care services, unpaid carers, members of the workforce, care providers, trade unions, the national health service and local government. As I have set out a path forward that I believe that everybody is able to get behind, I expect the board to have an impact rapidly.

Question 2 was not lodged.