| Description | Executive's full response to the report published on June 13, 2006. |
|---|
| ISBN | (Web Only) |
|---|
| Official Print Publication Date | |
|---|
| Website Publication Date | August 28, 2006 |
|---|
Letter from Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald to Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Convener, Health Committee, Scottish Parliament.
I am writing to give you the Scottish Executive's full response to the Health Committee's Care Inquiry Report, published on 13 June.
I congratulate the Committee on its initiative in conducting the first post-legislative review of major legislation by the Scottish Parliament. I think it is very valuable to review legislation in this way in order to ensure that it is achieving its original purpose and to consider what possible improvements might be made. I also congratulate the Committee for the way in which it engaged with stakeholders from the outset.
As I said when the report was published, I welcome its recognition that our Free Personal and Nursing Care policy is a success which has benefited nearly 50,000 older people in Scotland, allowing many more older people to be cared for at home. We remain fully committed to the policy and will continue to work with local authorities to ensure that older people receive services in line with their needs. Not surprisingly, however, there have been some teething problems in the implementation of this policy which need to be sorted out. The Committee's report helpfully identifies various issues which need to be resolved, and the Executive's response sets out what we intend to do about them.
Likewise, in relation to the Regulation of Care and Direct Payments, I welcome the Committee's conclusion that, overall, these policies are achieving their intended purpose. As with Free Personal Care, there are various issues where further work is needed in one way or another, and those are discussed in our response to the Committee's detailed recommendations.
I am glad of your Committee's commitment to this detailed scrutiny of these major areas of Parliamentary legislative activity and subsequent Executive implementation. I commend the Executive's response to the Committee.
I am copying this letter to the Presiding Officer.
Lewis Macdonald
Deputy Health Minister