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Free personal care of the elderly was the flagship policy of the outgoing Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition at Holyrood. Recommended by Lord Sutherland's Royal Commission on long-term care, which reported in 1999, the policy was fully embraced in Scotland – but not in England. While the service has been welcomed north of the border, it has been dogged by problems over funding and waiting lists. Councils were the target of much of the blame for the waiting lists. But they claimed, with some justification, that these were the cause of under-funding problems and that the payments made for the funding of the policy were inadequate. The new minority SNP administration at Holyrood has wasted little time in trying to establish the extent of the funding problem by appointing Lord Sutherland to head an independent review into the operation of free personal care. Lord Sutherland is a wise choice as inquiry chairman. He has tremendous experience and knowledge of the problems of long-term care and is dedicated to the provision of well-funded services for elderly and vulnerable people. Councils have welcomed the decision to set up an inquiry. They are also pleased that the new health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, has decided that the payments made for free personal care of the elderly should be linked to inflation. She has asked Lord Sutherland to look at the ‘long-standing imbalance' between Scotland and the UK's finance on long-term care. Ms Sturgeon wants to claw back the money. This may be hard to justify. But the Scottish Government's decision to hold an inquiry and link payments to inflation is hopefully a step towards improving a policy on which Scotland has taken the lead. Lord Sutherland's investigation may also provide him with information which will strengthen his case for extending free personal care across the UK.

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Soap Box

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