25 March 2005
The cost of providing free personal care for the elderly in Scotland could be higher than originally estimated, a committee of MSPs has warned.
In a report this week, the Scottish Parliament's audit committee criticised the Scottish Executive Health Department for failing to monitor the cost of the flagship policy introduced in Scotland two years ago.
The committee said that some local authorities continued to provide no information on costs and incomplete or sporadic information or estimates.
Describing this as unacceptable, it called on the department to review the cost of the policy to ensure that projections were based on accurate information.
The report follows an inquiry by the committee into two reports by auditor general Bob Black on the commissioning of community care services for older people and on the future management of community equipment and adaptations.
The introduction of free personal care in Scotland, providing a payment of £145 a week for feeding, dressing and washing support for elderly people in care, was one of the first major policies to be introduced by the Cabinet of former first minister Henry McLeish.
It was estimated that the policy would cost £125m for each of the first three years. However, the committee pointed out that this was revised upwards to give a pro rata estimate of £107m for the first nine months but in fact £126m was spent in that period.
'Assuming that the most current information from the Executive about expenditure in the first nine months is accurate, then on this basis, expenditure to 2005/06 could be greater than estimated,' the report stated.
Committee convener Brian Monteith said: 'It is now three years since the policy was introduced and the health department still cannot tell us how much it has cost.'
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