SNP MSPs have savaged their own Government’s flagship plan for a national care service.
Falkirk East’s Michelle Thomson claimed the lack of financial information was “deeply worrying”, while long-standing MSP Kenneth Gibson described the proposals as a “monumental” risk.
Under the plans, a new national service would be set up with the aim of improving standards in the sector.
However, councils feel the move is a power grab and concern has been expressed about cost. At a meeting of Holyrood’s Finance Committee, SNP MSPs voiced criticism after evidence by Government officials.
Thomson said of the Bill’s financial provisions: "I did look in the financial memorandum specifically on the word risk, and the word risk is only mentioned twice there. But what this is screaming out to me is a huge risk.
“At the moment from a financial scrutiny [perspective] I'm looking at a blank cheque for the public purse, and I find that deeply worrying."
A civil servant responded by saying a “huge amount of time” had been spent developing the memorandum.
She added: “We've talked a lot about the risks and I can provide some real reassurance that as part of the programme work the risks are very much at the front of our minds."
Gibson, the convener of the Committee, also went on the offensive: “It just seems to me to be a monumental, as Michelle pointed out, risk to have a bill of this nature, with all the financial implications, because there are a few service deliverers who are not currently up to scratch.”
An official added: “It's true that there is more work to do and, as I've already said, there will be clear business cases developed for the detail of the plans which will allow parliamentary scrutiny.”
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