SCOTTISH Labour’s Katy Clark blasted the Scottish government yesterday for running an “exercise in privatisation” in its new National Care Service Bill.

Ms Clark also accused the SNP-led government of breaking its promise to delivering a not-for-profit care service.

The West Scotland MSP said she would propose amendments to enshrine not-for profit provisions, preventing offshore-owned firms from winning contracts and moving care homes into the public sector as soon as practicable.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon indicated her support for calls to “remove the profit motive” from the care home sector in 2020.

But in Scotland, in common with the rest of Britain, care services, once entirely provided by the public sector, are now run almost wholly by private firms and have been plagued by chronic staff shortages.

In Wales, the Senedd’s public cccounts and public administration committee called on the Welsh government this week to take steps to deal with the staff shortages.

Committee chair Mark Isherwood called for “parity of pay and terms between the health service and social care sector.”

In Scotland, the Holyrood Bill would still allow private firms – including those owned in tax havens – to bid for contracts as long as “profits are reinvested” and their “objective is the pursuit of a public service mission.”

Ms Clark said: “We need to be open and honest with the public: the National Care Service is an exercise in privatisation.

“As it stands, the Scottish government’s proposals are not for a national care service but for a national care commissioning service.

“Whereas our NHS employs doctors, nurses, porters, cleaners and others, the proposed National Care Service won’t be employing care staff.

Ms Clark added: “Like the NHS, a genuine National Care Service must be free at the point of use and designed to meet the those of people who need it, not delivering profits to shareholders.”

The Scottish government was invited to comment.