Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Official Report 1091KB pdf

Point of Order

20:59

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I apologise to members for raising this point at this late hour. During finance and local government portfolio question time today, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government stated:

“If there are members in the chamber who think that that is inadequate”—

that is, the funding of social care—

“they need to tell us by how much and where the money would come from. I did not hear that in the course of the budget bill.”

However, a review of the Official Report shows that the subject was raised at all three stages of that bill, including a suggestion from the convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee about exploring multiyear funding during a debate on the 2026-27 budget, as well as in contributions from MSPs including Craig Hoy, Liz Smith and Jackie Baillie at all stages. I also note that the Auditor General and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, among others, provided commentary on the budget that explored social care in some detail.

What was said has become the monotonous response from the Scottish Government to just about any question that the Opposition asks. It is a lazy response, which is designed to ensure that the Scottish Government avoids any kind of thought that may be required to answer questions that we raise on behalf of our constituents.

I have raised this point of order out of a real frustration that it seems that the Government has given up altogether on the idea of accountability. That is not what we should expect for our Parliament. As we work towards the next session, I hope that the next Government will do better and that we will get back to what this place is supposed to be.

Presiding Officer, as it is clear that the Scottish Government was offered numerous options to address the crisis in social care but opted simply to reject those, it is important that the cabinet secretary has the opportunity to correct the record at her earliest convenience. I seek your confirmation that you will grant her the opportunity, when she requests it, to address that misrepresentation of the facts.

Thank you, Mr Whittle. As members will have heard on several occasions, the content of members’ contributions is not a matter for the chair. At this point in the session, members will also be very well aware of the mechanism that exists for corrections that are required.