John Swinney insists plans from the Scottish Government to set up a National Care Service remain the ‘most effective way’ of improving care services across the country, despite losing the support of trade unions and council leaders.

The First Minister made clear the Government is still seeking to “take forward the proposals”, despite another body withdrawing its support for the legislation needed to set up the organisation.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) said the National Care Service Bill “fails to address fundamental issues about how social care is delivered and has lost the confidence of workers in the sector”.

Local government leaders in Cosla and trade unions have already made clear they no longer back the Government legislation – which sets out to centralise adult social care and social work into a single body ultimately accountable to ministers.

The shake-up was first announced in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, but since then the proposed National Care Service has suffered delays and uncertainty over costs.

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Mr Swinney made clear however that the Government is “going to take forward the discussion on the National Care Service”.

Speaking to journalists on a visit to Kilmarnock, he said: “We’ve made it clear there is space for dialogue and agreement around the provisions in the National Care Service.”

He said the service is the “most effective way” to achieve the goal of improving care for those who need it.

Mr Swinney stressed: “What we’ve got to do here is to focus on the outcome and what matters. What matters is that we all want to see an improvement in the care that is available to individuals in Scotland and we can achieve that through the National Care Service Bill mechanism.

“The Government has at no stage been unwilling to develop our proposals, to listen to others, and we are trying to do that as we take forward the proposals.”

Adding “an improvement in care arrangements” is “what people are interested in, the First Minister said: “That’s the outcome I want people to focus on and I think that is the outcome we all agree is important.

“The National Care Service Bill is the most effective way to enable us to get there.

“But we will continue to engage in dialogue with all relevant parties to make headway on the proposals.”

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer claimed the Government “seems hellbent on repeating the mistakes of the past” by pushing ahead with the legislation, adding: “That is something that the STUC and our affiliated unions cannot uphold.”

She said there needs to be “urgent investment in social care and improved wages to attract and retain skilled staff” to the sector.

This can be achieved “without the need for a new National Care Service”, she insisted, adding: “Profiteering, low pay and insecure conditions within social care are rampant throughout the sector.

“It would appear the Scottish Government, through the proposed NCS Bill, seems content for that to continue, something which we cannot allow in our name.”